This quick-and-easy healthy gluten-free sweet treat is pretty much just like our Filipino puto (steamed rice cake), and I got the idea because I don't have an oven! :) Also, with steaming, you avoid overcooking or drying out, which can happen quite easily when cooking coconut flour pancakes. I was pretty happy with the dense, moist texture of the resulting muffin, but the recipe can probably be improved to add some complexity to the flavor (maybe add some spices or nuts).
My standard culinary disclaimer applies: I'm really lazy with proper measurements, so I'm sharing this recipe with you to give you a rough idea of the ingredient ratios. But I'm pretty sure you can tweak it and come up with something better. ;)
Ingredients:
6 very ripe bananas (mine were about 5 inches long each), mashed
4 eggs, beaten until very frothy
5 tbsp coconut flour
2.5 tbsp sugar (your choice of coconut, muscovado, etc., and adjust amount to taste)
2.5 tbsp unsweetened nut butter (your choice of almond, peanut, etc., and adjust amount to taste)
4 tbsp softened butter
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Mix all ingredients together until you have a nice smooth batter. Taste-test the batter to check on the sweetness. Remember that the finished product won't be as sweet as the batter, and adjust accordingly. If the batter seems runny, add more coconut flour. If it seems dry, add more mashed banana. Scoop the batter into steamer-safe containers (I used recycled plastic cups) and steam for about 20 minutes or until you can put a toothpick in the middle of the muffin and it comes out dry. If you beat the eggs very well, you can expect the batter to rise somewhat, as you can see in the photo-- even without if there isn't any baking soda in this recipe. The muffin should easily slide out from the container, thanks to the butter content. Remember that even if you cook it too long, it's not going to dry out because it's in a steamer, yay! So this is something you can put in the steamer and not really worry about, you can go surf YouTube or paint or something while waiting for it to finish cooking.
Enjoy! It's great by itself, or served hot with melty butter on top. You might be surprised at how heavy these muffins are, so eat slowly. ;)
