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Banana Walnut Muffins with Vegan Cream Cheese Mascarpone

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Oh, my. I don’t have enough good things to say about these muffins. Elevate your weekday snack – or make a fun weekend baked good for a crowd – with these amazing savory-sweet banana bread muffins. The whipped mascarpone frosting really puts them over the top.

Ingredients

Scale

Banana Walnut Muffins:

  • 1 cup almond meal
  • 1 cup oat flour
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • Pinch of sea salt
  • 3 medium super-ripe bananas (the spottier and more brown, the better!)
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
  • 1/4 cup plant-based milk of choice (I used almond milk)
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts

Vegan Cream Cheese Mascarpone:

  • 1 8-oz. container Kite Hill Plain Cream Cheese
  • 1/2 cup plant-based butter or margarine of choice
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • Pinch of sea salt

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 425º F. Grease a 12-count muffin tin, or line with baking cups, and set aside.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.
  3. In a separate medium mixing bowl, mash the bananas. Crack in the eggs, and whisk until well-beaten. And then add in the olive oil, maple syrup, milk, and vanilla extract. Whisk everything together until well-incorporated.
  4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir to combine, until no flour pockets remain.
  5. Add in the walnuts, and stir once more.
  6. Spoon your batter into the muffin cups. Fill all the way to the top, or just under.
  7. Bake for 5 minutes at 425º. Then – without turning off the oven – reduce the temperature to 350º and bake for an additional 16-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean and crumbly.
  8. While muffins are cooking, combine all mascarpone ingredients in a stand mixer, and beat until light and fluffy. Refrigerate the mixture to let firm up before frosting.
  9. Once the muffins are done cooking, remove them from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes in the baking tin. Then remove them and let finish cooling on a baking rack.
  10. Wait until muffins are fully cooled before frosting. Be as generous with the frosting as you please, and store leftovers in the fridge for up to 5-7 days. Because the muffins have a cream cheese-based frosting, they should also be refrigerated.

Notes

  • If you don’t need these muffins to be gluten-free, feel free to substitute 2 cups whole wheat flour in place of the 1 cup almond meal and 1 cup oat flour.
  • The initial high cooking temperature is a trick I learned from Sally’s Baking Kitchen. They allow the muffins to spring up and rise much higher than cooking them at – say- 350º for 20+ minutes. They’ll also give them a lighter, fluffier texture (and make them what I call ‘bakery-quality’ baked goods). Keep in mind – rising is all relative with gluten-free baked goods, which won’t rise as much as muffins made with a gluten-containing flour (like whole wheat).
  • This frosting is not designed to be super sweet – like an icing. If you prefer a sweeter frosting, add either 1-2 tablespoons of real maple syrup, or 1 cup powdered sugar to your mascarpone ingredients, and beat in the stand mixer until light and fluffy, as directed.
  • Feel free to use another brand of vegan cream cheese, if you prefer, but Kite Hill is the one I created the recipe with, and loved. Of all the vegan cream cheeses I’ve tested, this has the best texture, in my opinion.

Find it online: https://www.coachmontanadepasquale.com/banana-walnut-muffins-with-vegan-cream-cheese-mascarpone/