Banana walnut mini muffins

I had two very ripe bananas, one in the freezer and one in the fruit bowl. I decided to make my trusty banana & walnut loaf, except this time, I'm making it into mini muffins. This recipe is adapted from my banana & walnut bread. 

Banana walnut mini muffins

Ingredients

yields 12 small muffins

½ C almond flour, sifted
2 tbsp + 2 tsp coconut flour, sifted
1 tbsp ground cinnamon, sifted
pinch of Himalayan pink salt
½ tsp baking soda, sifted
¼ tsp baking powder, sifted
½ C chopped walnuts 
2 tbsp Kerrygold butter & coconut oil, melted
2 eggs, separated
2 ripe bananas, mashed
2 tbsp organic honey
½ tbsp vanilla bean paste
1 tbsp cold filtered water
¼ C chopped walnuts, for toppings (optional)

Method

1. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the sifted almond flour, coconut flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix to combine thoroughly.
2. In a separate bowl, combine mashed bananas and melted butter and mix thoroughly. 
3. Separate egg yolks from the whites. Set the whites aside. Lightly whisk the yolks together.
4. Into the banana and butter mix, add in the egg yolks in 2-3 batches, honey, vanilla, and water. Mix until combined.
   
5. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients in 3-4 batches and mix until combined. Then stir in the chopped walnuts.
   
6. Let the batter sit in the fridge for an hour.
7. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 175°C and grease 12 muffin tins if required (I’m using silicone ones so I skip this step).
8. When the batter is ready, take out of the fridge. Whisk the egg whites into a soft peak.
9. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter. Combine thoroughly but take care not to knock the air out.
   
10. Carefully and gently spoon the batter into the muffin tins sitting a roasting pan (about 2-2½ tbsp for each tin). Top with chopped walnuts if desired.
    
11. Place the roasting pan in the middle rack of the oven.
12. Add a bit of water (about ½ cup) into the roasting pan. A shallow layer of water is enough.
13. Bake for about 23-28 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the muffins come out clean.
14. Remove the muffins from the oven and allow to cool in pan for about 5 minutes. Then transfer onto a wire rack to continue cooling. Pop out of the tins after they are completely cooled.

These little gems were scrumptious! A few observations:

1. Converting from the recipe for a loaf, these mini muffins take around ⅓ to half the time it takes for the loaf to bake.
2. I decreased the use of honey by a few drops as the bananas were very ripe and tasted quite sweet. I think I could've got away with even less honey.
3. The original recipe used all butter, but I ran out (only about 1 tbsp left) so I added in 1 tbsp of coconut oil and melted the two together. It worked.
4. Cooking in a water bath doesn't seem to be necessary when baking muffins. In fact, it hinders the baking process, requiring a longer time.
5. Splitting the eggs and folding the whipped egg whites in helped the muffins rise a bit. It was good practice but I don't think I'd bother with it again.