About six months ago a friend mentioned that she had done some baking with almond flour. Almond flour is very nutritious, readily available in health food stores and some grocery stores, high in protein and low in carbs and sugars. So me being me, I went to the health food store, bought a bag of almond flour, and put it in the freezer. It’s been in there, unopened, for a little under six months. Sticking to my New Year’s resolution to use up the food that is in my pantry and freezer, it was time to tackle the almond flour.
I had a couple of ripe bananas and was about ready to open up my ever-trusty Betty Crocker cookbook to my favorite banana bread recipe. For whatever reason, the almond flour came to mind and that was the mission for the day...find a recipe using bananas and almond flour.
On a blog by Elissa Goodman, a certified holistic nutritionist, she posted a recipe from True Food: Seasonal, Sustainable, Simple, Pure by Dr. Andrew Weil for Carrot-Banana Muffins. It’s a sugar-free, gluten-free recipe and is really delicious. (FYI, this was my first attempt at gluten-free baking). The combination of bananas, carrots and dates adds the perfect amount of sweetness. As an aside, I had about a half cup of dried blueberries so instead of using 1 1/2 cups of chopped dates, I used a cup of dates and then threw the dried blueberries in. Yum. For those of you who don’t like coconut, don’t worry. Unsweetened shredded coconut adds a little bit of texture, but the taste isn’t noticeable.
The recipe quantity is for 12 large muffins...I ended up with 17.
Carrot-Banana Muffins
Ingredients:
2 cups almond flour/meal
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
3 large eggs
3 bananas, mashed
½ cup unsalted butter, cubed and softened
2 tablespoons raw honey
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 ¼ cups pitted and chopped dates (I used 1 c. dates and 1/2 c. dried blueberries)
2 medium carrots, shredded
¾ cup chopped walnuts (I don't like walnuts; didn't use any type of nut)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Lightly oil a 12-cup muffin pan with expeller-pressed canola oil or line with paper liners.
In a large bowl, mx together the almond flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and coconut.
In another bowl, whisk the eggs, bananas, butter, honey and vinegar.
Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ones. Fold in the dates, carrots and walnuts.
Divide the batter among the muffin cups.
Bake for 40 minutes, until golden brown or a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. (Since there is no real flour, the muffins will not rise significantly)
Cool pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes and then turn the muffins onto the rack and let cool to room temperature.
Makes 12 large muffins.
No comments:
Post a Comment