Carrot & banana mini muffins

My carrot cake cookies  are on permanent rotation in our house. I have them as a quick bite before my 5.30am workout and as an afternoon snack (very good covered in almond butter & jam, yum).  I've tried various other recipes of a similar ilk but nothing seems to hit the spot like they do. Introducing the carrot & banana mini muffin!!!! You can see the similarity, right?! The difference is they are lighter and much more cake like.  Like the carrot cake cookies they only require one bowl and come together quickly & easily. 

The original recipe is from The Castaway Kitchen  which is my new favorite paleo blog. Get following people, her Instagram & Snapchat feeds are amazing :)  I'm holding out for her cookbook.....!  I've tried a couple of her other recipes and they all turned out perfectly.

The main difference with her recipe is she cooks the carrots which I think is not necessary and I altered the dry ingredient ratios a little. 

Carrot & banana mini muffins

2 ripe bananas mashed

2 cups of grated carrot 

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/3 coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 large eggs

1/2 cup coconut flour

3/4 cup almond flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

pinch of salt

1/2 cup of sultanas/raisins (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease your muffin tin, mini or regular size.

Mash the bananas and mix in the grated carrot.  Whisk/beat in the remaining wet ingredients until fully incorporated.  Next mix in the dry ingredients, again you can do this all at once.  Fold in the raisins if using.

Scoop into your greased muffin tin. This quantity made 24 mini & 4 regular sized muffins. Cook for about 20 mins then check (skewer comes out clean), depending on size they may take a little longer.  Allow to cool a little in the tin then turn out on a wire rack to fully cool.  I keep mine in an airtight container in the fridge.

new silicon mini muffin tray - so easy!

Muffin love!

Chewy granola - AIP, paleo, grainfree & gluten free

I've splashed out and bought 2 new cookbooks recently. My favorite is The ZenBelly Cookbook. The author, Simone Miller is an actual chef (rather than a home cook who's found social media & then made a cookbook!) so her recipes are tried and tested and therefore actually work. The second is The Healing Kitchen which is to help expand my AIP recipe base.  I haven't used this one as much but so far so good. The recipe below is adapted from that book.

Rightly, or wrongly, I am a snacker.  I can't function on just 3 meals a day.  The autoimmune protocol puts snacks in the wrong camp but I find I can't get through the day without snacks.  I think I have a high metabolism (*excuse).  So I thought this granola would be an easy grab and go snack but of course it can be for breakfast too!

Chewy Granola

2 tbs molasses

2 1/2 tbs melted coconut oil

2 ripe bananas

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups of unsweetened coconut flakes

2 cups of plantain chips

1 cup of raisins

2/3 cup of other dried fruit chopped (e.g. apricots, cherries, apple rings, mango)

1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 325F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a large bowl mash the banana with the molasses, coconut oil & vanilla until you have a smooth-ish paste.  Stir in the remaining ingredients ensuring everything is evenly coated with the wet mixture.  Spread out into a thin layer on the baking sheet.  Bake in the oven for 40-50 mins or until it is beginning to crisp around the edges.  You may want to stir it halfway through to ensure an even crisp.  Leave to cool on the tray before breaking up into pieces.  Store in airtight container in fridge.

I'm excited to play around with this recipe; changing out mashed banana for other fruit purees, different dried fruit options or drizzling with melted dark chocolate (as a friend suggested), not AIP but would be amazeballs.........I'll keep you posted!

Plantain donuts - AIP, paleo, dairy, grain & gluten free

I have been following the Auto Immune Protocol diet for 3 (or could be 4, I've lost count!) weeks with the aim of getting an handle on my own auto immune diseases.  If you want more information about AIP click here.  Initially it can seem daunting but 3/4 weeks in I am finding it quiet manageable.  Lunch and dinner did required a few changes, namely omitting nightshades and certain spices, but really nothing major.  Breakfast & snacks required a more major overhaul.  Previously I would snack on nuts or dried fruit or regular paleo baked goods. Not any more! Introducing the plantain donut! Baking at its AIP finest! Breakfast and snack rolled into one, hello!

Plantain Donuts

Recipe adapted from here

1 plantain cut into pieces

1/4 cup of mashed sweet potato (cooked)

1/3 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

2 tbs maple syrup

2 tbs coconut oil

1 tsp cinammon

pinch of salt

To "glaze" melted coconut butter, toasted coconut flakes & sea salt 

Preheat your donut maker.  Put all of the ingredients (except for the glaze) into a blender and process until a smooth thick batter forms. Using a piping bag or a Ziploc bag with the corner cut out fill each donut mold with the batter. You need to overfill each one so the mixture fills both the top and bottom halves of the donut maker as the batter will not rise.  Leave for at least 5 minutes. They are done when they feel a little firmer to the touch and the outside it golden in colour (mine took more like 7 minutes).

Whilst they are cooking toast the coconut flakes under the grill. Warm the coconut butter on a plate. 

When the donuts are done dip them in the warm coconut butter then the coconut flakes and leave to cool slightly allowing the butter to firm up and the flakes to stick.

This quantity made 8 mini donuts.  Best eaten warm straight away!

  

The original recipe by Don't eat the spatula made them in waffle form. I think they would also work well as proper donuts (i.e. fried).  

Spinach and feta muffins

I am a fan of a savory breakfast. I think its my English roots which means you are hard wired to love a Fry Up (click on link to Wikipedia page for those not in the know, you are missing out). Oh! I do miss a Full English (yup another colloquialism).

These savory muffins are quick and easy to knock up and keep well in the freezer so can be defrosted on demand for those busy week day mornings.  Bonus: they are grain free and gluten free.

Spinach and Feta Muffins

4 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup olive oil

1/3 cup coconut flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

Salt & pepper to taste

ground nutmeg

1 shallot finely chopped (or onion)

4 tbs defrosted frozen spinach

100g feta

Preheat the oven to 395F. Grease a 12 hole muffin pan.

Mix all the ingredients together except the spinach & feta until you have a smooth batter.  Make sure you squeeze all the water out of the spinach then fold into the batter with the crumbled feta.  Spoon the mixture into the tin. Fill each muffin hole to about 3/4 full, they will rise a little.

Bake for 15-20 mins (mine took nearer 20 mins) until brown on top and a skewer comes out clean.  Cool in the tin for 5 mins then turn out onto a wire rack to completely cool. Store in the fridge.

Chocolate courgette (zucchini) muffins - grain, nut & dairy free

I read an article in a UK newspaper in which the journalist stated going out of a summer evening was dangerous.  The reason being was the fear of coming home to a bag of over sized courgettes (aka marrow) on their doorstep at this time of year.  Sadly this doesn't ring true in my neck of the woods, but I do have my own courgette plants to deal with.

I've written up various recipes for courgette overload (click here) and this one is a variation of the chocolate cake recipe I posted before. However this version is grain & dairy & nut free. My eldest has a friend who is allergic to nuts & dairy and I struggle for 'exciting' things to give her for a snack. This recipe hits the mark; just don't let them see you make it (its rather off putting!).

Chocolate courgette muffins

Recipe from Zenbelly

4 eggs

1 ripe banana

2 tbs cocoa powder

1/2 cup coconut flour

1 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

1 tsp cinammon

1/4 cup of maple syrup (or honey)

1 medium sized courgette grated

1/2 cup of chocolate chips

This makes about 12 muffins or it can be made into a loaf.

Preheat the oven to 350F and grease the muffin tin.

Blend all of the ingredients together (except the courgette & chocolate chips) in a blender until fully combined.  Take care to ensure the baking soda is mixed in well with the coconut flour before you add it to the wet ingredients. It can clump otherwise.  Stir in the courgette & chocolate chips by hand.  Fill the muffin tin about 3/4 full, they don't rise much.  Bake for about 35-45 mins, test with a skewer (if they are done it will come out clean).  Cool on a wire rack.  

If you do the loaf format it will take longer.

Cheddar Crackers

There are a lot of similarities with my no starch diet and a Paleo diet. The bonus being there are zillions of great Paleo blogs posting delicious recipes.  However a major difference is I am a happy eater of dairy and sugar; gotta have it! I stumbled upon another relevant diet, the Specific Carbohydrate Diet.  This diet is specifically starch, sugar, grain & complex carbohydrate free. Perfect for me! (I can do with out sugar now and then). I am not nearly as strict as the diet dictates, but as with everything I believe you have to find your own level.

I have bought this fantastic cookbook which adheres to the SCD. 

The cheddar crackers were the first recipe I tried from the book. They are amazing. Buttery, crisp, cheesy & big bonus do not taste of almond flour.

Cheddar Crackers

This recipe is slightly adapted from Healing Foods by Sandra Ramacher

1 cup almond flour

1 cup of grated sharp cheddar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp smoked paprika

black pepper

3 tbs cold water

Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Gradually add the water until the mixture comes together to form a dough. It may be a little more or less than 3 tbs of water. Cover the dough and pop it in the fridge for 30 mins or more.

Preheat the oven to 300F.  Line a baking tray with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Roll the dough into small balls then flatten with the heal of your hand. Leave a gap between each cracker as they will spread a little.  The size of your crackers depends on how many you will make - I think I got just over a dozen from this amount of mixture.

Bake in the oven for about 15 mins, or when they just begin to brown at the edges. Then remove them from the oven and allow them to cool a little (about 5 minutes or so). Meanwhile turn the oven down to 210F.  Gently flip the crackers over then put the tray back in the oven for 30 minutes.  After the crackers have baked for 30 minutes turn the oven off and allow them to cool in the oven.  When the oven has cooled down remove the crackers and transfer to a wire rack to completely cool.

Store them in an airtight container between kitchen paper.  I kept mine in the fridge.

Despite my efforts to keep them to myself, they are a family favourite.  I am sure you could vary the recipe with whatever cheese you have to hand (providing its got a bold flavour). Or add dried herbs a la the the original recipe. 

Enjoy! 

x