Banana Carrot Muffins

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Banana Carrot Muffins

Gluten/Dairy-free/Paleo

Adapted from DailyMeals by My Little Blue Heron

It’s back to school time, and for some, the end of summer is delicious. I haven't shared recipes for ages. I've shifted my diet from gluten and diary free to Paleo or "Palee-ish". I have a mess of famtastic recipes to share with you, and I hope to start churning them out on a regular basis (again.)

These easy and fun to make muffins will keep you happy and your pantry or freezer stocked with a delicious and healthful grab ‘n go breakfast, snack, dessert or teatime option. These may become your finest muffin accomplishment of the year. They're easily mine.

I am so happy to share this recipe and some MLBH trucs! Let's get crackin'!

My Little Blue Heron trucs:

My favorite almond flour is Wellbee’s. It’s ground super fine, and if you use almond

flour as a flour sub, it’s worth the price. I also use and like Anthony’s almond flour. It’s not

as super fine, but it’s excellent quality, and if you sift it, it’s beautiful. You can buy it for a

little (but not much) less. 

Buy organic bananas. I look for smaller and rounder/plumper fruit.

     

Buy organic carrots. Think about it: these are hanging out in the dirt where they could

be bathing in pesticides that will be inside of you. Organic carrots seem to taste sweeter.

Buy the biggest, fattest ones available. For this recipe, if you can manage it, shred the

carrots by hand. That way they won’t be soggy.

 I cop to Trader Joe’s walnuts. Fresh, inexpensive and delicious.

Diamond Crystal is the best kosher salt. It doesn’t have other stuff in it.

Use Ceylon Cinnamon. It’s supposed to be healthier because it doesn’t contain large

amounts of coumarin. Coumarin is an anti-coagulant (If you're of un certain age, you've

heard of the drug, coumadin) and it (like it seems just about everything) can mess with

your liver. This health warning is only if you eat cinnamon in bulk (I do). But another good

reason is that real Ceylon cinnamon is delicious and more delicate and finer. It's sweeter

than the 'other' cinnamons. Look at the label: it should come from Sri Lanka! Don't 

freak out if you're using Cassia or Korintje: you won’t get sick. This is just the current

buzz.

Maple syrup is personal. I like mine both dark and light. It depends on what I'm using it 

for. Paleo diets use NO refined sugar, so pretty much, we use maple syrup, honey, dates

and I use coconut sugar, too. Back to maple syrup: For baking, dark seems to work very

well. Grade “B” is no longer a grade, so you'll read descriptions that say, “formerly grade

b”. I found a wonderful Canadian brand that’s dark and delicious called Escuminac. It’s

so fine. A more economical option: NOW brand is organic and really delicious.

By now you probably know that when a banana is beyond recognition, you should

freeze it. Remove its skin and put it into a Ziploc freezer bag and smash it up (fun). Label

how many are in the bag. Use them for baking, in smoothies, or add to your hot (or cold)

cereal.

 I think buying already ground flax seed should not be your first choice. I think

buying whole seeds and grinding them in your spice grinder is what you should do. I

keep my flax seeds (I like golden ones, but after reading about it, I don’t think there’s any

significant nutritional difference between dark or golden) in the fridge. I add them to my

smoothies and grind ‘em in small quantities to add the ground flax to salads and cereal.

BTW: Did you ever think you'd eat linseed (in bulk)? 

Make these muffins on a rainy day or when the subway is messed up (both almost any day in NYC). Make them when you have too many bananas that are overripe, or when you want your kitchen to smell like carrot cake. If you're a teacher or you work in the schools or your child is returning to school, and you want to start getting it all together for the upcoming school year, start grating your carrots. 

For whatever reason you may choose to make these muffins, I hope you love making them and enjoy eating them.

With love and मेत्ता,

jane

Maple Syrup from Canada 🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁

Banana Carrot Muffins

Equipment:

Muffin tin (12), silicone, non-stick, or old-fashioned muffin liners. Box grater, liquid measure cup, measuring spoons, whisk, measuring cups, large bowls, mixing spoons, spatula, optional Vitamix, optional electric stand or hand mixer.

Ingredients:

2 cups almond flour, finely ground, blanched

3 ripe bananas (from the freezer is great!)

3 eggs, size large, room temp.

3 medium organic carrots shredded (about 1 ½-2 cups)

¾ c. walnuts (or ‘other’ nuts of choice), chopped

2 Tbsp. flavorless oil (Canola, Grapeseed, Avocado, Sunflower)

1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. kosher salt

2 tsp. ground cinnamon powder

¼ tsp. vanilla powder or 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

2 Tbsp. maple syrup

¼ c. dried currents or other dried fruit of choice

            (may use fresh berries or diced apple)

2 tsp. ground flax (flax meal) or chia seeds

variation for fall!: try a combination of diced dried apples and raisins, cinnamon, 1/4 tsp of freshly grated nutmeg, 1/4-1/2 tsp. ground allspice .. and the leaves'll start changing as you take a bite. 

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350º F. and put rack in the middle of the oven. Prepare muffin tins.

Shred carrots and set aside.

ORANGE!

Measure and chop walnuts and set aside.

Measure currents or ‘other’ dried or fresh fruit and set aside.

In a LARGE bowl: Measure almond flour, flax meal, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

Whisk together and set aside.

a whiskit (for my daughter)

In the container of a Vitamix (or with a hand mixer, electric stand mixer or you can do this by hand!), mix together: banana, eggs, oil, vinegar, vanilla powder (or extract) and maple syrup. (If doing by hand, first mash the banana and then add the rest of the ingredients).

Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mix well, until fully combined.

Fold in grated carrots.

Add walnuts and currents 'other add-ins' and mix until incorporated. (Don't be alarmed: this batter is wet!)

Fill muffin tins (they won’t rise much), and bake for 25-35 minutes, depending on size of muffin, how wet the batter, how accurate your oven is, and how firm you want the muffin to be. If you're finding it's not firm enough, bake a little longer. This is a MOIST (but not mushy) muffin.

Remove from oven and cool on rack. As soon as you can handle, remove from muffin tin so they won't steam. 

Cool completely and enjoy! Store in fridge for up to a week. Or, wrap in waxed paper and store in Ziploc freezer bags and pull from freezer. This may be politically incorrect, but they nuke really well.

Best Banana Bread

Best Banana Bread

Adapted from Maida Heatter by Blue Heron Kitchen

This recipe, the best banana bread I’ve ever made or tasted is adapted from the great Maida Heatter. 

Let's go bananas!

I’m publishing this recipe by weight measurement. If you require volume measurements, send me an email at blueheronkitchen@gmail.com.

But...

If you haven’t bought a kitchen scale, here’s a link to an inexpensive one in the U.S. It’s about $23. American, and worth the investment. An electronic kitchen scale is invaluable essential to becoming a rock star baker. You'll achieve excellent and consistent results. (Check out Wirecutter (thewirecutter.com) for "the best" products. It's a great resource.)

Weighing ingredients allows you to play around! The original recipe called for all-purpose flour; and I replaced 100 grams (roughly a third) with whole wheat pastry flour. I love how the nuttiness of whole wheat complements bananas, don’t you? Fooling around with different flours is fun, but only if you’re throwing them on the scale. But beware: don’t think you have carte blanche with all flours. Different flours (even wheat) have different properties (gluten) and will alter your product. I find this very interesting, but I also have a pantry stocked with ground teff, buckwheat, millet and sorghum.

Most banana breads call for over-ripened bananas. For this recipe, some exterior black streaks and little black freckles are perfect. If your bananas are black, the sugar content will be quite high, cloying for this bread.

Truc: Don’t mash the bananas fine. Leave them slightly lumpy.

Truc: Toast your pecans first. Cool them completely and then toss them in a spoonful of the 

prepped dry mix (flour).

Truc: Toast a few more ounces of pecans than are called for in the recipe and keep them in a small glass jar. Throw them into a salad or into your yoghurt or into your cooked grains.

Eggs, size large, at room temperature. Buttermilk too, at room temperature.

Excellent quality ingredients will produce an excellent cake.

Be confident and have fun. You’re the boss top banana.

The People vs.. Fielding Mellish

(isn't this Epstein vs. Epstein?)

peace and love,

jane

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

6 oz./178 grams whole toasted and cooled pecans

10.8 oz./306 grams all-purpose flour

            (or, 206 g. all-purpose and 100 g. whole wheat pastry flour.)

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. kosher salt

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

1 ½ - 1 ¾ c./350-400g. mashed (lumpy) very ripe bananas (about 3 large or 4 small)

4 oz./113 g. unsalted butter, room temperature (European style recommended)

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract (Baldwin’s recommended)

11 oz./312 g. granulated sugar

2 eggs, size large, room temperature

¼ c./59 ml. buttermilk

Procedure:

mis en place:

Measure buttermilk and butter.

Preheat oven to 350º F. /176º C.

Place medium bowl on scale and tare. Weigh pecans.

Place pecans on a small, rimmed jelly roll pan (cookie sheet) and toast in oven approx. 5-6 minutes, just until you can smell them. Take care to not burn them. If you do, start over. Remove nuts from oven and cool completely. When cooled, take about a Tbsp. of flour mixture and toss the pecans until they’re coated with the flour.

Bring all cold ingredients to room temperature.

Take out your vanilla.

Prepare a long tea loaf pan or a large, wider loaf pan, or two smaller loaf pans by buttering and flouring (or spraying with release) and flouring.

Place large bowl on scale and tare. Measure flour(s) and remove. Add other dry ingredients to flour: baking soda, salt, cinnamon and whisk together. Set aside.

Place medium bowl on scale and tare. Measure sugar and set aside.

making the bread:

Preheat oven to 375º F./190º C.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar.

Add eggs and continue to mix until creamy consistency. Scrape down sides of bowl, as required. (I use a silicone beater blade and this step is barely required.)

Add vanilla extract and buttermilk. (Mixture will look slightly curdled – this is okay!)

Add ½ flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Scrape down, as required.

Dump in the mashed banana and mix until just incorporated. Scrape down, if necessary.

Add remaining flour and mix until just incorporated.

Remove the bowl from mixer stand and fold in pecans, making sure that all ingredients are incorporated.

Fill prepared loaf pan(s) and place in oven and bake for approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour (more or less, depending on your pan and your oven), until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool in pans for about 10 minutes and then invert and stand the loaves up straight on a baking rack to cool completely.

This loaf will keep for several days, wrapped well, at room temperature, a week in the fridge, or you can freeze it. But it’s really best eaten the second day, after the flavors have had their chance to dance together.