These Gluten Free Pina Colada Banana Muffins with Cool Whip topping are a hybrid between a muffin and a cupcake. They have a sweet pineapple flavor with a coconut undertone. Top with Cool Whip for a little indulgence.
First of all, I’m too lazy to figure out how to put the correct punctuations in the title of this recipe. Where the heck do you find the squiggly line that goes over the “n” and isn’t there some fancy apostrophe thingy that goes over one of the “a’s” in “colada”?
My husband speaks Spanish and even majored in Spanish, so you would think he knows. I asked him. He gave me a blank stare. So, no, he doesn’t know. When his answer began with, “Try going to the control panel of the computer…” I pretty much tuned him out and nodded like I was paying attention. That’s getting a little too techie for me over here.
Really all people care about is another yummy recipe, right? At least I hope so. Because the second that people start critiquing me on my grammar and writing skills, this blog will go up in a torentuous (see, I don’t even think that’s a word, but it sounds like it should be) ball of FIRE.
Anywho, I’m playing catch up here with a bunch of recipes that I made during the month I waited for our stuff to arrive in Hawaii. I’ll tell you one thing, it’s pretty tricky to bake, cook, AND take pictures with basically a pot, a pan, paper plates, and plastic ware for your props.
Oh, and don’t get me started on trying to take pictures in the bipolar weather here. One second it’s RAINING, and the next it’s CLEAR BLUE SKIES with birds chirping all around. Or, like this morning, it’s pouring down rain with clear blue skies and birds chirping simultaneously. I don’t get it.
So, point being, don’t judge on the quality of these pictures. I had limited resources…and PATIENCE. But the latter excuse is always an issue. Haha!
Moving on to the recipe.
Can we just all agree that a cupcake is basically a glorified muffin??? They’re pretty much the same thing. I like to think that muffins are slightly healthier because they use slightly less sugar, but c’mon, if you’re eating a muffin for breakfast, chances are you’re in for a bit of a sugar high.
Sooooo…
…to make sure you get that sugar high you are anticipating, I decided to just go ahead and top these “muffins” with Cool Whip. Okay? Mmm, K! Because just like a muffin isn’t really a cupcake, Cool Whip isn’t really frosting. Muah ha ha!
Gluten Free Pina Colada Banana Muffins with Cool Whip topping people!
Try them. You’ll like them. (Wait, isn’t that a direct line from Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham?)
Basically we’re talking a banana muffin made primarily with coconut flour (as well as coconut oil) with chunks of fresh pineapple tidbits mixed throughout.
Tender.
Moist.
Fruity.
TROPICAL!
And what better place to bake a tropical muffin than in Hawaii??? AM-I-RIGHT?!
The coconut flour in these cupcakes muffins creates a tender crumb and adds a bit of coconutty flavor. By using coconut oil instead of butter, these muffins are actually dairy free, minus the Cool Whip on top, which I guess you could omit…sad, SAD choice…but still delicious.
The bananas add to the moistness of the muffin, while also giving an extra tropical punch. Bananas are tropical aren’t they? Who knows! They seem tropical to me, however…
(Insert side-note)
Hardly any fruits here are grown locally, even the pineapples. GASP! I guess the land is so expensive, that less and less farmers are growing produce here. Most of the produce is shipped in from the mainland. So all those people that tell you how delicious the fruit was when they came to Hawaii to visit…well, really they were just eating mainland fruit and thinking it was grown here. Haha! You’ve been fooled.
Well, except for the fresh mangoes that my neighbors keep bringing me from their own mango trees. Now those are FRESH!
Anyway, back to muffins.
Definitely add FRESH pineapple to these muffins, not the canned stuff. It makes such a difference! The chunks of pineapple play so well against the coconut and banana and really round out the entire flavor profile. If you have to go canned, I won’t judge, but make sure you really squeeze out all that extra juice so the muffins don’t collapse with the excess liquid.
Whatever route you decide to go, just know it will be a good morning with these babies for breakfast, or a wonderful evening with these as dessert. Your pick!
Are you a muffin or cupcake fan?
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled to touch
- 4 small bananas, mashed
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup coconut flour
- ½ cup brown rice flour
- ½ cup potato starch
- ¼ cup tapioca starch
- 1 cup chopped fresh pineapple, plus more for topping
- 1 container Cool Whip
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin tins with paper liners. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, beat together coconut oil, sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Add eggs one at a time and beat for 30 seconds, scraping down the sides as needed. Add vanilla and mix until incorporated.
- In a smaller mixing bowl, sift together baking powder, baking soda, salt, xanthan gum, cinnamon, coconut flour, brown rice flour, potato starch, and tapioca starch. Add half of dry ingredients to wet mixture and mix on low until combined.
- Mash bananas and add to batter. Mix on low until combined. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix on low until combined. Fold in chopped fresh pineapple.
- Fill muffin tins ½ way full and bake at 350 degrees for 23-25 minutes or until tops spring back at touch of a finger and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool in tins for 3-5 minutes. Remove from tins and cool on cooling rack until completely cooled.
- Add a spoonful of Cool Whip and a few pineapple chunks to the tops of the muffins before serving. Serve immediately.
