Double Chocolate Banana Muffins (GF)

These are my kids' absolute FAVORITE muffins in the world. Ok..mine too! Ha ha! This is a great way to use up overly ripe bananas (fresh or previously frozen & thawed). These muffins are moist, chocolaty and are easy to freeze and have on hand for a quick breakfast or snack. White whole wheat flour is my preferred choice for baking. It has all the nutrition of hard red whole wheat, but the softer variety of wheat (it might be called "white" but it's still "whole"--bran and germ intact) makes baked goods taste less "healthy" or "wheaty". I am not sure why I have never tried it before, but peanut butter would totally ROCK these muffins! Just saying. :)

**Make these gluten-by substituting oat flour (grind rolled oats to a fine powder in blender). I recently tried these with oat flour and I think I love them even more that way!

Makes 12 muffins

3 ripe bananas, about 1 1/3 c. mashed
1/2-2/3 c. sugar or sucanat (I use 1/2 c. of sucanat--natural sugar cane if you are wondering.)
1/2 c. butter, coconut oil or plain yogurt
1 t. pure vanilla extract
1 egg
1/4 c. Dutch-process cocoa (regular cocoa will work, but won't have the "depth" of flavor)
1 1/2 c. white whole wheat flour**
2 T. ground flax (optional)
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t. aluminum-free baking powder
1/3-1/2 c. mini chocolate chips

Cream sugar, butter or oil and bananas. Beat in vanilla and egg. Sift together dry ingredients and add gradually until thoroughly combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Fill the cups of a greased 12-cup muffin tin 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 min. or until toothpick inserted into muffin comes out clean. Cool 5 min and remove from tin to cool completely. Store in air tight container or freeze and reheat as needed.

Peanut Butter Muffins with Carrot & Banana (GF)

This is a delicious, moist muffin that is full of wholesome ingredients you can feel good about giving your kids. These muffins freeze and re-heat well, too. They have protein from the peanut butter and egg, whole grains*, and even a vegetable! A word of caution--they are not an overly sweet muffin; however, our family feels the honey and banana give these just the perfect touch of sweetness. Feel free to substitute a different orange veggie for the carrot. Pumpkin or sweet potato would be other good choices.

Yields 12 muffins

1/2 c. mashed banana
1/2 c. pureed cooked carrots (or sweet potato or pumpkin...mmmm!!)
1/2 c. natural (no-added sugar) peanut butter
1/4--1/2 c honey (I used 1/4 c.)
1 egg
1/4 c .softened butter or coconut oil
1/4 c. packed brown sugar or sucanat
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1/4 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. sea salt
1 c. whole wheat flour (or use oat flour to make these GF)

2 T. ground flax seed (optional)
 

1.  Mix all dry ingredients, EXCEPT BROWN SUGAR in a small bowl.

2.  In a larger mixing bowl, combine wet ingredients and blend throughly.               

3.  Gradually add dry ingredients and stir just until combined. Batter may be slightly lumpy.

4.  Fold in the brown sugar and stir just once or twice. This will create a strudel like crunch on the top!

5.  Spoon batter into 12 greased or paper lined muffin cups. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 min. Makes 12 muffins.

**I sprinkled these with large crystal, turbinado (raw unrefined) sugar during the last 3 min of baking to create a bakery-like appearance.

Adapted from Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld

Chocolate Banana Bon Bons (GF)

Chocolate plus banana equals frozen deliciousness! These little bite-sized treats feature a crisp, dark chocolate shell and a cold, creamy banana center that almost (but not quite!) tricks your taste buds into thinking it's ice cream. I bet you can't eat just one! Don't feel too guilty...at least they are healthier than a Klondike bar. I've been thinking the only way to make them "yummier" might be a smidge of peanut butter between the banana and the chocolate. What do you think?

Are you ready to get started? Here's what you need to make these little gems....

You're going to need about 3 ripe bananas (spots are fine), some good quality dark chocolate--60% cacao or more--and an oil that melts to a liquid but is solid at room temperature. I prefer refined coconut oil, which has no coconut flavor (Honestly! I hate coconut but use refined coconut oil in SO many things.). Palm oil would be another great choice. Palm and coconut oils are both full of the same healthy fats that avocados boast. Crisco would work in a pinch, but personally I don't like using anything with hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil--ie. trans fats.

Measure out about 1 cup of bittersweet chocolate chips and add 2 teaspoons of coconut oil (or shortening, if you must). Slice 3 bananas into healthy sized chunks...about 3/4 an inch or so.

Place a glass bowl into a shallow skillet of water on the stove at a low temp to melt (double boiler method) or place in the microwave for one minute. Stir chocolate frequently to avoid scorching and keep water away from the melted chocolate to avoid weird clumping. Microwave at 30 second intervals until chocolate is smooth and liquidy. Mine took 1 min. 45 sec. but your microwave may vary in size and cooking time.

Add 2 or 3 banana slices at a time and use a fork to "fish" them out, tapping the excess chocolate off and dragging banana across the edge of the bowl. If you don't do this...you'll have puddles of chocolate under your bon bons. Which will only affect the look--not the taste. :) Work quickly or the chocolate will begin to get thick again. If that happens --reheat until liquidy again.

Tip the fork up slightly to slide the banana slices onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment or waxed paper.

This is easy enough a 5 year old can do it! LOL!

Continue until all of the bananas have been dipped or you run out of chocolate, then place cookie sheet in the freezer for a minimum of 6 hours. Trust me...it's worth the wait! 

I did 3 medium bananas and had a small amount of chocolate left, which I poured onto parchment and allowed to harden up again. I hate the thought of wasting good chocolate! (PS...I ate that "blob" later because I needed a little something to help me stay sane until my hubby arrived  home to save me. Yep...the whole thing! It's thinner than it looks. Haha!)

These will store beautifully in a container or plastic bag in your freezer. I have absolutely no idea how long they will keep because ours are gone within 48 hours. True story! Now that I think about it, I would NOT recommend putting them in something see-through, because these bad boys will scream at you every time you open the freezer door. Enjoy!

Ashley