I make banana bread or muffins about once a week. The ingredients are fairly cheap and some variation on this recipe usually makes the cut because it’s high on protein and low on sugar. Its sweetened only with bananas, the flour is almonds, and there’s a fair amount of eggs. The more ripe the bananas, the sweeter they will taste, but don’t be surprised if it seems less sweet than your average coffeehouse banana bread.

The base is pretty customizable if you want to swap in some toppings, spices, or even mess around with alternative purées like pumpkin, sweet potato, plantain, or persimmon. If subbing out the banana, I would recommend either subbing half the amount of banana with a cup of something else to maintain a bit of sweetness and the same moist texture.

Another way to achieve a more “treat” like product is to do what my toddler did and add chocolate chips! Not only chocolate chips but we also drizzled some cinnamon sugar on top for the “caramelized” finishing touch.

Caramelized Banana Muffins

1 1/3 c. almond flour
1/2 potato or tapioca starch
4 medium-large bananas
4 eggs
2 Tbsp. coconut oil
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
few shakes of pink salt

Cinnamon Sugar
4 Tbsp. coconut sugar
1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon

optional
sliced banana for garnish
1/3 c. chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 and prep your muffin tin with baking cups or a non-stick spray (I like Chosen Foods Avocado Oil Spray).
2. In a large bowl, mash bananas.
3. Add wet ingredients and mix well.
4. In a smaller bowl, combine dry ingredients.
5. Add dry to wet and don’t over mix.
6. Fold in chocolate chips if using.
7. Scoop batter into muffin tin and garnish with banana and/or cinnamon sugar before baking.
8. Bake approximately 30 mins and let cool before eating.