Kid-Approved Banana Date & Pecan Muffins
- Gaby Rodgers
- 28 minutes ago
- 2 min read
There's a particular kind of chaos that comes with having the grandkids over, the good kind, the kind where the kitchen ends up dustier than I'd like but everyone's laughing. Baking together is one of the easiest ways to fill an afternoon, and it comes with a bonus: something delicious at the end of it.
This is a recipe I've made so many times I honestly can't tell you where it came from, torn from a magazine maybe, or copied out of a cookbook a friend lent me years ago. All I know is the card is covered in muffin batter and my own scrawly handwriting by now, which feels about right.
And they are gluten free and dairy free too!
Video: Cooking with the grandkids is one of my very favourite things to do.
Image: There's something really special about handwritten recipes.
Healthy Banana, Date & Pecan Muffins: Recipe
These Banana, Date & Pecan Muffins are a great place to start if you're baking with little ones. They're forgiving (little hands are not known for precision), naturally sweetened, and every step has a job a child can do: mashing bananas, cracking eggs, sprinkling toppings.
Dry ingredients:
2 cups almond meal
1/4 cup roughly chopped pecans, some extra for topping
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
Wet ingredients:
1 cup fresh dates, pitted & chopped
3 free range or organic eggs
1/4 cup organic coconut oil, melted
2 large bananas + 1 extra thinly sliced
1 tsp chia seeds
1 tbsp maple syrup drizzling (optional)
Method:
I preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced).
I get the grandkids combining the dry ingredients in a bowl. It's a good "pouring and stirring" job for little ones.
In a food processor, I blend the dates, eggs, oil, and 2 mashed bananas.
We combine the wet and dry mixtures
We divide the mixture among 8 lined muffin holes, perfect for tiny hands with a spoon.
We top with banana slices, pecans and chia seeds.
Bake for 30–40 minutes, until golden and springing back to the touch.
Drizzle with maple syrup to serve.
Beyond the muffins themselves, there's something quietly important in this kind of time together: my grandkids learning kitchen skills, a bit of independence, and me getting a front row seat to their curiosity.
No pressure, no perfection needed. Just mashed banana and a bit of mess worth making.
Hope you enjoy both the making and the eating! Now, these are just pictures of some beautiful muffins, I haven't managed to snap mine yet before they are all eaten - next time though!
Gaby xo
