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

---------------

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!)

------------

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. 

Grain Free Pumpkin Spice Muffins

When I whipped up my Grain Free Pumpkin Cream Cheese Streusel Muffins a few weekends ago, I was left with one cup of pumpkin puree...such a dilemma! I had already accomplished a lot of baking, and was tempted to just put it in the freezer for another day. But, being in the baking mode I decided to forge ahead and make one more batch of muffins. I used the same batter ingredients from that pumpkin muffin because it had spectacular flavour(why reinvent the wheel, right??) and simply added some soaked raisins and pumpkin seeds to it. This created an entirely different muffin! (which is also dairy and nut free to boot) I was going to list it as a variation with the Cream Cheese Streusel Muffins but the end results were so completely unlike each other, I felt they each needed a post of their own to let their little spirits shine :)

These ones have a more earthy and hearty feel to them, and scream fall harvest with every morsel. They are not quite as photogenic as the cream cheese ones,  but what they lack in beauty, they make up for in taste.

A note on the soaked raisins...feel free to skip this step if you like. I am not a fan of chewy raisins, and this re-hydrates and infuses them with a lovely vanilla flavour that is more to my liking. Totally skipable, but for me a necessary step!

Go ahead, try both recipes...neither will disappoint! Submerse yourself in the flavours of autumn, and enjoy each and every bite!

Grain Free Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Muffin Batter:

½ cup coconut flour

1/3 cup arrowroot flour/starch

2 tbsp chickpea flour

½ cup coconut sugar

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp cloves

1/8 tsp allspice

½ tsp freshly ground nutmeg

¾ tsp freshly grated ginger (use a kitchen rasp) or ½ tsp dried ginger

3 eggs

2 Tbsp coconut oil

1 cup pumpkin puree (not pumkin pie filling!)

1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

Add-Ins: 
1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup raisins (optional soaking method: place in heat proof glass bowl, cover with boiling water and a splash of vanilla. let stand for 10 minutes, drain and use as you would other raisins.

Preheat oven to 375F.  Line 12 cup muffin tins with papers or grease well and set aside.

Measure all muffin ingredients EXCEPT for the add ins, into a large mixing bowl and blend well with an immersion blender. Measure in the raisins (drained well if you are soaking)and the pumpkin seeds. Mix well with a wooden spoon or spatula.

Divide batter evenly between the 12 sections of the muffin tray. 

Bake in preheated oven for 20-23 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Remove from tray and let cool on a wire rack. Store leftovers in fridge or freezer. 

Grain Free Pumpkin Cream Cheese Streusel Muffins

It seems everything is coming up pumpkin right now. Pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin spice cheesecakes, pumpkin spice smoothies, pumpkin spice cookies and muffins…I could go on….and on…and on…!!! But, I guess it is the season, and... so as not to be left out, I came up with these beautiful muffins on the weekend. They are the perfect melding of warming spices, mixed with the smooth cream cheese and the delicious pumpkin, you will be tempted to eat more than one!

Don’t let the long list of ingredients deter you from giving these muffins a try!   I believe, of all the muffins I have made over the last few decades, these might now be my personal favourites!

For the pumpkin puree, you can either cook a pie pumpkin (see my easy Crockpot cooking method at the bottom of my Pumpkin Bar Recipe) and use one cup of that,(freeze the rest!) or purchase a good quality organic puree (not a pie filling!)

Grain Free Pumpkin Cream Cheese Streusel Muffins

Cream Cheese Filling:

1 cup cream cheese, room temp

1 tbsp honey

1 egg

---------

Muffin Batter:

½ cup coconut flour

1/3 cup arrowroot flour/starch

2 tbsp chickpea flour

½ cup coconut sugar

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp cloves

1/8 tsp allspice

½ tsp freshly ground nutmeg

¾ tsp freshly grated ginger (use a kitchen rasp) or ½ tsp dried ginger

3 eggs

2 Tbsp coconut oil

1 cup pumpkin puree (not pumkin pie filling!)

1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

------------

Streusel Topping:

½ cup chopped pecans

3 Tbsp coconut sugar

2 tsp arrowroot flour/starch

1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375F

Line a 12 section muffin tin with muffin papers or grease well.

Combine Cream Cheese filling ingredients together in your stand mixer or electric beaters until nice and smooth. Set aside.

Measure all muffin ingredients into a large mixing bowl and blend well with an immersion blender. Set aside.

In a small mixing bowl, measure the streusel topping ingredients and mix well. Set aside.

Divide batter evenly between the 12 sections of the muffin tray.  Using a Tbsp, nestle a scoop of the cream cheese mixture down into the center of each muffin, and continue, using up all of the cream cheese.

Sprinkle the streusel topping evenly over the tops of all of the muffins.

Bake in preheated oven for 23-25 minutes or until the cream cheese filing looks to be set.

Remove from oven, and let stand in the muffin tin for 5 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool the rest of the way.

Refrigerate any  leftover muffins for up to 3 days.

Grain Free Rhubarb Pecan-Coconut Streusel Muffins

My rhubarb is doing really well this year. While it is a reasonably easy plant to grow, you need patience for the first few years after planting your initial crowns. The plants need the first year to establish a good strong root system, and it is recommended not to pull any stalks during this initial growth time. The second year, you can harvest a small amount, but only at the beginning of the season. Herein lies the issue with my rhubarb. When I planted my first plant, in what I thought would be its forever home, I vastly underestimated the size of it in comparison to the space it would take up in the end of my herb garden. Season two saw it move to a second home, which, in hindsight was no better than the first. Two years ago, I found the perfect spot for it in my yard, and finally gave it a(nother) forever home (I say that now, lol!) Last year, the second year in its happy home, it came up sparsely, and did not have a great season overall. I was afraid, by the end of the year, that I was going to be buying a new plant and starting all over this spring. 

This tenacious plant proved me wrong though, and came up beautifully this spring, and has graced me with a beautiful crop of nice tart rhubarb. I am thinking I need to work on a grain free pie crust and attempt a strawberry rhubarb pie in the near future, just to celebrate the bountiful harvest!

When you chop your rhubarb, make sure the pieces are fairly small, so they don’t overwhelm the muffin. I cut my stalks in half lengthwise and then diced. If your stalks are very thick you may need to cut into thirds or quarters. My test kitchen at work gave these muffins 2 thumbs up, I hope you enjoy them too!

Grain Free Rhubarb Pecan-Coconut Streusel Muffins

Muffin Batter:

½ cup coconut flour

¼ cup arrowroot flour

2 Tbsp Chickpea flour

1 tsp baking soda

¾ tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup honey

4 eggs

1 Tsp vanilla

½ c kefir or yogurt, (plain, not sweetened, preferably full fat!)

1/3 cup coconut oil

-------------

2 cups diced rhubarb (make pieces fairly small)

-------------

Streusel topping :

½ cup chopped pecans

½ cup shredded coconut (unsweetened)

2 Tbsp Honey

2 Tbsp coconut oil

2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375F

Line muffin tin with 12 papers, or grease really well. Set aside.

Measure batter ingredients into a large mixing bowl, and mix well with an immersion blender. Scrape sides of bowl if necessary to ensure everything is well incorporated and there are no lumps.

Mix in chopped rhubarb and mix well to combine.

Fill muffin liners ¾ full and set aside.

Quickly rinse your mixing bowl (or get a clean one, but hey…who wants more dishes??) and measure in the streusel ingredients. Mix well to combine.

Sprinkle evenly over the muffin batter and place in preheated oven.

Bake for 22-24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven to a heat safe surface.

Let stand for 5 minutes, remove from pan and let cool on wire rack. Store leftovers in fridge for up to 3 days, or freeze for longer storage.

 I love my handy chopper from Epicure for chopping nuts!

Coconut Cinnamon Streusel Muffins

After a long hiatus from putting pen to paper and writing down new recipes, I am finally back on track and getting some new creations posted for you!

This muffin recipe, and the Cranberry Coconut Breakfast Bars that I posted recently were created out of a need to use up a bunch of frozen bananas that were threatening to take over my freezer. There always seems to be that one banana that no one wants to use, and is sadly left to brown in the fruit basket on the counter. When it becomes painfully obvious that no one is going to go anywhere near it, into the freezer it goes, alongside the other strays, until I have enough to do something with. (or until they start to fall out when the freezer door is opened…whichever happens to come first!)

The latter was the case, and these beauties were born. The muffin itself is not very sweet, the coconut streusel topping adds just that perfect sweetness and texture to perfectly finish off the muffin. They are not large muffins, which suits me just fine. The bigger appetites in my house take two, but I find one perfect for a mid-day snack. They freeze very well, making the large amount of muffins perfect for filling up that empty space left by the frozen bananas J

Coconut Cinnamon Streusel Muffins (makes 24 small muffins)

Muffins:

6 eggs

¾ cup plain kefir or yogurt (full fat!)

4 bananas (very ripe…mine were frozen and thawed)

2 Tbsp Apple cider vinegar

¼ cup melted coconut oil

2/3 cup coconut flour

¼ cup arrowroot flour/starch

¼ cup coconut sugar

¼ cup chick pea flour

¼ cup ground chia seeds (grind in blender or buy already ground)

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

Streusel Topping:

1 Tbsp Cinnamon

3 Tbsp melted coconut oil

3 Tbsp coconut sugar

2/3 cup shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 375F. Line 24 muffin tins with parchment liners or grease very well.  Set aside. 

Measure all of the muffin ingredients into an 8 cup mixing bowl. Using an immersion blender, blend together well, scraping down the sides with a spatula as necessary to make sure all ingredients are mixed.  Let stand while you mix the streusel.

To make the streusel: Mix all ingredients together well in a small mixing bowl. Set aside.

Scoop the prepared muffin batter evenly into the lined pans. Top evenly with the streusel topping. (there is a generous amount of topping, you won't need to scrimp!)

Bake for 18-20 minutes in preheated oven or until a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean.

Remove from pans and cool on wire racks. Store leftovers in a covered container in the fridge for up to 3 days, or wrap and freeze for up to 6 months. 

Grain Free Blueberry Orange Coconut Muffins

I don’t do a lot of baking with almond flour anymore; coconut flour has definitely become my grain free flour of choice lately. Although it is a little more finicky to work with, I think for baked goods, the health benefits of coconut flour outweigh those of almond flour. It is also a more frugal flour than almond flour, because you use very little of it as opposed to most almond flour recipes. That being said, almond flour is really lovely to work with, and I still do use it for some things on occasion.

 I was given a bag of sprouted almond meal to play with recently, (thanks Janet!) and have made a few tasty batches of muffins with it so far. These Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins got rave reviews from my co-workers, as did the recipe that I am sharing with you now. Almond meal is a wee bit coarser than the almond flour I usually use, and it does make a difference in the texture of your finished product.  I do, however, really like that this flour is sprouted. Nuts contain something called enzyme inhibitors that can make nuts hard on your digestive system. Soaking/sprouting them reduces these inhibitors, making them easier to digest.  Nut flours are also quite high calorically, so treats made with them should be just that…treats. Great for every once in a while, but not all the time, especially if you are watching your waistline!

There is only one picture of these pretty little muffins. I forgot to take pictures before bringing them into work with me. I did make some co-workers very happy though!

Grain Free Blueberry Orange Coconut Muffins

1 cup sprouted almond meal

2 Tbsp arrowroot starch

½ cup coconut flour

¾ tsp baking soda

½ tsp sea salt

¼ cup coconut sugar

3 eggs

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

2/3 cup kefir

Juice of 1 orange

Zest of 1 orange (organic!!!)

1 Tbsp coconut oil

---------

½ cup shredded coconut

½ cup blueberries, fresh or frozen

Preheat oven to 375F

Measure all ingredients except coconut and blueberries into an 8 cup mixing bowl. Blend well with an immersion blender, taking care to scrape down the sides if needed to fully incorporate all of the ingredients.

Fold in the shredded coconut and blueberries until nicely distributed.

Spoon batter evenly into 12 paper lined or greased muffin tins. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of one comes out clean.

Remove from tin and cool on a wire rack. Store leftovers in a covered container in the fridge for 2-3 days or up to 6 months in the freezer.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins :)

Grain Free Chocolate Brazil Nut Muffins with a Cranberry Swirl

I love cranberries. So much that when I make a batch for the holidays, I like to make extra and freeze it in small jam jars, to pull out whenever a craving strikes. They are just too darn tasty to be relegated to the holiday season! I pulled a jar out earlier in the week and used some to top a meatloaf recipe that will be posted soon ( I will link here when I get it posted) . I wanted to make a muffin with chocolate and Brazil nuts, but knew they would need some sort of brightness to balance the flavours. Cranberry sauce to the rescue!  It added just the right amount of tartness to the muffin without overwhelming. I think these would be an awesome Christmas morning brunch muffin too!

Grain Free Chocolate Brazil Nut Muffins with a Cranberry Swirl

4 eggs, preferably pastured

1/3 cup coconut flour

2 T Sunflower Seed Flour

2 Tbsp Chickpea Flour

2 Tbsp Arrowroot flour

¼ cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

Generous pinch of Himalayan sea salt

¼ cup coconut sugar (or other sweetener of choice)

½ cup kefir or yogurt

-----------

½ cup raw Brazil nuts, chopped

-----------

Approx ½ cup premade cranberry sauce (see recipe here)

Preheat oven to 375F.

Place all ingredients EXCEPT the Brazil nuts and cranberry sauce into a medium mixing bowl, and mix well with an immersion blender , scraping down the sides as necessary.  With a spatula, mix in the chopped Brazil nuts (I chopped mine in my handy little chopper, you want to see some larger chunks to add a nice texture to the muffin) and stir well until combined.

Divide evenly between 12 muffin cups, either greased or lined.

Top with approx. 2 tsp of cranberry sauce (be generous!), and swirl in with a butter knife or the end of your measuring spoon.

Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove to a wire rack and cool for as long as you can before gobbling them up!

Grain Free Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

 I woke up craving muffins for breakfast today. Lemon poppy seed muffins to be exact. I have been using a lot of different combinations of alternative flours lately, and while they make a decent muffin, they also make the muffins quite dark (and with the sunflower flour, dark and green!!) So I kept this batter simple, with just coconut flour and a bit of chickpea flour, to keep the colour nice and light. The bright yellow yolks in the pastured eggs really help give this muffin a bright sunshiny yellow hue, just the thing you’d expect from a lemon muffin, with no artificial colours or ingredients.  The lemon flavour is subtle, they might benefit from a lemon glaze, but they are pretty tasty on their own.

Grain Free Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

5 eggs, preferably pastured

1/3 cup coconut flour

¼ cup chickpea flour

¾ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

Juice of 1 lemon (3-4 tbsp)

¼ cup honey

¼ cup coconut oil

Zest of 1 lemon

1 ½ tbsp poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 350F. Zest your lemon and set zest  aside.

Using a immersion blender blend all ingredients EXCEPT the lemon zest and poppy seeds together well in a mixing bowl. Scrape sides of bowl and blender to ensure the dry ingredients are well combined.

Stir in the lemon zest and poppy seeds.

Fill 12 lined or greased muffin tins with batter and bake in preheated oven for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cool in muffin tin for 5 minutes, and then place on a wire rack to cool. 

Grain Free Apricot Coconut Muffins with a Honey Lime Drizzle

 Fresh apricots, to me, always taste like sunshine. Probably because they arrive at the height of summer, and their colour is so brightly perfect for the season. I love the fresh and tangy- sweet tartness when they are fresh, but baking them takes these little darlings to a whole new level.  I brought home a bag from work this week, and had planned to make some kind of apricot upside down cake with them. But, being as I ended up wide awake and in a baking mood bright and early on Sunday morning, they ended up in a muffin instead, because I just couldn't justify having cake for breakfast!

The honey lime drizzle is optional, but tasty. Leave it off if you wish, but it really is the proverbial “icing on the cake” , or in this case, muffin!
**recipe is updated, it was meant to say baking SODA, not powder!

Grain Free Apricot Coconut Muffins with a Honey Lime Drizzle

Muffin base:

6 eggs, preferably pastured

¾ cup coconut flour

2/3 cup kefir or yogurt

¾ tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder  SODA! **

1/3 cup honey

1 tsp vanilla

¼ cup melted coconut oil

Add ins:

1 cup diced fresh apricots (approx 4-5 apricots, depending on the size)

½ cup shredded coconut

Drizzle:

In a small bowl, mix together:

2 tbsp honey

2 tsp lime juice

2 tsp hot water

Preheat oven to 350F.

Whiz the base ingredients together in a mixing bowl with a stick blender until well blended. Let stand for a few minutes for the coconut flour to thicken up. Mix in the apricots and coconut with a wooden spoon until well incorporated.

Spoon evenly into muffin tins lined with papers, mine made 12.

Bake in preheated oven for 22-24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Remove from oven, and while muffins are still in the pan and hot, drizzle with the honey lime mixture. Let hang out in the pan for about 5 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool.

Keep them in the fridge after the first day, or freeze. (if they last that long!)

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 Gingerbread Apple Muffins

First of all, as much as these look like chocolate muffins, they aren't  (even if my hubbie thinks they taste like chocolate, which I still don’t understand, but we will move on!) I intended to make banana muffins this afternoon, but ended up making a banana oat chocolate chip bar to go in the freezer for my boys with the bananas instead. Being as the muffins were supposed to be for tomorrows Breakie, I still needed to come up with a recipe.   Being a bit cool today, a nice spicy gingerbread sounded yummy. I think they will go perfectly with a grapefruit and a nice cup of green tea in the morning. I used my kitchen rasp to finely grate both the ginger and the nutmeg. If you don’t have a rasp, or the fresh ginger and nutmeg, substitute the dried spices. I peeled my apple, even though it was organic it still had a waxy feel to it, but it is not generally necessary. 

Grain Free Gingerbread Apple Muffins

1 ½ cups almond flour

¼  cup coconut flour

¾ tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

Pinch of allspice

¼ cup coconut sugar

1/4 cup coconut oil

3 eggs

¼ cup molasses

1 tsp grated fresh ginger (or ½ tsp dried)

Pinch of Grated whole nutmeg (or scant 1/8 tsp dried)

¼ cup kefir or yogurt

1 cup grated organic

granny smith apple

Mix all ingredients  except grated apple together in a large mixing bowl with a stick blender until well combined. Mix in grated apple and combine well.

Scoop evenly into 12 lined muffin tins.

Bake for  20 min, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let stand in muffin tin for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

Enjoy!

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.

Grain Free Saskatoon Berry Lime Muffins

 These muffins were created as a way to showcase these lovely little dried Saskatoon berries. Where does one find Dried Saskatoon berries, you may ask? Well, it is kind of a sad story, but these muffins are the result of it, so it does at least have somewhat of a happy ending. Not too long ago, our upright freezer door was left open a crack for a whole entire day, and the things that were  in the door of the freezer thawed. Some things were salvageable, some, alas, were relegated to the trash bin. I was loathe to throw out the Saskatoon berries that were still cold, but now sitting in a few inches of their juice. Organic Saskatoon berries are hard to come by, and throwing out the last of these beauties was just not happening! I ended up draining them well, and throwing  them into my dehydrator, so all was not lost! I now have a whole mason jar of these tart/sweet little yummies to use.  These muffins would be just as yummy with dried cranberries or cherries, or even  raisins (omit lime and add 1 tsp cinnamon!), I am sure finding dried Saskatoon berries, unless you are in my kitchen, could potentially be a little hard!

Grain Free Saskatoon Berry Lime Muffins

6 eggs

½ cup coconut flour

4 T coconut sugar

½ tsp salt

Juice of 1 lime

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder

¼ cup melted coconut oil

½ cup dehydrated Saskatoon berries

Grated rind of 1 lime

Preheat oven to 400F

Place all ingredients except lime rind and Saskatoon berries together in a mixing bowl, and whiz with an immersion blender (or LOTS of elbow grease!) until very well combined.  (coconut flour tends to clump, the immersion blender is perfect for coconut flour recipes!)

One of my favourite kitchen
 tools...my rasp!

Fold in the lime rind and Saskatoon berries, mix well to incorporate evenly.

Let batter stand for 5 minutes to thicken up.

Divide evenly between greased or lined muffin tins (mine made 10) 

Bake at 400F on the middle rack for 13-15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean and the edges are just starting to brown.

Let cool on a wire cooling rack. Store at room temperature for the first day, after that store in the fridge for freshness.