Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins + Pure Indian Foods Grassfed Ghee

I had a snow day last Wednesday, and spent the morning making these banana chocolate chip muffins.  They're a worthy project for any morning, unexpected day off or not.  Here are some reasons to give these muffins a try: they're gluten-free, grain-free, nut-free, and lactose-free, they're high in protein, they're sweetened mostly (or entirely) with fruit, and they're delicious.  Oh, and they have chocolate in them!

Baking with just coconut flour requires a lot of eggs, but the finished muffins don't taste eggy.  They're moist and bursting with chocolate chips, and they have a subtle banana flavor.  Unlike many muffins that are packed with sugar and low in protein, eating a couple of these makes for a pretty balanced breakfast in terms of protein, carbs, and healthy fats.  That means they'll keep you full for longer, but they still taste like treats.

I made these muffins with cultured ghee from Pure Indian Foods.  I was thrilled to get samples of two of Pure Indian Foods' organic, grassfed ghees: cultured ghee and coconut ghee.  The cultured ghee is made from cultured butter, which gives it extra depth of flavor, and the coconut ghee is a 50-50 mix of organic, grassfed ghee and virgin coconut oil.  Baking with ghee is great because you get the wonderful flavor of butter without the lactose or casein.

Both of these ghees are also great for cooking.  I've already used them to make scrambled eggs and stir-fries, and they're also great on top of caveman porridge.  My favorite thing to do with the coconut ghee, though, is put it in my morning coffee!  You may have already read about how much I love starting the day with bulletproof coffee, and having coconut ghee on hand makes it so easy.  I just pour my coffee, add a couple teaspoons of coconut ghee, and blitz for a minute with my immersion blender.  I never thought I'd say this, but I like it better than a latte!  It has a strong coffee flavor, but the ghee adds richness and the oil adds a hint of coconut flavor.  So good.

If you like, you can also try making your own ghee.

Have you ever bought ghee or made it yourself?  Do you have any favorite recipes that use ghee?  Feel free to share links in the comments!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Yield: 8-10 muffins
Prep time: 10 minutes
Bake time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 medium banana, mashed
1/2 cup Pure Indian Foods ghee or cultured ghee, melted and cooled
1 tablespoon maple syrup (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 eggs
2/3 cup chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate

Preheat the oven to 350.  Grease a muffin tin or use paper liners.

In a small bowl, whisk together the coconut flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon.

In a large bowl, mix the ghee, mashed banana, maple syrup, and vanilla with an immersion blender or whisk thoroughly by hand.  Make sure the mixture is not too hot, then add the eggs and blend or beat to combine.  Add the coconut flour mixture and blend again, then let the batter sit for five minutes and blend one more time.  Fold in the chocolate chips.

Fill the muffin cups about 3/4 of the way full (I use a greased ice cream scoop to help with this).  Bake for about 20 minutes, or until domed and slightly golden (a toothpick should come out clean unless it hits a chocolate chip).  Cool for a few minutes in the pan, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Enjoy warm or at room temperature.  If you don't plan on eating all the muffins within about 24 hours, store them in the fridge, where they'll keep for several days.

Disclosure: Pure Indian Foods provided me with free samples of their ghee for review purposes.  I was not paid for this post, and as always, all opinions are my own.

This post contains affiliate links.