baking with basics

Last week, we had some bananas that were getting on the speckled side, and none of us eat them past their prime (especially not me!) so I set them aside and said I would use them for baking but as you know, last week was extremely busy and I didnt do a whole lot of anything last week, let alone bake!

So these poor bananas have been sitting in the fridge being passed over for days and days, fermenting and overall becoming very disgusting but perfect for baking!

FINALLY, after many days of telling myself to do it, today was the day.

And, today, I made all-natural almond butter muffins using this recipe as a guide (of course I didnt follow it exactly.... even when I mean to, I always seem to, .....umm, adjust)

So here's the original recipe and my adjustments:

½ cup packed pitted medjool dates (about 6 to 8 dates)

¼ cup closer to 1/2 cup hot water

¼ cup virgin coconut oil

¼ cup honey

¼ cup ground flax seeds

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup almond butter

1 cup quinoa flakes

½ cup almond meal flour (Bob’s Red Mill)

¾ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon sea salt

¼ to ½ cup mini chocolate chips (or cocao nibs)

My substitutions were that I used rolled oats instead of quinoa flakes (purely because I didnt have any); wheatberries for the almond meal, and ground about 1/8 cup walnuts to add in ("walnut meal") and added another substantial handful to the batter at the end. Wheatberries counteracts the need for baking soda so I didnt use any, and, honestly completely forgot about the salt until just now reading the ingredients, but would have used probably an 1/8 teasp. salt if I had used it. And ended up just decorating the tops of 3 muffins (oh yeah, I turned the recipe into muffins rather than cookies), with a few (about 4 each muffin) 73% chocolate chips. I wanted to be able to taste the muffins without any sugar at all and compare. I also used 1 1/2 very ripe bananas for the honey, and added a sprinkling of unsweetened coconut (even though now I know the coco oil provides plenty of coconut flavor -- yum!)

Other than these product substitutions, I followed the recipe exactly - baking at the same temperature and time, etc. However I used closer to 1/2 cup hot water because the date mixture the recipe describes wasnt mixing well with the banana and the coconut oil (which is more like a wax consistency to my surprise) but added just a TINY bit extra wheatberries to balance.

They came out great! I ate a LOT of the batter while I was scopping them into the muffin tins (and that was delicious as well) but tasted (you know, for quality control purposes :)) them after they came out and cooled a bit and so far so yummy! I can't wait to eat them for breakfasts or snacks; they taste great but have absolutely no added sugar (other than the fermented banana and the dates)

Im going to have to wait and do an actual taste test when I can't still taste the batter because I still think they turned out a bit on the sweet side, but, like I said, it as the batter that was so sweet tasting and a lot of that likely baked out. Ill keep you posted! :)

Now off to tidy the ol' room a bit before cozying into bed and reading for a bit before dozing.... hopefully easier than last night!