Plantain Pumpkin Spice Muffins
Only sweetened with honey!
Prep Time: 20 min. Cook Time: 25 min.
Total Time: 45 min.
Serves: 16-18
Macronutrients: 2g protein · 16g carb · 6.2g fat*
*1 muffin
For a visual, see my instagram video here!
About the Dish:
These muffins are a take on my plantain bundt cake and resembles a naturally sweetened version of traditional banana bread with a fall kick! I personally LOVE plantains and I digest them very easily. They are a great addition to a recipe when you want a naturally sweetened baked good while also adding some density.
Plantains are also VERY inexpensive!
These muffins are great to bring to a get together, prep for your family for the week, or can be easily frozen to eat sparingly!
About Plantains:
Plantains are a member of the banana family. They are a staple in Central & South American, Caribbean, African, and Southeast Asian cuisines. They are technically a fruit but they are treated as a vegetable in terms of, you need cook them as if they are a vegetable because they are very starchy!
Plantains are best used in baking when they are ripe, this is when they are mostly black. They resemble a very overripe banana. If you buy them at the grocery store and they are green, just let them sit out on your counter for 4-5 days and they will darken, becoming ripe and ready to use. Most grocery stores will have some ripe ones as well that won’t take long, if any time at all, to be recipe ready.
Green plantains are great for frying and boiling, but not for these muffins!
Why Plantain & Coconut Flour?
Plantain flour is made from simply dehydrating plantains and blending them into a fine powder. They contain antioxidants, nutrients such as magnesium, iron, potassium, Vit A,K,C, & B6, and are overall a low inflammatory flour for most people.
Regular white flour made from highly processed wheat is very inflammatory and contains gluten, which most people do not tolerate well. The high starch content of refined grains and lack of fiber due to the removal of the bran and germ produces a rapid increase in blood sugar when consumed. The chemicals and pesticides used to produce mass quantities of the white flour we see on grocery store shelves is also very concerning and has been linked to cause many different cancers.
I also like using coconut flour, which is made from dehydrating coconut meat and blending. It has a higher protein, fat, and fiber content than white flour and is also gluten free.
I am not trying to say that flours are NECESSARY in an optimal diet. They are by no means necessary and they serve as a TREAT. Whole foods are much healthier and any flour should be consumed in moderation. As you know, I love treats and these are the two flours I feel most comfortable using!
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As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.Equipment:
Small Pot for melting butter
Ingredients:
1 cup mashed plantain (over-ripe);
(2 medium or 1 large plantain)
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1/2-1 cup raw honey (I prefer 1 cup)
1 stick (8 Tbsp.) salted butter -melted
1/4 cup raw milk
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup plantain flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
Steps:
Pre-heat oven to 350°F
Butter your muffin pan
Melt the stick of butter
Mash the plantain(s) with a fork
Add all ingredients to a food processor and process on high until everything is well combined. You can also add everything to a large bowl and use a hand mixer.
Use a cookie scoop to evenly distribute the batter into your muffin pan.
Most standard muffin pans make 12 muffins, this batter will give you enough for about 18. I filled my muffin pan pretty high because they don’t rise that much.
Place muffins in a 350°F pre-heated oven on the middle rack and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the center of a muffin clean.
Let them sit in the muffin pan for 5 minutes. Then you can gently take a butter knife and carefully remove each muffin to cool on a rack or plate.
These taste delicious right out of the oven with some butter, with ice cream, or some raw milk.
For a visual, see my instagram video here!
These muffins can easily sit out at room temperature (without the frosting) for a few days if properly covered/sealed. After a few days I would store it in the fridge although It may be a tad dry after refrigerating.
If you have the frosting, they should be refrigerated immediately, but when you are ready to serve, remove from the fridge 30-60 min. before for best texture.
Changes/Substitutions
This recipe is very easy to work with whatever you might having rotting around on the counter, whether it be a banana OR a plantain. I have made this recipe with a mix of banana and plantain depending on what I have available. You could also use only bananas and NO plantains. It will still have the earthy plantain taste from the flour.
You can make these muffins however sweet you prefer. I have used anywhere from ½-1 C of honey. I just prefer my desserts sweeter, especially with the earthiness of plantain flour and if I am serving to family/friends who have a more commercial product type palate.
Raw milk can be replaced with 1/2 C of greek yogurt! This is actually what I used to use in the beginning of creating this recipe but I don’t always have yogurt on hand. Either way it is great and moist.
I don’t eat nuts due to following a more animal-based diet and I do not seem to digest them well. However, this recipe would taste great with walnuts or pecans.
You could add chocolate chips, blueberries, other fruit, go wild! If you try any other variations please let me know how they come out!