Hawaiian Banana Date Muffins

Creamy mashed bananas make these muffins sweet and moist, while dates and walnuts add lots of textural interest. With the addition of coconut milk and coconut sugar, things take a turn towards the tropics! 

Hawaiian banana date muffins bring back memories of one of the first recipes I learned to bake: banana nut bread. Although you can’t go wrong with a basic banana bread, these muffins have an added twist of going Hawaiian!

All of my tropical favorites are in here–creamy bananas, sweet dates, rich coconut milk, and caramelly coconut sugar. One bite of these should get you feeling that ocean breeze! 

This is a perfectly delicious recipe on its own, but my latest obsession is enjoying these with a unique topping–applesauce! Whether store-bought or homemade applesauce, my favorite trick is to heat the applesauce and serve it warm alongside these muffins. I learned this in the South, where they often serve warm applesauce as a side dish with meals.

Just break open the banana date muffins and put a little dollop of the warm applesauce on top. And as with all of my muffin recipes, these are also perfect with a simple smear of vegan butter, drizzle of maple syrup, or just to grab and go as is! 

Banana Date Muffins Ingredients

• Ripe bananas – Make sure to use ripe bananas for this, as green or under ripe bananas will be sour in flavor and difficult to mash. You’ll need about 2 cups of mashed bananas which is usually about 2½ medium-sized pieces of fruit. 
• Organic coconut oil – Due to its unique solid-at-room-temperature consistency, coconut oil can serve as a replacement for butter in many vegan muffin recipes. Unrefined coconut oil will impart additional coconut flavor to your recipes while refined coconut oil will have no impact on the flavor whatsoever. 
• Coconut sugar – Has a richer flavor as compared to regular cane sugar, but with less moisture than brown sugar. If you can’t find coconut sugar, organic brown sugar will do the trick too. 
• Organic flaxseed meal – Ground flaxseed meal helps to thicken and bind the ingredients together, giving the muffins structure as well as keeping them moist. 
• Egg replacer – Store bought egg replacers are incredibly convenient and I like to have one on hand in my pantry. I’m partial to Bob’s Red Mill egg replacer but you can use any brand you like. You’ll need just 1 “egg”, prepared according to the package directions. 
• Whole wheat flour – Gives these muffins a wonderfully nutty, rich flavor! Even if you are more used to baking with all-purpose flour (aren’t we all!), I definitely recommend sticking with the whole wheat flour here as it makes these banana muffins extra hearty and unique. 
• Baking soda – A leavening agent that reacts with other ingredients in the batter to produce bubbles, thereby helping the muffins to rise and become fluffy. 
• Baking powder – Another leavening agent, but this stuff works a bit differently than the soda, and we do need the magic combination of both for this recipe. Where baking soda produces most of its aeration when the ingredients are mixed, baking powder continues to create lift throughout the baking time too. 
• Salt – Makes the sweet, nutty, and tropical flavors of these muffins taste all that much sweeter, nuttier, and more tropical! 
• Dairy free milk – Using coconut milk here will add to the tropical twist on these muffins, but almond milk would be a good option as well. 
• Chopped organic dates – Known as “nature’s candy”, dates are a type of stone fruit, produced by the date palm tree. They are unbelievably sweet and have a naturally sticky, creamy texture. 
• Chopped walnuts – I love the way walnuts add some crunch to these otherwise soft and chewy muffins. Use roasted, unsalted walnuts here.