Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (Vegan/Pareve)

What do you do when you find mushy bananas on the sug bet rack selling for 2 shekels/kg, when sug aleph bananas are currently selling for about 14/kg?

BUY A BUNCH of course!

And then, make muffins. (I peeled and froze some for future use, but used a lot of them today on these muffins)

Today's banana muffins featured spelt flour and chocolate chips... yum!

Here's what I did:

6 small overripe bananas, mashed well 1/2 c. sugar 1/3 c. oil 1 tsp vanilla extract 4 T. ground flaxseed 2 c. water + 1 tsp apple cider vinegar 
Mix all together, combining well
Add: 4 c. whole grain flour (I used spelt, but if you eat wheat, whole wheat flour is perfect) 1/2 tsp salt 1.5 tsp baking powder Mix well 

Last, gently fold in 1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup shelled raw sunflower seeds

This made 12 oversize muffins, or make 24 smaller muffins.
Bake at 350 F/175  C for 25-30 min for muffins

Enjoy! Let me know if you try them!

Pesach Banana Cake (pareve, non-gebrokts)

This year, I gave up eating wheat when I realized I was having a mild allergic reaction to it. So while I'll still bake my kids their favorite Pesach treats (like mandel bread and pesach rolls), I needed to come up with something I could snack on too!
{So I stood in my kitchen and spotted a bunch of ripe bananas}
And I decided to try to change up my banana cake recipe!
Here's what happened:






4 large bananas, mashed
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1.5 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
1.5 cups ground coconut
1.5 cups potato starch
1/4 tsp salt
1.5 tsp baking powder

Mix bananas, sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract, if using and make sure they are combined well
Add dry ingredients. Mix well.
Divide batter between 2 loaf pans and bake at 185 C (about 370 F) for 45 minutes or until done.

This was so easy and really came out delish. It's perfect and I'm going to make it all year long!

Vegan Chocolate Chip Squares (Gluten free, as well)

It's been a few months since I decided to go wheat-free as an experiment. And I finally decided that if I was going to make dessert, it should be something I can eat, too.
This may not have been my best decision - it is so much easier for me to exercise willpower when something is COMPLETELY off limits. But when it's allowed in small quantities? Uh oh.

But I did it. I made nut-free, pareve, wheat-free chocolate chip squares.
And they are pretty good, if I say so myself, and even got Michael's approval... So I'll share the recipe with you! (and since it's nut-free, unlike many wheat-free baked goods, it's pretty frugal!) (Oh, and all you need is a bowl and a wooden spoon to mix these, no fancy mixer required, because some days I am just too lazy to pull out the KitchenAid!)

Vegan, Gluten-free Chocolate Chip Squares

4 Tablespoons ground flaxseed
1 cup warm-to-hot water
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup sugar (I used raw cane sugar)
1 cup potato starch
1 cup chick pea flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
chocolate chips, as many as you like - I used 1/2 a bag

First, mix the ground flaxseed with the water and allow to stand for 10 minutes. Then add oil, vanilla extract, and sugars. Mix well. Add remaining dry ingredients (except chocolate chips), and mix well with a spoon. Fold in chocolate chips. 
Transfer to 9X13 inch baking pan (you can use a bigger pan and make thinner squares - totally up to you!) and bake at 175 C for about 25 min. Make sure it's done (you want the pan to be fully set - no jiggly middles - when you take it out) before you remove it from the oven! BUT if you underbake it, you're ok. There are no raw eggs to worry about!

Enjoy your "shehakol" chocolate chip squares! (Perfect for sukkot outings where there's no guarantee you'll have a kosher sukkah!) 

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Pumpkin-Cranberry Muffins with Sunflower seeds

Pumpkin, while available mostly year round here, always makes me think of autumn.

In the past 40-something years, I've had quite a mix of autumn experiences, actually, from living in places with spectacular autumn color changing trees, with cool, crisp air, to living in places where the seasons barely change, to being in places where autumn seems to start in the summer...

Truthfully, I really like autumn when I don't have to be the one to rake the leaves (um, I'm allergic to trees!)! So for whatever reason, pumpkins and cranberries always brings me into an autumn place for just a few moments, which is a nice thing!

So here are my autumn flavored muffins. I have been eating these all week.
Let me know if you try them out!

Pumpkin-Cranberry Muffins with Sunflower Seeds

Ingredients

2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
1 cup hot water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup oil
1 cup pumpkin puree
2.5 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
dash of cinnamon
dash of ground cloves

Note: if you prefer your muffins with eggs, you can sub 2 eggs + 1-2 tablespoons of water for the flaxseed water combo


Directions

Mix flaxseed with hot water in a large mixing bowl. Allow to stand for 10 minutes, then add vanilla extract, sugar, oil, and pumpkin puree, and mix well. Add flour, baking powder and salt to the bowl, and mix gently till combined. Fold in cranberries, sunflower seeds, and spices.

Fill muffin cups, and bake at 180 C for 25-30 min (check with a toothpick to be sure they are done)

Enjoy your momentary foray into autumn!

Sweet and Salty Popcorn Snack!

I was in the mood for a sweet and salty snack, so I decided to experiment with popcorn, since I somehow have a lot of popcorn in the house right now!

So here's how to make this addictive snack:

1. Pop a whole lot of popcorn and spread it out on the largest baking pan you have. I recommend lining your pan with baking paper or foil, or whatever you like to line your pans with, because otherwise you will end up with an impossible mess to clean up, like I have. Seriously regretting not lining the pan!

2. Prepare a pot. Add 1/4 c. coconut oil (you can use butter instead), 1 cup sugar, 1/4 -1/3 c. molasses, 1/2 - 3/4 cup water, and a few pinches of salt to the pot. Heat the pot on the stove, stirring frequently. eventually it will be more or less liquified and combined. Remove from stove. Add 1/4 tsp vanilla and a pinch of baking soda. Mix well.
Allow mixture to cool somewhat. Pour this mixture over the popcorn and stir it carefully to coat.

3. Bake at a low temperature (I set my oven to 100C) for about 30-45 min, stirring occasionally.

Cool and serve.

Now I am just trying to wrestle it away from my kids! I want some too! (And I want to put some away for my husband to try when he gets home from work.)

This is my new go-to snack!

Will you be trying it out? Let me know what you think!

p.s. my husband says this tastes like Cracker Jack...

Corn muffins with molasses

Today I changed my corn muffin recipe - and the new version was really good!

Here it is:

2 c. whole wheat flour
2 c. corn meal
2 T. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c. molasses
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. oil
2 c. water + 1 T. vinegar

Mix well, with a spoon, and bake at 190 C (375 F) for about 25 min (makes 12 muffins)

YUM

Shared with the Hearth and Soul Blog Hop on May 17, 2012