Skinny and Delicious: Zucchini Banana Coconut Flour Muffins

I am not gluten intolerant, but I love seeing all the creative gluten free recipes out there (that tend to also be lower in calories!). This weekend, I had the urge to bake something and decided to try out the newest flour substitute I've seen all over the internet lately: coconut flour.

Coconut flour is made from ground coconut meat. It is gluten and grain free, extremely low in carbs, high in fiber, and lower in calories than many flours. The flour I used (which I found at Whole Foods) had 248 calories, 14 g of protein, and a whopping 24 g of fiber in 1/2 cup, versus 278 calories, 8 g of protein and only 3 g of fiber in 1/2 cup of white flour. While nutritious, coconut flour can be tricky to work with as it absorbs a lot of moisture. For the best results, coconut flour requires an equal ratio of liquid to flour, so it works the best in recipes that have a lot of wet ingredients.

For my first foray into coconut flour baking, I wanted to also take advantage of the abundance of fresh zucchini available now to make some kind of zucchini coconut flour muffin. When figuring out how to make my muffins, I was inspired by these recipes from Amyella, The Well Fed Homestead and The Lean Green Bean. This is what I came up with:

Recipe:

Calories: 92 | Fat: 2g | Cholest: 53mg | Sodium: 72mg | Carbs: 16g | Fiber: 3g | Sugars: 11g | Protein: 3g

1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup raisins
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 eggs
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tbsp honey
1 1/3 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup grated zucchini
2 mashed ripe bananas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix dry ingredients (coconut flour through salt) together in a large mixing bowl. 

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, then mix in the rest of the wet ingredients (through vanilla extract). 

Fold in the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until well combined, then mix in the zucchini and the mashed banana. The batter will be fairly wet and a little chunky.

Pour into a greased muffin pan and bake for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees, or until the muffins are brown around the edges and seem firm in the middle.

Makes 14 muffins.

These came out really well! The coconut flour definitely has a different texture, but the muffins were light, moist, and sweet but not to sweet. The only thing I would do differently is to add walnuts to up the protein and add a nice crunch. I actually planned to use walnuts this time, but had a less than 1/4 cup left and couldn't find the mythical second bag I bought. #bloggerfail These are a great snack and 2 muffins (at only 92 calories each!) topped with peanut butter would make a nutrition-filled delicious breakfast.

Q: What's your favorite flour substitute? Are you going gluten free?