Dairy- & Wheat-Free Banana Oat Muffin Recipe

I like to think of myself as a good hostess (what?!? shouting "DO YOU WANT A CUP OF TEA?!" from the kitchen is good hostessing!) and for me, making people welcome means forcing people to lounge around on our fabulously squishy sofa made from a whole family of cows, and plying them with cake until they feel a little bit sick. After a lot of practice (such a hardship!) I thought I was getting pretty good at whipping up a batch of cupcakes/cornflake cakes/apple and blackberry crumble at a moment's notice; I needed a new challenge. 


And that culinary challenge came in the beautiful form of several of my friends who are allergic to dairy (poor things :( ) and my friend Abbey at Doll Doll Dolly who is allergic to dairy AND wheat. In my mind, these poor people suffer enough by not being able to eat cheese on toast at a moment's notice (I feel their pain, because my yeast intolerance means I can't eat gooey, golden, brown-speckled melty-goodness cheese on toast either... *sob*) so there was no way they would be going without their very own home-baked goodies after making the effort to come to our house. 


I stumbled across the bare bones of this recipe about a year ago, somewhere on the internet, and after a bit of tweaking I think I've got it down. These muffins are a favourite with people who can have wheat/dairy too- no-one can resist the banana-y oat-y nom-ness. So, please, pull up a chair and feast your muffin-loving eyes on the recipe below for "Dairy and Wheat-Free Banana Oat Muffins of Awesomeness" then get your bum in the kitchen and make these bad boys. You know you want to...

Makes 10-12 muffins, depending on how man-sized your muffin tin is. 

1. Preheat your oven to 180ºC (350ºF).
2. Peel 3 bananas*, break into chunks, and place in a food processor** with the blade attachment in. Pour in 1/4 cup*** olive oil, and break in 2 eggs. 
3. Whizz it all together until it forms a custard-like goop.
4. Add 1+3/4 cups porridge oats, 1/3 cup soft brown sugar, 2tsp baking powder and 1tsp bicarbonate of soda.
5. Whizz it all together again until the mixture is completely combined.
6. Spoon the mixture into your muffin tin and bake for 20 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.
7. Leave them to cool until you can't wait any longer and then eat them all.

Additional Flavour Options:

If the basic recipe isn't fancy-pants enough (or you don't have a wheat/dairy allergy) you could add:

• Chocolate chips
• Chopped walnuts
• A dollop of this in the middle of each muffin (fill half the muffin case with cake mixture, add a tsp of caramel, then top with cake mix)

*It doesn't matter if they're a little bit brown- this recipe is the perfect way to use up bananas that have been lying about in the fruit bowl, being ignored by everyone because they'd rather eat biscuits.

**I use a food processor for these because I am lazy, and it only takes three minutes to whip up the mixture. If you are less lazy/don't have a food processor, mash the bananas in a mixing bowl using a fork or a potato masher (preferably one not covered in bits of potato) and then add the other ingredients as listed. 

***I know using cups for measurements is a bit un-scientific, but this way you don't need to use scales- which means less washing up! Hurrah!