Banana muffins, which are just handheld versions of banana bread, are a great way to use up ripe bananas (bonus: the sweetness from the bananas means you can use less sweetener) and can be made ingredients from a well-stocked pantry. These vegan banana chocolate muffins are:

• vegan
• no egg
• no dairy
• grain-free
• gluten-free
• Primal- and paleo-friendly

Amazingly, they also taste like chocolate cupcakes. No joke. The vegan mayo combined with the fruit provides a moist, meltingly tender texture; the cacao powder, ripe bananas, and sweetener make these muffins taste sinful; and the flax provides the structure that eggs would in a muffin recipe with eggs. 

Vegan Banana Chocolate Muffins

Time: 35-40 minutes

Servings: 12 regular-sized muffins

Ingredients

• 2 cups fine almond flour
• 1 cup Swerve (or other sweetener of your choice)
• 1/3 cup cacao powder
• 4 tablespoons ground flaxseed
• 4 tablespoons tapioca flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 medium ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup Primal Kitchen Vegan Mayo (unflavored) 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract  

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 450ºF. 
• Place all of the dry ingredients (the first seven ingredients on the list above) in a large mixing bowl.
• Peel the bananas and break them into large pieces. Place bananas into a second large mixing bowl. Mash the bananas with a fork or a potato masher until mostly smooth (small chunks are OK). 
• Add the vegan mayo and vanilla extract to the mashed bananas, and combine well. 
• Pour the dry ingredients into the big bowl with the wet ingredients. Stir until well combined. Allow the batter to sit for about 5-10 minutes to allow the flax to absorb some of the extra moisture.
• Take your muffin tin and either add paper cupcake liners to each well, or grease the bottom and insides of each muffin well with avocado oil spray or coconut oil.
• Use an ice cream scoop to fill the muffin wells with batter. 
• Bake the muffins for 425ºF for 10 minutes. After the muffins have baked for 10 minutes, lower the temperature of the oven to 375ºF, and continue baking the muffins for another 10 minutes. The muffins are done when a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

• Remove the muffins from the oven and allow to cool. The muffins will firm up as they cool.  

Nutrition info (per muffin):

Calories: 220

Carbs: 29 grams

Net Carbs: 25 grams

Fat: 18 grams

Protein: 6 grams