Michelle Darmody: How to bake morning muffins free from wheat, dairy, eggs and sugar

The scent of almonds, honey and vanilla is always welcome, particularly on cold and rainy days.

These muffins are free from wheat, dairy, eggs and processed sugar. A lot of people request recipes without one or two of these ingredients, particularly at this time of year. Wheat and eggs traditionally help muffins to rise so these are denser and stickier than a more traditional muffin. 

They still taste good and can fill the house with the sweet nutty scent of almonds, honey and vanilla as they bake, which is always welcome, particularly on cold and rainy days.

The sweetness of the muffin will depend somewhat on the ripeness of the bananas. If you use very ripe bananas, it will add more sweetness to the recipe. If the muffins are not sweet enough after baked, you can brush them with a little honey when they are still warm. This also adds a nice glaze. 

They are handy for a breakfast on the go, or a mid-morning snack. They freeze very well, and do not need a huge amount of time to defrost, so you can store them in the freezer and take one or two out early in the morning, allowing them to defrost until you need them.

Olive oil may seem like an unusual addition in a muffin, but the flavour of a light olive oil is quite subtle, and it allows those who cannot eat dairy to enjoy the buns.

Free-from Morning Muffins

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

Handy for a breakfast on the go, or a mid-morning snack, these freeze very well, and do not need a huge amount of time to defrost

Servings

6

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 23 mins

Total Time

 38 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• 220g banana, mashed (about 3 large bananas)

• 1 tbsp light olive oil

• 1 tbsp honey

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 tsp bread soda, sieved

• 1 tsp cinnamon, sieved

• 1 tsp mixed spice, sieved

• 100g ground almonds

• 50g mixed seeds

• 100g gluten-free porridge oats

• 50g golden raisins

• 20g pecan nuts, chopped

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4. Pop 6 paper cases into a muffin tin.

2. Place the banana, oil, honey and vanilla together in a bowl. Mix well with a wooden spoon or spatula until combined.

3. Stir the sieved bread soda, cinnamon and mixed spice into the almonds, seeds, gluten-free porridge oats and golden raisins. Mix well.

4. Stir these dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until combined.

5. Spoon the mixture between the six bun cases. Sprinkle the pecan nuts on top and press them down slightly. Bake for about 23 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

6. Once cool enough to handle place them onto a wire rack to cool.

Bakers' tips

It is best not to over stir the batter. You really want to just moisten the dry ingredients and combine everything, rather than beat the mixture.

Do not leave the muffins to cool completely in the tin. After removing the tin from the oven allow the buns to cool slightly then place onto a wire rack. This will stop them getting soggy from condensation on the inside of the tin.

Because this recipe is relatively low in added fats the muffins can stick to your paper cases. I find using parchment ones rather than those made from greaseproof paper or foil helps with this problem.

Another tip to stop the muffins getting stuck to the case is to let them cool completely before removing them. Muffins shrink a little as they cool, so they will loosen their grip as they come to room temperature.

If you do not have any bun cases, you can cut six squares of baking parchment, about 6-inches in size. Find a cup or glass that neatly fits into the holes in your tin and turn it upside down. Place the centre of the parchment square onto the base of the glass and fold in each of the four corners making a cone shape, with a flat base. that fits around the glass. Turn the glass over into the hole in your tin, leave the paper in place and remove the glass. Repeat with the other five squares.

Paper cases can fold inward when you try to spoon in the muffin batter, this causes the paper to wedge into the bun as it bakes. This is usually because the case is a little too big for the hole in your tin. Cases and tins come in different sizes you can experiment to see which ones work best with your tin.

Overfilling muffin cases can lead to spills and a big mess in your oven. It is best to fill each muffin case about three quarters of the way.

3 delicious variations

Berry muffins

You can make fruity variations of the muffins by adding 80g of chopped raspberries or the same amount of blueberries, in place of the golden raisins. This creates lovely pockets of flavour and sweetness within the buns.

Vegan muffins 

Substitute the honey for maple syrup or agave syrup. Alternatively, date syrup can be used in place of the honey.

Cardamom muffins

I believe that cardamom improves almost any recipe and it works well in these muffins. If you are using cardamom, omit the cinnamon and mixed spice from the base recipe and add 1 and a half teaspoons of the crushed black seeds from inside the cardamom pods.