These Almond Butter and Jelly Chocolate Chip Paleo Banana Muffins are classic comfort food turned healthy! Perfect Paleo banana muffins get a boost with creamy almond butter, chocolate chips, and a dollop of healthy homemade cherry berry jelly in the center!
I’m coming at-cha today with TWO recipes wrapped up in one dozen glorious almond butter and jelly Paleo banana muffins. Is that a mouthful? In more than one way, YES!
Maybe it’s because I’m in withdrawal from not posting on Monday this week. Change is difficult. Still, it was nice to have a bit more time to enjoy the weekend, since it is summer after all, and, as I think we’re all feeling, summer is flying by!
Not without our share of drama, of course. The blog is still having tech issues, and I will be migrating hosts once again to hopefully get things running smoothly. Time will tell – oh how I wish I understood anything about the inner workings of websites!
So, depending on how things go with that this week, I may or may not be MIA for a couple of days. I am definitely hoping I don’t have to be – not posting on my regular routine confuses the heck out of me and makes me feel all “not-right” if that makes sense.
In other news, Drew has pinkeye and is missing a couple of days of his last week of camp – just one more reminder that I’m lucky to be “working” from home. But no, Michele, you really do “work.” Stop using the quotes!
Anyway, unless you actually have multiple children, I’m not sure you can totally appreciate the saying “it’s always something.” Because, I SWEAR there is literally always something “extra” going on over here that needs taking care of.
I should just expect it and chill the heck out, but I still worry what the next thing will be, and get thrown off when it happens. Maybe one day I’ll learn. Or maybe not – it’s only been 9 years of parenting that I haven’t figured it out yet.
But, please! Take me back to the muffins! I make muffins because life is hard and muffins make it less hard – anyone feel me? These are special ones, and sort of fitting for today’s post – since they involve one of my favorite classic comfort food combos – nut butter, jelly and bananas!
Have I mentioned that pre-Paleo, I ate peanut butter, banana and jelly sandwiches every day for lunch for like 10 years? Ask Adam – he thought it was oh-so-cute 10 years ago. Can’t say he thinks my meat and potatoes are “cute” nowadays, but that’s fine – I find them adorable 🙂
For these muffins, I experimented with making my own homemade jelly, once again. This time, in addition to the usual berries and maple syrup, I added gelatin to make it more, well, jelly like! Since I knew I wanted to put jelly inside the muffins and have it stay there mostly, I knew I needed it to gel a bit. You can do what I did, or use your own favorite jam/jelly recipe for these. My Paleo banana muffins do not discriminate when it comes to what jelly they’ll be baked with!
So, let’s get baking! Classic comfort food, made grain free, Paleo, and still totally 100% addicting and delicious.
Almond Butter and Jelly Chocolate Chip Paleo Banana Muffins
Almond Butter and Jelly Chocolate Chip Paleo Banana Muffins
Ingredients
For the Jelly *
- 3 cups frozen or fresh berries of your choice I used strawberries and cherries
- 1 and 1/2 tbsp pure maple syrup or raw honey
- 1 and 1/2 tsp grass fed gelatin I used Vital Proteins
- 2 tbsp cold water
For the Muffins
- 2 medium/large size overripe bananas
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup smooth almond butter
- 1/4 cup organic coconut sugar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/4 cups blanched almond flour
- 1/4 cup tapioca flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- pinch sea salt
- 1/2 cup dairy free soy free chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life brand)
Instructions
To make the Jelly **
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First, add the gelatin to the cold water in a small bowl and stir to dissolve.
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Then, in a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the berries, maple syrup or honey, and lemon juice and cook while stirring until the berries break down. Mash the berries as you stir and cook.
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Once the berries have broken down and the mixture is bubbly, turn the heat down to low and stir in the gelatin/water mixture little by little.
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Continue to allow the mixture to simmer while the gelatin dissolves. Remove from heat and allow to cool for about 10-15 minutes before transferring to a jar with a lid. Refrigerate for several hours to allow the jelly to set.
To Make the Muffins
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Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, mash the bananas well until smooth. Whisk in the eggs, coconut sugar, vanilla and almond butter until smooth and thick.
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In a separate bowl, combine the almond flour, tapioca flour, baking soda and salt.
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Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture until a thick, smooth batter forms. Stir in the chocolate chips.
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Prepare a muffin pan by lining with muffin cups or lightly greasing with coconut oil. Fill each cup about halfway with batter, then add 1-2 tsp of jelly, and cover with batter to fill nearly to the top. Continue to do this until the batter is used up - this recipe should make about 12 muffins.
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Bake in the preheated oven about 15-18 minutes, or until muffins have risen and tops have turned light brown. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
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Add more almond butter and jelly to serve with if you like! Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*This jelly recipe will make a full batch - more than you need for the recipe. Store leftovers in a tightly covered glass jar in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
**You can easily sub your own recipe or use your favorite store bought jelly or jam instead. If you make my recipe, I recommend preparing it a day before to allow time for the gelatin to set in the refrigerator.
What I Used to Make My Almond Butter and Jelly Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
Want more recipes for Paleo banana muffins? Try one of these!
Chocolate Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
Banana Almond Coffee Cake Muffins
What is your current experience with “it’s always something”?
Is summer really halfway over?
What was your longest stretch eating basically the same lunch every day? What was the lunch?
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I ate alot of PB&J when I was younger too. Also, turkey sandwiches and bagels. Lately my “its always something” has been related to our deck and outdoor furniture. I honestly feel like we have the worst luck when it comes to having furniture delivered! Also, the summer being halfway over really makes me feel like this deck process is taking forever- I really thought we would have plenty of time to enjoy it this summer!
It seriously seems like the summer came and went already somehow, even though I know we have more than a month left. Strange! Hopefully you WILL get to enjoy the deck into September when it’s still actually summer!
i like to eat repetitive meals like that, takes the planning out of things for me lol. I lived on pb English muffins for years as well as yogurt for lunch without missing a day. you didn’t tell me you were switching hosts! please fill me in with what happened. ugh.
Repetitive meals really do make things easier. Even just one a day where you don’t have to think but just know it’s a favorite makes me happy!
My obsession in college was Caesar salad with garlic croutons…I want to swim in this container of jelly haha looks so delicious… Been craving sweets since my 15 miler on Sunday!
If I’d known back then how easy it was to make my own jelly I definitely would have! I feel like caesar salad is or was a favorite for many people.
I need this. So badly. Obsessions in college. Hmmmm froyo from Arch’s Frozen Yogurt. With special k on top. Some things don’t change!
Some favorites really don’t change. It’s the little things that consistently make us happy 🙂
Good luck with the blog! I have noticed your site crashes on me a lot which is why I don’t comment as much.
Yeah it’s like that on the back end too which is really frustrating! Hopefully later this week it’ll be better, but I’m also planning to do some optimization hopefully in the coming month too. The blog is another “always something”
Peanut butter and fluff sandwiches…from like 2nd grade to celiac in 8th grade haha. I haven’t had jelly in a while but I know it’s a great baked good topping/flavor.
Yum, fluff! I never ate that consistently, I guess I missed the boat lol 🙂
My mom always says “it’s always something” because it IS always something! Haha! That will never dissipate!
PBJ will always be the best classic lunch! I miss the REAL gluten-free sugar-ified versions my momma would make me 😛
Skippy pb and smuckers is what comes to mind 🙂 I never skipped that banana either though!
I will always, always love any nut butter and jelly combo. And that’s amazing that you and Amanda posted similar recipes, but they’re different. I really love Paloe muffins, because they actually seem to be less complicated than regular muffins.
Yup, it’s like we wore almost the same outfit on the same day, lol 🙂 Hers looked amazing! I love Paleo muffins too, then again I’m biased!
Lunch has always changed up for me. Dinner is the meal that is always the same for SEVERAL years. For every year of college, I ate tuna salad on light wheat bread with lettuce and tomato. I’ve been having nut butter and jelly on pancakes (now made with arrowroot and/or coconut and/or cassava and/or tapioca flour) with a spinach/cacao nib smoothie for a good 5 years now. NOT sick of it.
I remember you mentioning your pancakes like that and they sound SO good 🙂 I just used a cassava and coconut flour mixture to “bread” chicken the other night and it was awesome. I remember light wheat bread from years back too, ugh.
Seriously the ugh for light wheat bread! Air and gluten and some chemicals . Haaa!
I am still a PB&J fiend after loving it throughout childhood. My nanny used to make us PB&J on matzo for the few years my parents attempted to implement Passover (I always caught my dad with a bagel…) and I hated matzo but would eat it with enough PB&J slathered on! I grew up allergic to tree nuts so peanuts have always been my nut butter of choice and continue to be although now sharing #1 with sunflower seed butter.
I forgot about PB&J on matzo! I still make that for my kids and it’s such a classic. Honestly I love matzo with almost anything – good stuff 🙂
So classic and simple and perfect. Making these ASAP. Like, I need ripe bananas now!!! And while I’ve always had a few different lunch standbys in my rotation, I ate the same Greek yogurt + banana + cereal combination for breakfast for at least five years.
I also had a cereal bowl that was almost the same for years involving bananas. I guess my love for bananas won’t ever change 🙂
The jelly surprise in the middle is awesomeness!
Agree, love that jelly!
I’m currently at the point where I’m eating (A)BJ sandwiches for lunch everyday, but it definitely hasn’t been going on for 10 years so you got me beat there. That being said, I’ve been eating oats for breakfast for at least 5 or 6 years 😆
At this point you have to at least try for the 10 with the oats before switching 🙂
These muffins need to be in my life asap! You can never go wrong with almond butter, jelly, and banana in my book! haha
I know, that combo has my heart lol 🙂