E's Famous Banana Chip Muffins

A friend of mine just asked if I had a banana muffin recipe I like, so I typed up my famous recipe an sent it her way.  I figured I'd post it here as well, for our records :-)

NOTE: B/S - These are the ones Mom made when she stayed with you a while back.  I think she said you like them and at one point I think B had asked me for the recipe, but I forgot to send it.  

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Combine thoroughly: 

1 and 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup wheat bran

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Stir in: 

2/3 cup dark chocolate chips and/or chopped nuts 

In a separate bowl, whisk together: 

2 cups mashed banana (about 3-4 bananas)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

4 Tablespoons canola oil (or other oil)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Gently fold the flour mixture into the wet ingredients until the dry ingredients are just moistening. You don't want it to be smooth, just barely combined (resist the temptation to stir with vigor!).  Divide batter into muffin tins, I find it usually makes 12 regular size muffins and 12 mini muffins.  

Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 11 minutes for mini muffins and 15-18 for full size muffins. Let cool for 2-3 minutes in the pan before removing. Let cool on rack.  

*If you're baking them to have leftovers, you might want to add an extra tablespoon of oil so they don't dry out. 

Oatmeal Pumpkin Scones

Oh. My. God. These are amazing!!!! I can't stop eating them... someone take the plate away from me.  Please.

Ingredients
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 Tablespoon canola oil
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
2 Tablespoons milk
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 2/3 cup King Arthur gluten free all purpose flour blend
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 Tablespoon baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cup rolled oats
11 Tablespoon cold, butter (cut into small pieces)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 
• Whisk xanthan gum and canola oil in a small bowl. Whisk in syrup, milk, pumpkin puree, and egg. Set aside
• Combine dry ingredients, including rolled oats, in a food processor. Pulse until oatmeal is partially broken down (maybe 10-15 pulses). 
• Cut cold butter into small pieces and gently toss into dry ingredients. 
• Then cut butter into dry ingredients until it resembles a chunky course meal, with pea sized pieces through out.  
• Gently fold in wet ingredients until they're just loosely combined, use hands if you have to. 
• Cover cookie sheet with parchment paper. Form into two large circles and flatten out until approximately 1.5 inches thick.  Slice each circle into 8 wedges and separate pieces slightly.
• Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until golden brown.
• Transfer scones to a wire rack, and cool completely before eating.

Buckwheat Pumpkin Pancakes

Yesterday morning I asked J if he wanted potatoes and eggs for breakfast. When the response I got was just a grunt I started suggesting alternatives.  It turns out that pumpkin pancakes got his attention, so I tracked down a few different gluten free recipes.  When none of them really hit the mark for me I cobbled together my own (below) instead.  We were both pleasantly surprised at how good these came out.  They fluffed up nice, which is often a problem with both pumpkin pancakes and gluten free stuff in general.  The flavor was just pumpkiny enough that you could taste it, but not overwhelming. Same with the buckwheat.  All-in-all I think we found ourselves a new fall favorite with these tasty buckwheat pumpkin pancakes.  Joel even enjoyed his with some dark chocolate chips tucked inside.

Ingredients
1 cup buckwheat flour
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup all purpose gluten free flour blend (I prefer King Arthur)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoon cinnamon
some allspice, ginger, nutmeg (to taste)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup plain yogurt (fat free, low far, or whole are all fine)
1 cup milk (whatever kind you have, I used coconut milk this time)
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
~2 Tablespoons maple syrup (I just kind of add these last three to taste)
~2 teaspoons vanilla extract
~2-4 Tablespoons melted butter or canola oil (on the higher end if you plan to have leftovers)

Stuff you could add: Dark chocolate chips, dried cranberries, apple slices, pecans....

Directions

1. Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl.  
2. In a separate bowl whisk together the wet ingredients.
3. Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined.  Let sit for five minutes. If they batter looks too thick, fold in a bit more milk (something like the consistency of a thick milkshake, maybe).  
4. Heat skillet to medium-high and butter the pan.
5. Pour 1/4 cup size scoops onto a hot, buttered skillet. Let pancakes cook until bubbles start to come through.  Then flip just for 30 seconds and remove from skillet.  

*If you're going to add nuts/cranberries/chocolate chips, I recommend adding them to the pancake directly right before you flip them. 

Brace yourself! Baked Oatmeal Muffins (the perfect ride grub)

See those tasty little morsels to the left? I'll give you one guess what they are....

Nope, not bran muffins.

It's Marie's baked oatmeal gone portable!!!!  It's ok to admit it, I know I just blew your mind.

It just so happens to turn out that baked oatmeal makes the perfect portable for bike rides (and I'm thinking camping too!!!!!!) Don't even try to contain your excitment. It's just too much to hold in. Go on and dance. You know you want to :-)

For those of you that don't have it already, here's the baked oatmeal recipe.  We usually double it and bake it in a 9x13 pan.  

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup canola (or vegetable) oil

2 eggs (beaten)

1 cup sugar (I usually use 1/2 cup brown sugar or maple syrup instead)

2 cups rolled oats

1 cup quick oats

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degress
• Combine oil, eggs, sugar, and vanilla
• Add oatmeals, baking powder, vanilla, salt, and milk
• Bake in 8x8 (or 9x9) glass pan for 30-35 minutes (or until the top is nicely browned). Longer if you like lots of crunchies.  

Flourless Chocolate Ricotta Cheesecake Brownies

Gluten-Free Ricotta Brownies with Cherries 

A few weeks ago I bought I big thing of cherries from the farmer's market, but they weren't quite sweet enough to eat on their own.  I also managed to snag a free thing of homemade ricotta while I was there.  So I started poking around the interwebs for recipes I could make using the two.  I stumbled on this recipe from Edible Seattle for gluten free ricotta brownies with a fun cherry compote on top.  I've already made them twice, so I figure this is likely to become a staple around here.  

The brownies are dense and have a flourless torte-like consistency.  The ricotta layer is not too sweet and makes a nice complement to the chocolate.  They're definitely the best when they're right out of the refrigerator cold.  

Ingredients: 

• Chocolate Layer: 
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the pan
• 4 ounces Ghiradelli's bittersweet chocolate chips (~1/2 cup)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• Ricotta Layer: (Optional)
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup part skim ricotta
• Cherry Compote: (optional)
• 1 pound cherries, pitted and halved
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• Some cornstarch

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and center a rack in the middle of the oven. Butter an 8” square pan. Line the entire pan with wax paper, and butter the paper. (Next time I might try spraying the wax paper with canola oil, since it still seems to stick a bit more than I'd like with the butter.)

Make the chocolate layer first by melting the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Remove the pan from the heat, let any bubbles subside, then add the bittersweet chocolate, stirring constantly until completely smooth. Stir in the vanilla and salt, and set aside. Whip the sugar and eggs together in the bowl of a mixture on high until light, about 3 minutes. With the machine on low, add the chocolate and butter mixture in a slow, steady stream, mixing until uniform in color. Sift the cocoa over the batter and fold it in until no dry spots remain. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan and smooth flat with a spatula.

Next, make the ricotta mixture by whisking one egg and 1/4 cup sugar until light. Add the ricotta, and whisk until smooth. Pour the ricotta mixture over the chocolate layer and tip the pan to distribute the filling evenly.

Bake brownies for 35 to 40 minutes, until firm in the center. (They may puff and/or crack, but will settle again when cooling.) While the brownies are baking, make the cherry compote by cooking down the pitted cherries and maple syrup over medium heat until it gets good and mushy, then add some corn starch to thicken things up a bit.  I have no idea how much I added, maybe 1 tablespoon.

Cool completely in the pan, at least 1 hour (we found they were easier to cut and best tasting after refrigerating overnight). To cut, loosen the edges of the brownies with a spatula. Then use the wax paper to pull the cold brownies out of the pan. Place brownies on a cutting board, leaving wax paper on. Slice into 16 squares, and remove paper.

Second Try Cookies: a cashew oatmeal chip masterpiece

Ingredients:
1/2 cup cashew butter
2 T butter, softened
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
some vanilla
some cinnamon
3/4 t baking soda
1 T flaxseed meal
2 T almond meal
1/3 cup oat flour (just toss some rolled oats in the cuisinart until it looks like flour)
3/4 cup quick oats
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips (optional, but highly recommended)
1/4 chopped cashews (optional)

Instructions: 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees 
• Combine wet ingredients in a bowl until smooth
• Sprinkle some cinnamon on top of wet ingredients, then sprinkle the baking soda on tops, followed by the flaxseed and almond meal. Stir to combine.
• Stir in oat flour and quick oats. Stir in the rolled oats last.  
• Add chocolate chips and/or cashews if you want. (I tend to scoop a few plain, then add stuff in to the rest of the batter.)
• Scoop generous tablespoon size balls onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Keep cookies about two inches apart. Squish down and form into pretty looking cookie shapes. 
• Bake for 10-12 minutes, until edges start to brown
• Best consumed with coffee or before/during/after long bike rides :-)

Lemon Cornmeal Pancakes

Ingredients:
- 1 cup Bob's Redmill Cornbread Mix
- 1 egg
- 1 1/2 T sugar
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/3 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
- butter for skillet

Directions:
Mix together all the ingredients in a bowl.  Add a little more water if needed to get a pancake consistency.  Pancake temperature, pancake time.  Serve with homemade lemon curd and blueberries.