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.

Tahini Cookies

I remember seeing a recipe for Tahini Cookies once.  The writer said that it was a great alternative to peanut butter cookies.  It looked easy enough and the reviews were good, so I went out to buy tahini.  Of course life got in the way and the tahini sat in my cupboard for awhile.

Today was a snow day so I decided to bake cookies with my eldest while the baby napped.  I thought about those tahini cookies, but couldn't remember if I had saved that recipe so I looked for a new one.  This one had a lot a great comments and very few ingredients - all great things when I didn't know how much time I'd have before the baby woke up. (Original recipe: http://sweetpotatosoul.com/2014/12/life-changing-tahini-cookies.html)

These cookies came together really easily - perfect for little hands!  And the batter itself is delicious to eat - and safe since there's no raw egg.  This recipe is nut-free, dairy-free and egg-free, and also vegan!

Ingredients:
1 cup tahini
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup  honey
2 tsp cinnamon
1.5 cups rolled oats
1.5 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Mix the tahini, maple syrup, honey, cinnamon, vanilla and salt until well combined.

2. Add rolled oats and stir to combine.

3. Scoop out some dough into your hands and roll into a ball.  Place onto a parchment lined baking sheet and flatten slightly.  Repeat with remaining batter.

4. Bake in a preheated 350Ff oven for 10 minutes.

5. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Makes approximately 16 cookies.

Try adding chopped walnuts or chocolate chips for added flavour!

Vegan Chocolate Avocado Cupcakes

Technically I am not supposed to eat dairy; I don't digest it well. For awhile (before I got pregnant) I was pretty good about not eating dairy, but that didn't stop my love (or cravings) for it. Once I was pregnant I found that I could digest it a lot better, so I was back on the dairy bandwagon. And I love it too much to give it up again. With that said, I try to limit my dairy, and I always look for good recipes that don't have dairy. A lot of vegan recipes fall under that category, but I am not a big fan of the flavor. When I found this recipe I decided to try it out, and it turned out really good.

The recipe is originally from this site: http://www.cookingandme.com/2012/11/vegan-avocado-chocolate-cupcakes-eggless-cakes.html#

And the frosting isn't vegan (or dairy-free!) so you'll have to find another frosting recipe if you want a true vegan cupcake.

Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
6 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups sugar
4 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup chopped avocado (approx. 2 small avocados)
2 cups water
2 tbsp white vinegar
2 tsp vanilla extract


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line or grease 2 cupcake trays and set aside.
2. Chop up the avocado and add to a blender or a food processor.
3. Top off with oil, water, vanilla, vinegar, and sugar.
4. Blend well until the avocados get puréed completely.
5. Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, and salt in a bowl. Slowly add the wet ingredients while whisking.
6. Gently whisk together until you see no traces of the dry mixture in the batter.
7. Fill cupcake trays about 3/4 full.
8. Bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean or with dry crumbs. Tops may crack., but that's okay.
9. Cool completely before icing.

BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Ingredients:
1 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup softened butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon zest

Directions:
Beat together all the ingredients until stiff. If the frosting is too dry, add some milk (by the drops) or butter. If it's too runny, add more icing sugar.