Gluten Free Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

The verdict is in: I'm gluten intolerant. Well, to be exact, I'm only borderline gluten intolerant, but until my next doctor appointment where he'll go over my test results, I'm playing it safe and cutting gluten out of my diet. Not fun. I've tried before, several years ago, so I'm not entirely new to how it all works, but I must say I'm not thrilled with waking up in the morning and realizing that there is nothing remotely "breakfasty" that I can eat. I strongly dislike gluten free bread (at least the commercial kind) and don't want to pay an arm and a leg for fancy gluten free bakery items, so last night I set aside my fear of the kitchen and made these muffins. It wasn't a special recipe, I merely used a "normal" recipe and substituted the wheat flour with gluten free flour (I generally use Bob's Red Mill gluten free flour) and added some xanthan gum and flax seed, and voila! yummy breakfasts!

Note: I really hate all those "gluten free" recipes that call for obscure or expensive specialty ingredients, so what I've done for the most part is take existing recipes and substitute gluten free flour for the wheat flour (as I did with this muffin recipe), and it has worked every time so far. I made pancakes with the buttermilk pancake recipe in Joy of Cooking this way, and they were great!

GF Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Pre-heat oven to 375*

Mix:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

Add:

1 1/2 cup mashed ripe bananas

1/4 cup milk (I used almond milk)

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

Mix together and add to wet ingredients:

2 cups gluten free flour (such as Bob's Red Mill brand)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup ground flax seed (optional)

Put in greased muffin pans and bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool in pan for 3 minutes before putting on cooling racks.

Makes approximately 24 muffins.

Enjoy!