These plantain muffins are good. They’re void of any flour–even coconut and almond flour. I sometimes bake and cook with those flours, but it’s fantastic for food to be in its most natural state. For example, almonds being whole almonds, coconut being the actual coconut flesh when possible. When you can peel a plantain, throw it in a blender with a few other ingredients, bake it, and produce a legitimate baked good, why not just do that?
The thing about using plantain is that its properties change with the ripeness of the plantains. I used greenish-yellow/brown spotted plantains to make these little plantain muffins. But since developing the recipe, I have tried it with very ripe (almost black) plantains and bright green plantains.
The more ripe the plantain is, the less cooking time it needs on the stove, and the sweeter it will be.
Coconut oil is key in this recipe since we are cooking without traditional flours. You have to love some healthy fats when you’re cooking with plantains. Fat is good. Coconut oil is perfect for us, and it’s very mild (it doesn’t taste very coconutty in the cakes).
Mini Chocolate Plantain Muffins
Print RecipeIngredients
- Muffin Ingredients
- 1 plantain
- 1 tablespoon of almond milk or water
- 2 eggs
- 3 tablespoons of coconut oil
- 1/2 tablespoon of vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons of maple syrup
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder, unsweetened
- 1/4 cup of chocolate chips, entirely optional
- Coconut Drizzle Ingredients
- 1 1/2 tablespoons of coconut oil
- 1 1/2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 tablespoons of maple syrup
Instructions
Muffin Instructions
- In a high powered blender or food processor, puree everything but the baking soda, cocoa powder, and chocolate chips (if you add those).
- After these ingredients are combined, add cocoa powder and baking soda. Fold in chocolate chips. Taste the batter and make sure it is sweet enough. If needed, add a bit more maple syrup. Some of the sweetness will be lost in the baking process, so make it a little too sweet instead of not sweet enough!
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Spray a mini muffin tin with non-stick spray or line with cupcake liners. Pour batter into cupcake moulds, about 75% full.
- Bake in the oven for 23 minutes, then check if they are cooked through by inserting a toothpick. If it comes out clean, they’re done. If not, stick them back in the over for a few minutes more, checking every 2 minutes.
Drizzle Instructions
- Heat the coconut oil in the microwave until completely liquid. Then add in the maple syrup and cocoa powder.
- Drizzle over the muffins once they have cooled. The drizzle will harden and solidify if the muffins are kept in the fridge!
