Sunday morning Banana Muffins

Sunday mornings are usually pancake morning, but this morning I made these Banana Muffins (GF).  Of course, I can never make them exactly as the recipe says, but I was close.  I didn't want quite as much almond flour, so I added tapioca flour ~1/2 a cup and a 1/2 cup of oat bran.... Oh, I doubled the recipe 'cause making just 8 muffins is kind of silly around here.

• 4 flax eggs (4 tablespoons of flax and ~10 tablespoons water)
• 3 large ripe bananas
• 6 Tbsp maple syrup
• 6 Tbsp unsweetened flax milk (could be any nondairy)
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt (I like a little salt in everything.  I think it brings out the flavors better)
• 1 cup almond meal (ground from raw almonds - not almond flour or pre-ground storebought)
• 1 cup oat flour (ground from GF oats or not if you're not really sensitive)
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• 1/2 cup oat bran 
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips ('cause we love chocolate)

1. In mixer add water, flax, and bananas. Mix while doing step 2.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line muffin pans with 18 paper liners.
3. Add maple syrup, vanilla, non-dairy milk, and salt.
4. First mix the flours and baking powder in a separate bowl and then add to mixer, and mix a little, but don't mix thoroughly.
5. Finish stirring the muffin batter by hand as you add in the chocolate chips.
6. Put in lined muffin pans.  I got 18 muffins.
7. Bake for 25-34 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and they feel somewhat firm to the touch with a just little give.  (Feeling the done-ness is fun.)  Mine baked for 28 minutes. 
8. Remove from oven and let cool in the pans for 5 minutes. Remove and cool completely on a cooling rack. They can be tender when they're warm.  

(#8 is Minimalist Baker's directions, but I say, whatevs... just eat when you want and try not to burn yourself!  See how long you can keep your vultures away from fresh muffins.)

Hearty Cookie #2

Mine weren't nearly as ooey goey, but they are delicious! I didn't make the homemade PB chips, so I stuck in twice as many chocolate chips. I definitely classify these as breakfast cookies. The girls are delighted for a new breakfast treat (definitely will work for travel!), but they ate them this afternoon, as a snack--no problem.

Here are the stats for 1/15th of the recipe.  I'll try to make each cookie slightly smaller next time.

1 cup dates
1 medium ripe banana
2 Tbsp Peanut Butter
1 cup almond meal (ground from raw almonds)
1 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Soak pitted dates for 10 minutes and then stick them in your food processor.
Add banana, salt, vanilla, and pb; process them into the mixture.
Add oats and almond meal.

Put the mixture into a bowl and add the chocolate chips.
Form into cookies and bake at 350 (in a preheated oven) for15-20 minutes.  Mine were so big that they needed 19 minutes. (I let them go until 20--still good.)

 
Raw

 
Raw

 

Cooked

 Cooked

Here's a link to a hearty cookie (#1). The pb in the new recipe makes the cookies taste very different from the first ones.