Gluten Free Banana Oat Coconut Muffins

I forgot just how easy it is to make muffins. And how rewarding! Not only do you get warm fluffy treats... your house smells comforting and delicious!  Making muffins is basically as easy as mixing the dry with the wet ingredients, filling up some cupcake pans, and throwing them into an oven for 15 or so minutes... then poof!  It's off to muffin munchin land!

There's so many muffin making possibilities that it's hard to imagine running out of tasty combinations to experiment with.  For example, take a base flavor like banana.  I've had many variations of banana walnut muffins, but there are many more flavor combinations available to play with.  These banana muffins include gluten free oats and coconut chips, a little ground cloves and nutmeg, and a topping of sprinkled pecan pieces.  You could leave out the coconut, add chocolate chips or something else, maybe mango chunks... whatever sounds good to you, I say go for it. With muffins, the worst case scenario is rarely less than yum.

Makes 12 regular size muffins

Total Prep Time: Less than 1 hour

Ingredients

• cooking spray
• 1 1/2 cups GF Flour (I use Bobs Red Mill GF All Purpose Baking Flour)
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 4 over-ripe bananas (smashed)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup canola/vegetable oil
• 2 eggs (room temp)
• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cups gluten free oats (I use Bobs Red Mill GF Certified Oats)
• 1/2 cup coconut flakes
• Pecan pieces for topping

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. (175 degrees C.).  Spray muffin pan with cooking spray.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground nutmeg & cloves in a large bowl.
3. Mix the bananas, white and brown sugar, oats, coconut flakes, canola oil and eggs together in a separate large bowl.
4. Fold the banana mixture into flour mixture until just incorporated. 
5. Scoop batter into prepared muffin pan.
6. Top the mixture in the muffin pan with a coating of pecan pieces. 
7. Bake until muffins spring back a little when you tap them on the top with a spoon (about 14-16 minutes).
8. Let cool for a little while and then ENJOY!