I love these muffins — they’re moist, moreish and delicious, but packed with enough good stuff to make them a godsend on busy mornings or for filling lunchboxes. With fruit, carrot, hemp hearts (should be at your supermarket – use pumpkin seeds if not) and good fats tucked inside, they’re surprisingly wholesome for something that tastes this good.
My favourite oil to use for these is avocado oil. Unlike seed oils, it’s made from the flesh of the avocado and is naturally rich in heart-healthy monounsaturated fats. It also gives the muffins a lovely buttery texture and keeps them beautifully moist. GENIUS! I am obsessed. They freeze brilliantly too, so I love having a batch stashed away for busy weeks.
Dietary: Refined sugar-free · Oat-Free · Seed-Oil-Free · DF Option GF Option
Makes: 12 large muffins
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20–25 minutes
Total time: 35–45 minutes
Ingredients
- ½ cup hemp seeds/hearts OR coarsely ground pumpkin seeds
- 1¾ cups spelt flour (my fave) OR plain flour OR GF flour blend
- ½ cup desiccated coconut
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 3 large free-range eggs, at room temperature
- ½ cup milk of choice
- ⅓ cup avocado oil (I recommend Luvo) OR melted virgin coconut oil OR extra virgin olive oil OR melted butter
- ¾ cup coconut sugar OR brown sugar
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- Zest of 1 small lemon or orange
- 2 large very ripe, spotty bananas, mashed (about 1 cup / 230g)
- 1 large apple, grated (about 1 cup / 125–140g)
- ½ cup finely grated carrot (about 55–60g)
- ¾ cup dark chocolate chips or raisins, plus extra for the tops (optional)
Method
- Preheat the oven to 210°C conventional bake. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with muffin cases.
- Mash the bananas until mostly smooth. Coarsely grate the apple and finely grate the carrot. Don’t squeeze the moisture from the apple — we want that moisture in the muffins.
- Add the coconut sugar and lemon zest to a large bowl. Rub them together with your fingertips for about 30 seconds, until beautifully fragrant. This releases the natural oils from the zest and gives the muffins a much more evenly distributed citrus note.
- Add the eggs and whisk vigorously for 1–2 minutes, until the mixture is slightly lighter and aerated. Whisk in the vanilla, lemon juice and milk, followed by the melted and slightly cooled coconut oil. Add the mashed banana and whisk until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the spelt flour, hemp hearts, desiccated coconut, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and sea salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Fold gently just a few times, then add the grated apple, carrot and chocolate chips while there are still visible streaks of flour. Continue folding until just combined. Don’t beat or overmix the batter.
- Leave the batter to rest for 8–10 minutes. The spelt, hemp and coconut will begin absorbing some of the moisture and the batter should become thicker and scoopable.
- Divide between the 12 muffin cases, filling them generously and allowing the batter to mound slightly above the top of the muffin tin. Scatter with extra chocolate chips.
- Bake at 210°C for 5 minutes, then, without opening the oven door, reduce the temperature to 180°C. Continue baking for approximately 15–19 minutes, until beautifully risen and golden and the tops spring back when lightly pressed.
- Allow the muffins to sit in the tin for 8–10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack. Let them cool for at least another 10 minutes before eating so the very moist crumb has time to settle.
Tips
- These freeze nicely and can be popped in lunchboxes frozen.
- Use very ripe, heavily spotted bananas for natural sweetness and the strongest banana flavour.
- Once the flour is added, minimal mixing is key to a tender muffin.
- For gorgeous bakery-style tops, reserve some chocolate chips and scatter them generously over each muffin just before baking.
- If using coconut oil, bring the eggs and milk closer to room temperature first so the coconut oil doesn’t seize when mixed in.
