Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Here is my latest muffin recipe. I am so happy to come up with another recipe for muffins that are egg-free and still rise so nicely. Plus, banana and chocolate chips go so well together. It's another great comfort food combination for these cold winter months.

I had to increase the amount of chocolate chips to 1/3 cup because Naomi really prefers to have a least one chocolate chip in every bite. (She's not the only one, though, I confess.) Feel free to use just 1/4 cup of chocolate chips if you prefer. For the muffins to be moist enough, the recipe needs a full 1/2 cup of mashed banana. If your banana doesn't quite make 1/2 cup, add 1/2 tablespoon more canola oil. The banana should also be ripe or even over-ripe, otherwise the muffins won't be as sweet as you might prefer.

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
makes 6 muffins

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup warmed rice milk
• 1 Tbsp. and 1 tsp. ground flax seed meal. I use Bob's Red Mill brand.
• 1 cup and 2 Tbsp. Bob's Red Mill Gluten-free flour
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 large ripe banana that makes 1/2 cup when mashed
• 2 1/2 Tbsp. canola oil (1/2 Tbsp. is equivalent to 1 and 1/2 tsp.)
  
• 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract. Use Trader Joe's alcohol-free vanilla extract or another vanilla extract that does not have corn syrup and is preferably alcohol-free, since the alcohol could be derived from corn. Recently I have been using Rodelle Vanilla Flavor alcohol free all natural extract, which I found at Stop and Shop.
• 1/3 cup dairy-free chocolate chips. Some dairy-free brands are Trader Joe's, Ghirardelli, and Enjoy Life semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease 6 cups in a muffin tin with canola oil. Heat the rice milk in the microwave. Then stir in the flax seed meal and set aside.

In a medium bowl sift the flour using a sieve or flour sifter. Stir in the baking soda and salt.

In a small bowl combine the milk and flax seed mixture with the brown sugar. Then stir in the mashed banana, canola oil, apple cider vinegar, and vanilla extract. If the amount of mashed banana you have is a little under 1/2 cup, add 1/2 tablespoon more canola oil.

Pour the liquid ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir just until all traces of flour are gone. Stir in the chocolate chips and then spoon the batter into the muffin tin cups. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of one of the muffins comes out clean. Remove the muffins from the tin immediately and let cool on a cooling rack.