Banana bread is great – for breakfast, as a dessert, or just to tide you over until your next meal. I really wanted a banana bread that wasn’t chock full of sugar, but had more of a subtle sweetness. With fall in full swing, I decided to incorporate some fall flavors. And out of that grew this maple pecan gluten free banana bread.
I used this recipe as a base, as I like it when I want something sweeter. However for this version I used only maple syrup and the bananas as sweetener. The pecans add a nice crunch, especially in the topping.
The pecans are best if you use a food processor, or in my case, a mini food processor, to chop them up. You can do it by hand, but it takes longer and you don’t get as uniform of pieces. Plus, I’m lazy and like appliances to do the work for me.
The trick to this banana bread is waiting until it’s pretty well cooked before adding the topping, otherwise the very middle stays a little gooey. It still tastes good, just doesn’t hold a typical banana bread texture. But you do want to cook it long enough to let the pecans get nice and toasted.
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Looking for more fall desserts? Check out my Baked Apples with Ginger, Dates, and Pecans!
Recipe for Gluten Free Maple Pecan Banana Bread
Gluten Free Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients
- 3 medium bananas 1.5 cups mashed
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup butter softened (1 stick)
- 2 cups gluten free flour I used Pamela's All Purpose Flour blend
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt omit if using salted butter
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
Items Needed:
- Oven
- A masher (or fork)
- A set of measuring cups
- A stand mixer or large bowl with a hand mixer
- A spatula
- A large bowl
- A set of measuring spoons
- A silicone muffin pan
- Toothpicks (to check bread for doneness)
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Mash the bananas in a container with a fork or masher. Set aside.
- Place 1/3 cup of maple syrup and the softened butter in bowl and stir with a hand mixer, or use a stand mixer, until well combined, scraping the sides with a spatula as necessary.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir to combine. Set aside.
- Stir the bananas and egg into the maple syrup & butter mixture until well combined.
- Pour half of the flour mixture into the banana mixture, stirring until just combined. Add the second half and do the same.
- Leave about 2 tablespoons of the chocolate chips to the side, then pour the rest into the mixture and stir until just combined and there are no pockets of dry flour in the mixture.
- Scoop the muffin mixture into each well in the muffin pan with a spoon, dividing it equally between each well. Take the remaining chocolate chips and place a couple on the top of each muffin, pushing them into the dough.
- Place the muffins into the oven and set the timer for 15 minutes. After the timer goes off, carefully rotate the muffin pan 180 degrees (so the muffins in the front of the oven are now in the back of the oven) and bake from another 10 minutes. Insert a toothpick into one or two muffins to check for doneness after timer goes off.
- Once cooked, take the muffins out of the oven and remove from muffin pan. Let cool at 5 minutes before serving.
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