No grains. Just a yummy muffin made with bananas, almond butter, dates and cocoa and topped off with walnuts and chocolate chips.
How great is that? All your favorite flavors in these grain-free Chunky Monkey Muffins!
Let's thank that famous ice cream manufacturer for coming up with this flavour combination! Ben & Jerry's tells us we should eat Chunky Monkey ice cream when life is a little bananas and you feel like going nuts.
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❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
- No grains, no refined sugar. Just a yummy muffin made with bananas, almond butter, dates and cocoa and topped off with walnuts and chocolate chips!
- This chunky monkey muffin recipe can all be made in a food processor.
- With 4 grams of protein in each muffin, these almond butter-banana muffins are very satisfying!
- Love mini muffins like these Mini Carrot Cake Muffins? You can easily make them as mini muffins instead.
Ingredients
- very ripe bananas, for natural sweetness
- soft Medjool dates give a sweet caramel flavour.
- almond butter (or peanut butter)
- coconut flour
- cocoa or powdered cacao
- coconut oil, melted
- butter, softened
- baking soda
- pure vanilla extract
Topping
- chocolate chips
- raw walnuts or pecans
Instructions
- Start by puréeing the dates and banana. Once those are well combined, add the remaining ingredients (except the toppings.) Be careful not to overblend. The batter will be thick.
- Fill lined muffin cups ⅔ full, mounding the batter up a little in the center to make a dome-shape, as gluten-free muffins rise only a small amount.
- Gently press a mixture of chopped walnuts (or pecans) and chocolate chips on the top of each muffin.
- Bake for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack and remove muffin liners.
Storage
Chunk Monkey Muffins can be stored at room temperature for a day or two. For longer storage, keep them in an airtight container in the fridge.
Smile, make these Chunky Monkey muffins (how can you not smile at that name?) and pile some delicious dark chocolate chips on top!
More gluten-free muffins and loaves
- Gluten-Free Cranberry Orange Bread with Orange Glaze
- Mini Gluten-Free Broccoli Cheese Muffins
- Mini Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins -Gluten-Free
- Healthy Zucchini Banana Muffins - Grain-free
📖 Recipe
Grain-Free Chunky Monkey Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 ripe bananas
- 1 cup soft Medjool dates, pitted (about 12)
- ½ cup almond butter
- ½ cup coconut flour
- 2 tablespoon cocoa or powdered cacao
- ¼ cup coconut oil, melted
- ¼ cup butter, softened
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Topping
- ½ cup chocolate chips
- ½ cup raw walnuts, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line 12 cups of a muffin tin with paper liners.
- In a small bowl, mix the chocolate chips and chopped walnuts together for the topping. Set aside.
- In a food processor, puree the banana and dates until smooth.
- Add all the remaining ingredients (except the topping) and pulse until a thick batter forms. Stop the machine a couple of times to scrape down the sides. Avoid overblending.
- Bake for 16-18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and cool in the pan for 15 minutes before cooling on a rack.
- Store in an airtight container once cool,
Nutrition
This recipe is adapted slightly from Real Life Paleo by Stacy Toth.
Alison
I’ve been making these muffins for years. They are amazing! This is my “go-to” paleo muffin recipe. If I’m not following a strick paleo diet, I will substitute butter for the coconut.
Kymn
These are fabulous. My go to muffin recipe when i'm getting that craving for something awesome. Thanks so much.
Flavour & Savour
Thanks Kymn! So glad you loved these as much as we do! Thanks for commenting.
Trish
GREAT MUFFINS!
These really were fabulous! I was concerned about the batter being so thick (frosting-like almost) -so I added 2 eggs to the batter to help them rise. Oh my! these were a great treat! I had a couple of friends stop by and they loved them as well! You would never know they are a "healthy" treat.
The only other thing I will do next time is mix the flour, cacao and baking soda together and set aside. And add the oils, eggs and vanilla after the bananas and dates. Then add flour mixture at the end. The way the ingredients are listed and added in this recipe didn't make sense to me.
Thank for a great recipe. I also tried your One Pan Baked Lemon Artichoke Chicken dish and can I say that was Fabulous as well!
deborah freise
THESE WERE AMAZING!!!!!! Wow looking forward to trying more of your recipes!!!! we have gone gluten free and sugar free and i love sweetening with dates and this recipe gets 5 ????????????????????
Flavour & Savour
Thanks Deborah! So glad you liked them! Hope you get a chance to explore other recipes on my site. A good place to start is with the Recipe Index. Two muffin recipes that have been popular are Paleo Pear and Cranberry Muffins and Pina Colada Muffins with Pecan Crumble. Thanks for commenting!
LindaFL
Chocolate chips, with sugar?
Also, wondering what ripe bananas means to you, i found most of the "pre Paleo" recipes seem to do better with overripe bananas.
Flavour & Savour
You're right--bananas with a few spots will add extra natural sweetness to your baked goods.
anstasija
What can be used as a substitute for bananas in this recipe?
Flavour & Savour
Sometimes you can substitute applesauce for bananas in a recipe, but gluten-free baking can be finicky. Since I haven't tried a substitute, I can't really advise you. However, two other muffin recipes you might like to try are these Pina Colada Muffins with Pecan Crumble or these Pear and Cranberry Muffins.
Bunny
These look so delicious! I'll definitely have to save this recipe for later
Flavour & Savour
Thanks Bunny! We love them!
Laura
I LOVE these!! They turn out perfectly every time.
Flavour & Savour
Thanks! So glad you like them as much as I do.
Bethany
Yum! These look so good.
Megan
Oh my goodness these look decadent and amazing! I could eat that whole batch!
Flavour & Savour
Thanks Megan! It's hard to stop at one!