Grain Free Chunky Monkey Muffins

Oh, what a bad blogger I have been! Having not posted a brand new recipe since Christmas, I knew it was high time I got on with it! 

So, on a blustery April Sunday afternoon, baking was on the agenda, and these lovely muffins were just  begging to be blogged. Two overly ripe bananas were the starting point, and the rest just fell into place. I had intended to blend the peanut butter in with the immersion blender, but decided at the last minute that the crunchy peanut chunks in the peanut butter would lend a lovely texture to the muffin, and I was right! Smooth peanut butter would work as well, and if that’s all you have, don’t dismay. The flavour will still be lovely!

You will notice there is no added sugar in the batter. With two bananas, and the chocolate chunks, I think they are perfectly sweet enough. They are grain free, gluten free and dairy free too, for those who avoid dairy! Lovely for breakfast, or with an afternoon cup of tea, I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

Grain Free Chunky Monkey Muffins

Batter:

1/3 cup coconut flour

1/3 cup arrowroot flour/starch

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 ripe bananas

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 eggs

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Add ins:

¾ cup crunchy peanut butter (natural, no sugar added!), at room temperature!!

¾ cup chocolate chunks (or chips...Enjoy Life are my favourite!)

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Topping:

Sliced fresh bananas for the tops

Preheat oven to 375F.

Line a 12 section muffin tin with parchment liners and set aside.

In a medium sized mixing bowl mix all the batter ingredients together 

with an immersion blender until well combined.

Fold in the peanut butter and the chocolate chunks with a silicone spatula 

or wooden spoon until completely mixed.

Scoop evenly into lined muffin tins, and top with sliced bananas.

Bake in preheated oven for 22-24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for 4 minutes, and then remove from pan to wire rack to cool completely.

Store leftovers at room temp for 1 day, or in the fridge for 2-3 days. Freeze for longer storage. 

Cranberry Coconut Breakfast Bars

I apologize, dear readers, for the lack of recipes lately. Between the holidays, a promotion at work, and life in general, it seems I have been a wee bit side tracked when it comes to getting recipes posted. Lots has been going on in the kitchen, but when all was said and done, something had to give, and the blog has suffered. I intend to correct that here and now though by giving you a wonderful grain free bar that is perfect for a quick breakfast or snack. These bars are heading to work with me tomorrow for an early morning staff training (along with another soon to be posted recipe...Grain Free Coconut Cinnamon Streusel Muffins). Not too sweet, portable, and full of yummy grain free nutrients to fuel your morning...or your break, or whenever you need a satisfying bite to eat. We usually cut these into at least 16 bars, and they store well in the freezer for those crazy busy mornings. 

Cranberry Coconut  Breakfast Bars

3 eggs

3 very ripe bananas (mine were previously frozen and thawed)

1 cup full fat milk kefir or yogurt  

1/3 cup gently melted coconut oil, cooled slightly

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup coconut sugar

2/3 cup coconut flour

¼ cup Arrowroot flour/starch

¼ cup chickpea flour

¼ cup ground Chia seeds

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp of salt

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1 cup fruit-juice-sweetened dried cranberries

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (Organic Traditions is my fav!)

Preheat oven to 375F. Grease a 9X13 glass baking dish or line with parchment paper and set aside. 

Beat the eggs, kefir, coconut oil, vinegar, vanilla and bananas together in a large mixing bowl until frothy with an immersion blender.  Add the coconut sugar, flours, baking soda, and salt. Mix well again ensuring there are no lumps left.

Mix in the dried cranberries and coconut  with a wooden spoon or spatula to evenly distribute.

Scrape the batter into prepared pan, and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cool in the pan completely before cutting into desired shape. 

Store in an airtight container for 3-4 days in the refrigerator, or wrap individually and freeze for up to 6 months. 

Grain Free Banana Donuts

I have been dying for a reason to try out my newest kitchen toy! I picked up this sweet donut pan in a kitchen store on a weekend away in Niagara a few weeks back. I have been on the lookout for a new one for a while, since the ones that I had and lent out a few years back sadly never found their way back to me :(   Needless to say, I was very excited to find this one without shipping costs attached! It is slightly bigger than the ones that I had, which is kinda nice. Now I am wishing I had bought 2!!
 The 4 over ripe bananas lounging on my counter provided me with just the inspiration  I needed to try it out yesterday. (it also may have been the irritated look from my eldest when he picked up said bunch of  bananas  and they started to peel themselves...those babies needed a recipe, and quick!) 

 The results were awesome, bang on first time out of the gate (love it when that happens!) 

Grain Free Donuts, who'da thunk it!! My mind is already spinning with what new flavour combos to try!!

 

 Anyhoo, if you don't have one of these seriously cool donut pans, these darlings would bake up quite nicely in a mini muffin pan as well, with maybe just a few minutes added to the baking time. 

Grain Free Banana Donuts

4 bananas, very ripe!
3 eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 Tbsp Apple cider vinegar(raw, unpasteurized!)
1/2 cup coconut flour
3 Tbsp arrowroot flour/starch
2 Tbsp chick pea flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350F
Using a silicone spatula, (or a paper towel) and a big smear of butter, liberally grease a donut pan, making sure to coat all of the surfaces. Set aside.

Mix all ingredients together well in a large mixing bowl with an immersion blender. Scrape sides of bowl to make sure everything is incorporated evenly.

Scrape batter into a medium sized zip top freezer bag, and snip off the bottom corner to make an impromptu piping bag.

You want the hole in the corner of the bag to
be just big enough to do one nice circle of
batter in the cavity.

Pipe the batter evenly into the greased pan, you will use about half of the batter.

Bake in preheated oven for 11-12 m or until cooked thru and just starting to brown at the edges.

Remove from oven, run a knife carefully around the edges and flip donuts out onto a wire cooling rack.
Cool pan and repeat the process with the remaining batter.***This depends on the size of your pan! I found another one at Sobeys yesterday, and it is bigger. They took about 2-3 minutes longer to bake, and took more batter!

I often cool things on the deck railing right
outside my back door...shhh! Don't tell
the neighbors or my food may
start disappearing!

Cool completely and serve as is, or dip into chocolate glaze.

Chocolate Glaze: 

1 cup Enjoy Life Chocolate chips
2 Tbsp coconut oil

Suspend a heat proof bowl (stainless steel works well) over a pot of simmering water (it shouldn't touch the water!) and melt together the chocolate chips and coconut oil. Stir the mixture until it is smooth. Dip each donut (I dipped the top side, it looked nicer this way!) and set back on the wire cooling rack. Refrigerate to set the chocolate glaze. Store any leftovers in fridge to keep the glaze firm.

Amazing Grain Free Nut Free Banana Bread

Since going grain free, there are some old staples that have been lacking in our house, or so I was reminded (with all love and affection of course) by my eldest son recently. Upon seeing some really ripe bananas on the counter, he pointed out how long he has gone without banana bread (poor thing J ) I have not made any grain free loaves of any kind as of yet,  so the challenge was on. The resulting loaf was awesome, very moist and banana-ey, and received two thumbs up from the poor banana bread deprived teenager. I had used an entire cup of chocolate chips in the trial run, but I thought the chip to bread ratio was a bit much, so reduced it to ¾ of a cup , and thought the results were much better. (Said teenager however, said that 1 cup was just fine, so use your judgement on the amount of chips to use!)
The first batch I made had some issues with the very bottom sticking in the pan, so I lined the pan the next time with a strip of parchment, and it came out beautifully. 

Amazing Grain Free Nut Free Banana Bread

4 eggs, preferably pastured

3 small bananas or 2 large ones

¼ cup coconut oil, softened  

½ cup Coconut flour
1/4 cup chickpea flour

2 tbsp arrowroot flour

1/3 cup coconut sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup plain kefir or yogurt, preferably full fat

Pinch of salt

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¾-1 cup chocolate chips (Enjoy Life are great)

Butter or coconut oil butter ghee spray to grease pan, plus a piece of parchment if desired.

Preheat oven to 375F.

Grease a loaf pan well with butter or the coconut oil butter ghee spray (add a layer of parchment if desired)

With an immersion or stick blender blend all of the ingredients together until very well blended. Scrape sides to incorporate everything well. Stir in chocolate chips and let batter stand for 5 minutes to thicken up.  Scrape into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 45-50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Loosen edges with knife, remove from pan and cool on wire rack before cutting.

Grain Free Coconut Hemp Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

In my house right now, I am feeding two bottomless pit teenagers, who are both becoming increasingly aware of why we eat the way we do, which is both amazing and gratifying to watch. That being said, finding healthy food to fill and sustain them can sometimes be a big challenge. Their taste buds, as well as their acceptance of “healthy” treats, have been evolving over the last year, and they are now easier to feed the way we eat, but not easy to keep full.  (don’t lose heart if you are trying to transition reluctant eaters to a healthier lifestyle, perseverance is key, it will pay off, trust me!) I have been doing a lot of baking with almond flour since switching to a grain free lifestyle, but with the amount the boys eat, it can be very expensive!  I bought a bag of hempseed flour at Goodness Me, and made these muffins with it.

They combine coconut flour with hempseed flour and make a nice moist muffin at a fraction of the cost of almond flour. Hemp (not that hemp!!) is a nutritional powerhouse that provides fiber  omegas, and protein, and a host of other benefits. It is also is very environmentally friendly and green. The more research I do, the more I want to incorporate hemp products (not that hemp!!) into our daily lives.

Grain Free Coconut-Hemp Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

2 very ripe bananas (mine were fairly large)

4 pastured eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup kefir or plain yogurt (full fat!)

1 Tbsp Apple cider vinegar

½ cup coconut flour

¼ cup hemp flour

2 Tbsp coconut sugar

1 tsp baking soda

¼ cup coconut oil, melted

Pinch of salt

½ cup chocolate chips (Enjoy Life are awesome)

Preheat oven to 350F

In a large mixing bowl, (or a blender) combine the bananas, eggs, vanilla, apple cider vinegar and kefir together well with an immersion blender. Blend till very well combined and a bit frothy. Add all of the dry ingredients except for the chocolate chips, and blend again until well combined. Let stand for a few minutes to thicken up a bit. Fold in the chocolate chips, and divide evenly between 12 muffin tins (well greased or lined with papers (I like this brand!!)

Bake for 25-30 minutes in preheated oven, or until toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean.  Remove from oven and let stand in pan for 5 minutes. Remove to cooling rack and cool (at least slightly!!) before eating.

Grain Free Banana Muffins

Somehow when transferring my recipes over from my recipe page on Facebook, this one was missed! Jim recently requested them, so I had to hunt down the recipe. Apparently it has been too long since I have made them! I have updated this recipe a bit from the one posted over there, taking out one egg, and increasing the oven temperature but decreasing the cooking time.
We don’t like overly sweet muffins, feel free to increase the honey or coconut nectar to ½ a cup if you feel like a sweeter muffin.
I think my favourite part of working with grain free "flours" is the mixing. With regular flours, you have to be careful not to over mix, for fear of releasing the gluten in the flour,(this results in a tough muffin.) With the grain free "flours" this is not an issue, just the opposite in fact. They need the extra mixing to ensure the flours and eggs are thoroughly combined.

Grain Free Banana Muffins 
1 c. almond flour (JK Gourmet is my fav, it is nice and fine)
6 Tbsp. coconut flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. sea salt
½ c of milk, kefir or yogurt
¼  c coconut oil, melted
¼ cup honey or coconut nectar
2 bananas, very ripe!
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
Optional ingredients:
1 cup chopped walnuts
OR
1 cup chocolate chips (I like the Enjoy Life brand)

Preheat oven to 375F, and prepare your muffin tin either by greasing or using non-bleached paper liners.
Put all ingredients except walnuts/chocolate chips in a large mixing bowl, combine thoroughly with immersion blender. (I am sure you could put everything into a blender and whiz till well combined, or whisk VERY vigorously if you don’t have an immersion blender)
Add walnuts or chocolate chips and stir to combine. (you can even use both, I bet it would be tasty! If you do, I would use ½ cup of each)
Scoop into muffin tin lined with papers (or greased) about 2/3 full. (Should fill 12)

Bake in preheated oven for  20-25 minutes on the center rack.
Let cool in pan for 5 min before removing from pan to a cooling rack.