Banana breakfast muffins (gluten free! coconut flour! low fat!)

As I mentioned in my last post, I took the plunge and bought myself a Costco membership.  It’s a bit of a drive for me so I’ve only been there once, which is good because I blew through $200 like nobody’s business on that first trip.  Granted, I did pick up a lot of “junk” for zee boyfriend.  Costco has great prices on meat and some packaged stuff, but for fruits and veggies and such (I’m a human calculator to the point of being a little obsessive compulsive) the savings are negligible. Oh well, lesson learned a little late… I don’t think I’ll be renewing next year.

There’s something about the combination of fluorescent lighting, giant warehouse, and “DEALS DEALS DEALS” that put me into sort of a trance and I made a lot of – no, exclusively impulse buys.  Somehow I ended up with 16 cartons of egg whites.  How Jenny Craig of me!  But let me explain myself.  If you’ve ever cooked with coconut flour you know the recipes call for an absurd amount of eggs.  I’ve never had much success coconut flour recipes, not being a fan of dense, soggy, cardboardy baked goods. That is, aside from my microwave chocolate cake, which calls for egg whites and turned out terrible the one time I used a whole egg.  So I set out on a mission to make the perfect coconut flour muffin.

SUCCESS, my friends! I started with this recipe and substituted whites for half of the eggs, then cut back a single whole egg, then to none at all.  Guess which one was best?! While my yolk-less muffins rose beautifully, they were still a bit soggy and oily- so I cut back on the oil until I achieved perfection!  I’ve been tweaking the basic recipe all week with different add-ins and will continue to post my best concoctions until, well, I’m sick of muffins. Which will be NEVER.

Banana Muffins
Raspberry & Coconut
Makes 8

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. coconut flour (I like Bob’s Red Mill)
• 1 t. baking powder
• 1 t. cinnamon
• 1/8 t. salt
• 1.5 c. egg whites (equivalent to 6 whole eggs)
• 1 T. oil (melted coconut oil, butter, or macadamia nut oil all worked for me)
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1 dropper full liquid stevia (optional)
• 1/2 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:
1. In a food processor or medium bowl, combine dry ingredients- coconut flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
2. Add all other ingredients aside from walnuts and blueberries, if you’re using them.  Process in food processor or mix with hand blender until there are no lumps- I use my Cuisinart hand mixer.  Fold in walnuts (or berries or chocolate chips…).
3. Pour batter into lined muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees F (205 C) for 20- 25 minutes.

 

Nutritional Stats (per muffin- without nuts): 94 calories | 3 g. fat | 11 g. carbs | 3 g. fiber | 6 g. protein

Peach (or apple)-Pecan Muffins

Part 3 of my “What to do with crappy peaches” experiment. These were super moist, adapted from a gluten-free banana bread recipe- so if you don’t like moist baked goods, don’t try them. The flavor was great and I thoroughly enjoyed them, but the boyfriend was all “ughhh these are mussshhyy.”

Peach-Pecan Muffins
Raspberry & Coconut
Makes 4

Wet ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 2 T. melted coconut oil
• 1 egg
• 1 puree’d peach or 1/2 c. applesauce

Dry Ingredients:

• 3 T. coconut flour
• 1/8 t. salt
• 1/4 t. baking soda
• 1/4 t. cinnamon
• 1/4 c. pecans

Preheat oven to 350.  Whisk together the wet ingredients, then add dry ingredients, mixing well.  Fold in the pecans.  Bake in paper-lined muffin tins for 30-40 minutes, until the center no longer “gives” when poked.

Peach (or apple) Cupcakes

Part 4 of my “What to do with crappy peaches” experiment. Boyfriend’s favorite, and a close runner-up to the cookies, IMHO. I used frozen raspberries for a little zing to complement the subtle peach flavor.

Peach Cupcakes
Raspberry & Coconut
Makes 10

Dry Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Wet Ingredients:

• 1 puree’d peach or 1/2 c. applesauce
• 3 eggs, gently beaten with a fork
• 1 T honey
• 3 T coconut oil or butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix-ins:

• 1 cup of fresh or frozen raspberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a medium size bowl, mix dry ingredients with a fork until all lumps are gone.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients.  Add wet to dry and mix well, then gently fold in the berries.

In papered or lightly greased muffin tins, put about 1/4 cup of batter in each muffin tin.  Bake for 30-40 minutes, until the muffins are lightly browned on the top and a toothpick comes out clean when poked into the middle of the muffin.

Optional: frost with coconut butter, allowing the warm muffins to melt the “frosting” so it cools as a hard shell.  These are best enjoyed at room temperature, and like most coconut flour baked goods, better the next day!

Chocolate Cake for Breakfast

Chocolate cake! For breakfast!? This 150-calorie cake-y chocolatey big-as-your-fist treat is a totally sufficient breakfast if you smother it in butter!  I remember watching this Cosby skit with my dad a long long time ago- “chocolate cake for breakfast” became a running joke when he was on breakfast duty.

“Eggs! Eggs are in chocolate cake! And milk! Oh goodie! And wheat! That’s nutrition!”

Anytime Chocolate Cake
Adapted from Spoonful of Sugar Free
Dry Ingredients:
1 T. Coconut flour
2 T. Protein powder
2 T. Cocoa
1/2 t. baking powder
Pinch of salt

Wet ingredients:
1/4 c. egg whites
2 T. canned pumpkin
1 T. – 1/4 c. water
A few drops of vanilla and/or stevia, optional
Optional mix-ins: frozen blueberries, raspberries, or chocolate chips.

Grease a bowl with coconut oil, set aside. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then add wet ingredients and mix-ins, stir, and add water to thin (see video). Pour batter into the greased bowl, then nuke for 3-4 minutes, depends on your microwave. Flip the cake out of your bowl, put a paper towel on the bottom, and nuke it again for 1- 1.5 minutes. Schmear with butter or peanut butter and enjoy with a hot cup of coffee on a lazy Sunday morning. These are also good cold and get really fudgy when they sit in the fridge.

In case you’re interested, here are the nutritionals for the WHOLE cake:
Calories: 144
Fat: 2.3 g
Carbs: 18 g.
Fiber: 8 g.
Protein: 19.1 g.

Not too shabby!

Grain-free Banana Blondies

Confession time- I only buy bananas so they will turn brown and give me an excuse to make tasty treats! It’s been a while since I’ve made banana bread- so long, in fact, I’ve lost my recipe! I’ve adapted my banana “blondies” from this recipe. These are really tasty, and they keep well- I made them on Saturday and ate them for breakfast all week.

Banana Blondies

Grain-free, Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Sugar-Free

Dry Ingredients:

• 3/4 c. coconut flour
• 1/2 c. flax meal
• 2 tbsp. arrowroot powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Wet Ingredient1s:

• 5 eggs
• 2 large ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 T. honey
• 1/4 c. melted coconut oil
• 1/4 c. sunbutter (or other nut butter)

Mix-ins (I used ~1 c. chopped walnuts and ~1/2 c. coconut flakes):

• 1-2 c. of any of the following, use your imagination!: Chopped nuts Coconut flakes Trail Mix Dark chocolate chips

Directions:

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Puree all wet ingredients in a blender or mash with a fork in a separate bowl. Add wet mixture to dry mixture and blend well. Add in mix-ins and stir.

Grease a 13X9 casserole with coconut oil. Spread the mix evenly in the dish.

Bake at 325 for 40-50 minutes.