Banana Buckwheat Muffins

Banana Buckwheat Muffins

Being home during the pandemic has allowed for a lot more time to bake.  This is evident for many people it seems as it is getting increasingly difficult to find flour and yeast. 

So I decided to try a recipe I have never tried with some other flours I had in the house.  This is a slight adaptation from the original recipe found in Nourishing Meals by Alissa Segersten and Tom Malterre.

Banana muffins are a staple in my house, so I thought this would be a easy recipe to try and especially test out on the kids to see if they would notice a difference.  These muffins are dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free and refined sugar-free.  They are great for anyone who has allergies to any of these ingredients.

I've never used buckwheat flour before, but I had recently picked up a small bag by Bob's Red Mill to try out.    The muffins smelled amazing - just like any other banana muffin I've made before.  They had a much darker colour, almost like I had mixed cocoa in it.  The muffins were a little denser than I'm used to, but they still had a very texture.  The flavour is distinct; I'm assuming it is the buckwheat flour.  It was not subtle and the kids definitely picked up on the flavour and of course for them it was "not a banana muffin" anymore.  That is not to say that it was still not good.  My husband and I enjoyed the muffins, but it is definitely different from what I was used to.

So without further ado.....here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
Dry:
2-1/4 cups buckwheat flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Wet:
2 cups mashed bananas (about 5 bananas)
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/3 cup avocado oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup non-dairy milk (I used oat milk)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Line a 12-cup muffin pan with liners.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.

3. In another (medium) bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients.  Begin with about 1/2 cup of the milk.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk together.  If the batter is too thick, add more milk up to the other 1/2 cup.  The batter should come off the whisk, but not so much that it is thin and runny.

4. Fill each cup all the way.  If you fill 3/4 of the way, you will get about 18 muffins instead.

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Cool completely on a wire rack before storing in an airtight container.

Smarties Cookies

This cookie recipe comes together pretty easily and makes about 2-2.5 dozen cookies (depending on your size).  You can substitute the Smarties for chocolate chips if you like.

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups Smarties
1 cup butter, softened
1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4  tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F.  Grease a large baking sheet, or line it with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl beat butter and brown sugar with electric mixer until creamy.  Beat in vanilla and eggs.  Beat in flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. Drop by rounded tablespoons on to baking sheet, about 2-inches apart.  Flatten cookies slightly and press 4-5 Smarties into the top of each.

4. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until edges are lightly golden brown but center is still soft.  Cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing them to a rack to cool completely.

5. Cookies can be stored in an airtight bag or container for up to one week.

Holiday Baking: Sugar Cookies

Baking is one of my favourite things, and I especially love holiday baking.  Besides fudge, sugar cookies are probably my most favourite thing to bake at Christmas time.  It's probably because of all the different cookie cutter shapes and fun decorations that can be used.  The part that I don't like is how much time it can take to make them: chilling the dough, rolling the dough, decorating and so forth.

While I've played with various sugar cookie recipes over the years, there's one that I always go back to.  Of course this year, excited to make sugar cookies with my 4 year old, I couldn't find the recipe I wanted to use.  And of course, with a baby in the house, time got the best of me.  So I turned to this great little recipe that also makes delicious sugar cookies.  The only difference is that there is no chilling time - you press the dough into moulds and bake away!

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1-1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Lightly spray the pan cavities with cookie spray.

2. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended.  Beat in egg and extract; mix well.

3. Combine flour and salt; add to butter mixture.  Beat until well blended.

4. Press dough into cavities, filling 2/3 full.  Bake 9-10 minutes or until light brown around the edges.  Cool in pan 5 minutes.  Turn pan over to remove cookies.  Cool completely on cooling rack.

5. Decorate as you wish: dust with icing sugar, sprinkle with sugar crystals, colour with icing.

Note: To add to the festive nature of the season, I like to mix in red and green sugar crystals with the dough before baking.  It gives the cookies a nice pop of colour and they look lovely even without any decorations.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Welcome!

My name is Erica. I am the wife to an amazing husband and the mother to a beautiful little girl. I am currently on maternity leave, and as I am slowing getting the hang of managing my time as a new mom, I am venturing back into the kitchen.

I love food and I love cooking - especially baking. Here I hope to share some of my adventures in the kitchen, whether they be my tried and true recipes or new experiments that may or may not turn out so well.

So come along for a ride and experience what goes down in my kitchen.