Do you know the muffin man?

I had some bananas on the counter and they were not looking so lovely any longer.  That always means its time for some baking.  I rarely make banana bread.  I usually make the dough into muffins.  We find the single servings perfect in our household and they freeze great that way too (that is if they last long enough to freeze any - warm baked muffins tend to disappear rather quickly).  I wanted a muffin that had some "umpf" to it this time, so I took my basic go to banana bread recipe and went from there.  We were all extremely pleased with the outcome!  Best of all, they are pretty darn good for you too!

What are you doing with your bananas?

Banana-Oat-Quinoa Muffins
Ingredients:
 4 ripe bananas (the riper, the sweeter, the better)
1/4 cup brown sugar (optional depending on how ripe the bananas are)
2 large eggs
1 Tbsp. vanilla
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup oats (you can add them as whole flakes or pulse them in a food processor)
1 cup  quinoa (you can add them uncooked for a crunchy texture or add it cooked for softer texture)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 cup bran

Method:
Cook the quinoa if you are going to go the cooked route.  It takes 2 cups of water per 1 cup of quinoa and generally 20 minutes.  If you are cooking the quinoa, you will yield 3 cups cooked for every cup uncooked.  Keep this in mind.  You'll only need 1 - 1/2 cups of the cooked quinoa.
Mash together bananas (I use my mixer and just add the ingredients as I go). 
Next add the sugar if you choose to add it - it's only needed if the bananas aren't very ripe.
Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.
Mix cooked (if going the cooked route) quinoa into the banana mixture at this point.
In a separate bowl combine flour, oats, quinoa (only if going the uncooked route), baking soda, baking powder, ginger and bran.  Mix well.
Add dry ingredients to wet and mix well.
Spoon into muffin cups and bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until tops start to brown and look crunchy.

Enjoy!  They are super yummy!

Click here for a printable link

Harbinger Of Fall

This past Saturday brought the beginning of my favorite season.  I have been looking forward to fall since I packed away the fall decor last year.  I love this season.  I love the cooling of the air, the golden sun light, the brisk breezes, the apples, the spices, baking, oh did I say apples, pumpkin, scarecrows,  pumpkin spice lattes (which my husband refers to as "harbingers of fall"), oh and apples!!  I have been looking forward to this post for a few weeks because this fall brought with it a challenge from my friend Joy involving creating a similar tasting, yet significantly healthier version of Starbuck's pumpkin spice muffin.  It involves spices, pumpkin, baking and a challenge.... she had me from the get-go. 

I had a few small problems to start with....
1.  I had never tasted the original version before.
2.  I took a quick look at a copycat recipe on-line and nearly died when I saw the ingredients.  Two cups of oil and 2 cups of sugar were NOT going into these babies!
3.  I had to find taste testers.

I sat down and planned out how to reduce oil and sugar and keep the muffins from being to dry and too blah.  Taste testers presented themselves readily and willingly.  Only one problem was left and I decided to embark on this challenging journey with no gustatory comparison what-so-ever.  Smart? Perhaps not. Exciting and nerve-racking? Definitely! Really, that's what a cooking/baking challenge is all about.  I couldn't wait to bake them and sit back, while biting my nails, as others tested them.   I was very lucky to have two "professional taste testers", highly qualified in sampling baked goods, two former Starbuck's baristas, the lovely Chelsea & Austyn!!!

They were baked, they were agonized over and they were sampled.  My friends, they were also.....winners!!!

Pumpkin Spice Muffins  
Ingredients:
   Muffin
3 cups white whole wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat bran
1/4 tsp. cardamom
1 Tbsp cocoa powder
2 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 tsp. cloves
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 3/4 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
3 1/2 cups pumpkin
1/2 cup applesauce (no sugar added)
3 Tbsp. molasses
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
     Candied Nuts or Pumpkin Seeds
2 Tbsp Honey
1/3 cup pecans, walnuts or pumpkin seeds
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. each of ginger, cinnamon, cloves & nutmeg
     Cream Cheese Filling
1 pkg. Neufchatel (1/3 less fat) cream cheese, softened
sprinkle in a pinch of each ginger, cinnamon, cloves & nutmeg
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

Method:
1.  Mix dry ingredients for muffins together (flour through baking soda on the ingredients list).
2.  In a separate bowl mix pumpkin, applesauce, molasses, vanilla, brown sugar & eggs together.
3.  Add dry ingredients to wet and combine.
4.  In a small saucepan, heat honey and vanilla until honey is smooth and liquid-like.
5.  Add spices to honey/vanilla mixture and mix.  Then add nuts.  Stir constantly for 1-2 minutes on med-high heat.  Nuts should be coated with mixture.  Remove from heat.
6. Spoon muffin mixture into muffin cups/tins.  Sprinkle candied nuts/seeds on top.
7.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes - until toothpick comes out clean.
8.  While muffins back, combine cream cheese, spices and vanilla - you can add a bit of confectioners sugar here too.
9.  Once muffins cool a big, use a pastry bag/decorators bag and large tip to insert cream cheese mixture into muffins and dollop on top.  OR simply use as a "frosting".
10.  ENJOY!  They are pretty good for you!

Click here for printable recipe