Banana Muffins with Homemade Strawberry Jam Filling

These banana muffins are super soft and they melt in the mouth. The sweet banana flavor combines perfectly with the slight sourness coming from the strawberry jam. The vegan chocolate mousse on top makes the muffins a quite indulgent and satisfying dessert.

Ingredients:

For the muffins:

• 2 medium-sized ripe bananas

• 70 g peanut butter

• 2 Medjool dates

• 1 egg

• 40 g almond flour

• 20 g coconut flour

• 8 g vanilla powder

• 3 g baking powder

For the homemade strawberry jam:

• 100 g frozen strawberries

• a squeeze of lemon

[optional] For the vegan chocolate mousse:

• 8 Medjool dates

• 2 tbsp raw cacao powder

Preparation:

The muffins:

1. Soak the dates in warm water for 10-15 minutes to soften them up.

2. Mash the bananas using a fork until you obtain a puree-like consistency.

3. Whisk the egg slightly and add it to the banana puree.

4. Mash the soaked dates using a fork or a blender.

5. Add the peanut butter to the dates and blend them well.

6. Next, add the peanut butter and dates mixture to the smashed bananas and mix everything together.

7. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix gently until everything is well incorporated.

8. Divide the batter into several muffin tins.

9. Bake the muffins in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C for about half an hour.

10. Once well-baked, leave them to cool down.

The strawberry jam:

1. Place the frozen strawberries along with a squeeze of lemon in a pot over medium heat.

2. Leave the strawberries to thaw completely and start stirring occasionally.

3. When the mixture thickens up, turn off the heat and let it cool.

The vegan chocolate mousse:

1. Soak the dates in warm water for at least half an hour.

2. Using a blender or a food processor, blend the soaked dates and the cacao powder until you end up with a very smooth consistency.

3. Put the mousse in the fridge while you assemble the muffins.

Assembling the muffins:

1. Make a small hole in the center of each muffin. This step should be easy thanks to the softness of the banana muffins.

2. Put strawberry jam in each muffin hole.

3. Finally, pipe some of the date chocolate mousse on top of each muffin.

4. To finish them off, decorate the muffins with fresh fruits and mint leaves.

5. Store the muffins in a fridge for up to 3-4 days. In my experience, though, they have never lasted more than 2 days. Enjoy!

Serves 8-10 muffins.

Tips:

1. In case you do not have any coconut flour in your pantry, you can replace it with more almond flour (40 g more, to be exact).

2. You can always use this recipe to prepare a banana bread instead of small banana muffins. In this case, the baking time increases with approximately 10 minutes.

3. [vegan option] To make the muffins completely vegan, try replacing the egg with a flax egg (1 tsp ground flax seeds + 3-4 tsp water). It works as well!