Baking Paleo Snacks
I love baking. I used to bake ALL the time in college. Bring a tray of cookies or brownies to a freshman dorm and they are gone in seconds! It always made me feel good about my baking skills. Since beginning work though, I have a different audience to bake for- adults. Some are on diets (or pretend they are), some are still in the fresh out of college "eat everything free" mindset, and others will have the baked goods to tell you that they taste good. Either way, it still prevents me from eating all of it! This weekend I was on a mission for banana flavored baked goods for a coworker's birthday!
I came up with my plan for Banana Bread Muffins, but was shocked by how much sugar goes into the muffin recipe! I decided to do a side by side comparison of this with a paleo Banana Bread Muffin recipe. In the end, the non paleo muffins were sweeter and fluffy/dry while the paleo muffins were dense and moist. The banana flavor is much more prevalent in the paleo recipe (makes sense because it has double the # bananas!). Everyone says that making things paleo loses flavor and is less enjoyable, but these Banana Bread Muffins hit the spot with banana flavor, not sugar! And the best part of them being so dense? Hours of feeling full! We all struggle with the never full feeling when we start paleo diets, but 1 muffin per day, conveniently planned near a work out or as breakfast snack, can really help jump start your day!
Below is the recipe that I used from mixing together suggestions I saw online! It is a keeper for sure!
Ingredients:
4 ripe organic bananas, mashed
4 organic cage-free eggs
½ cup organic almond or coconut flour (I used coconut, some recommend a mix for consistency)
2 tablespoons organic coconut oil, melted
1 teaspoon organic real vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground organic cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground organic nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground organic ginger
1 teaspoon aluminum free baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, mash the bananas well. I used my stand mixer to mash the bananas, and then just added all the ingredients to the bowl.
Add the eggs and beat well.
Add the melted coconut oil and vanilla, and mix again.
Add the dry ingredients slowly while on a low mixing speed. Mix well.
Line a muffin tin with cup cake liners. Spoon batter into each cup, filling them 2/3.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until they begin to brown and a knife inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove the muffins from the oven and allow them to cool for about 5 minutes. Let them cool all the way on a wire rack.
These muffins taste the best while they are warm. Store leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container,