Pumpkin Banana Muffins

AIP baking has a specific way of disappointing you. You follow the recipe exactly, and what comes out of the oven is dense, or gummy in the middle, or tastes faintly of the flour it is made from rather than banana or pumpkin. These muffins are not that. Ripe banana and pumpkin puree do the moisture work that eggs and butter usually do, and if you resist the urge to overwork the batter once the dry ingredients go in, what comes out is soft, genuinely fragrant, and worth the counter space it took to make.

Banana is where the real payoff is nutritionally. It is a good source of potassium, involved in nerve signaling and fluid balance, both of which take a real hit when a body is managing ongoing autoimmune stress. Pumpkin puree is also a source of fiber, which supports regular digestion, worth naming plainly rather than glossing over.

There is something worth noticing in pulling a full tray of something genuinely good for you out of the oven on a slow morning. Let yourself have that. Batch-baked and stored right, these carry you through several mornings where cooking anything at all would otherwise feel like one more demand on a day that already has enough of them.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup palm shortening
• 2 ripe medium bananas
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract (see note)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 cup cassava flour
• 1/4 tsp powdered ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Vanilla note: pure vanilla extract may contain a small amount of alcohol. For strict AIP, substitute an equal amount of vanilla powder or use an alcohol-free vanilla extract.

Method

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with parchment liners or grease the cups well with a little palm shortening.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the palm shortening, bananas, pumpkin puree, vanilla, and maple syrup. Process until completely smooth and no banana chunks remain. The mixture should look uniformly pale orange and creamy.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the cassava flour, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt until evenly combined.

Add the dry ingredients to the food processor bowl with the wet mixture. Pulse until just combined - do not overwork the dough or the muffins will be dense. Transfer the batter to a mixing bowl if the processor is crowded.

Add the apple cider vinegar and fold it in quickly with a spatula. The vinegar reacts with the baking soda immediately, so work fast: spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each about three-quarters full.

Bake for 27 to 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean and the tops are golden and just firm to the touch. Let the muffins cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning them out onto a rack. They firm up as they cool.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days, or refrigerate for up to 5 days. They reheat beautifully - 20 seconds in the microwave or a few minutes in a low oven.

*Adapted from Heal Me Delicious*