I swear, it’s almost like I subconsciously buy bananas with no intentions on eating them but instead to let them sit on the counter till they’re ready to be turned into a dessert. Anyone else?!?!
I’ve been all about maple the last few weeks. It give so much depth and flavor to things while being a natural sweetener. These muffins are by far the best Banana Muffins I’ve had. They are moist and flavorful and oh so tasty. Sienna absolutely LOVED them too.
Another thing I have been obsessed with recently is browning butter. I’ve been doing it a lot in dinner dishes but a friend said it’s great in baking so these were the perfect opportunity to try it out. You can easily just used melted butter for these but I will continue to brown butter in All. The. Things. Try it out at least once!
These are delicious as is but also fantastic with a glaze drizzled on top. Check out the Pumpkin Maple loaf for an easy glaze!
A super moist muffin packed with deep maple and banana flavors.
Course Dessert
Prep Time 5 minutesminutes
Servings 12muffins
Ingredients
1 1/3cupalmond flour
1/2cupcoconut flour
1tbspbaking powder
1/2 tspsalt
1tspcinnamon
1/2tsp nutmeg
1/2cupdark brown sugar
6tbspbutterbrowned
1tsp vanilla
1/2cupmaple syrup
3bananasvery ripe
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a small bowl mix all dry ingredients and set aside.
Over medium-high heat, melt butter till it starts to bubble and froth. Stir consistently till it starts to brown. remove from heat and set aside in small bowl.
In medium bowl, mash bananas. Add eggs, brown sugar, maple syrup and vanilla. Mix.
When butter has cooled slightly, add into banana mixture slowly stirring quickly the whole time. If butter is too hot, it will scramble the eggs so do this carefully.
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix.
Pour evenly in muffin/cupcake tin to make 12 muffins.
Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.
Enjoy as is or add a cinnamon glaze – see pumpkin loaf for a quick glaze!
It’s FINALLY fall! I don’t know about you, but pumpkin season is my fave! Call me basic but I’m all about pumpkin flavored everything, sweaters, boots and that crisp air and colored leaves. That of course mean Pumpkin Bread!
My family loves pumpkin bread. Our typical go to was the Trader Joe’s pumpkin muffin box. If you know, you know. BUT we do love some good fresh homemade bread too. Of course every time is an experiment depending on what gluten free flour I have on hand so Jordan and I decided to solidify a delicious recipe and spice it up a little.
Enter Maple Syrup. I often use Maple Syrup as a sweetener substitute for sugar. You really can’t tell too much and I happen to love the hint of deep flavor it gives. So we’re calling this a Maple Pumpkin Loaf, because it sounds cooler than Pumpkin Bread.
I often see people use sour cream in bread recipes and I happen to have goats milk yogurt at home so I figured it would do the same thing sour cream does so we used the yogurt as our fat for this recipe over butter. Trying to make it slightly healthier all around since it’s of course with a mix of almond and coconut flour. Hey, we’re trying here.
This was an experiment like I said but only took 2 tries to get it DELICIOUS. It’s moist and sweet and maple-y and pumpkin-y and with the glaze on top, its everything you want in a pumpkin bread!
A gluten free and ever so slightly healthier version of your favorite moist pumpkin bread!
Course Dessert
Prep Time 5 minutesminutes
Total Time 45 minutesminutes
Ingredients
1/4cupcoconut sugar
1/2cuppure maple syrup
3/4cupsheep/goats milk yogurtyou can definitely use regular yogurt here
3eggs
1cuppumpkin puree
1/2tspvanilla
1/2tspbaking powder
1/2tspbaking soda
1/4tspsalt
1tsppumpkin pie spice
1tspcinnamon
2cupsalmond flour
1/4cupcoconut flour
Glaze
1/2cuppowdered sugar
1/4tsp vanilla
1-2tbspmilkI use almond or macadamia nut
1/2tsp pumpkin pie spice
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Whisk together sugar, syrup and yogurt.
Add eggs and mix. Add pumpkin and vanilla and mix.
Add all dry ingredients and mix til all incorporated.
Batter will be on the thicker side.
Line a bread pan with parchment paper. Pour in batter and cook for 35-45 minutes – til top starts to get golden brown, edges come off the side of pan and knife from center runs clean.
Remove parchment paper and bread from pan. Drizzle top with glaze.
I used to give my son fig bars as a treat when he was little and he loved them. I wanted to make my own as a quarantine project but only got around to them this month and HOLY MOLY they are fabulous.
They are gluten free but unfortunately not refined sugar free. I did not have anymore coconut sugar so I used organic granulated sugar. I will definitely try them out with coconut sugar though and give an update.
The bottom crust is ooey and the fig middle is gooey and then topped with a crisp crumble and I want these everyday with a cup of coffee.
You can EASILY fill the middle with a flavorite jam of yours or a date paste, up to you! But I would for sure give the figs a try!
A sweet luscious treat made with gooey figs topped with a sugary crisp.
Course Dessert
Prep Time 10 minutesminutes
Cook Time 25 minutesminutes
Author Nikki
Equipment
Oven
Blender
Parchment Paper
Mixer
Square pan
Ingredients
1/2cupbutterroom temp, 1 stick
3/4cupsugar
1egg
1 1/4cupalmond flour
1/4cupcoconut flour
1/2tspsalt
1/2tbspalmond extractcan use vanilla instead
11ozdried figsstems cut off
Crumble Topping
3tbspcoconut oilmelted
1/4cupsugar
3/4cupalmond flour
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375
In a mixer, cream together butter and sugar. Once mixed add egg and almond extract.
Add both flours and salt and mix into dough.
Line a square 8×8 baking dish with parchment paper.
Press dough into pan till all evened out. This is easiest with finger tips.
Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the top is just starting to get golden brown. Half way through, remove and use a spatula to deflate the dough if its risen.
While bottom crust cooks, boil figs. In small sauce pan, put 11 oz of figs in and fill with water till all figs are covered. Bring to boil then reduce to simmer for 10 minutes. Blend figs and 1/2 cup of water from pan till smooth and paste like. Set aside to cool a little and make crumble.
Mix together coconut oil, sugar and almond flour to wet sand consistency.
Remove the crust when finished cooking and raise oven temperature to 425.
Cover crust evenly with fig paste and top with crumble.
Put back in oven for 10-15 minutes, or until crumble is golden brown.
Remove when done, let cool and cut into bars and enjoy!
Notes
Add some flare – you can drizzle with melted peanut butter for a “PB&J” bar or melt some chocolate and drizzle over top also!
It’s April 2020 – the heart of the COVID-19 Pandemic! I need something to keep me occupied, busy and sane! Tackle scone making? Sounds like a plan!
I have been dreaming of making scones for YEARS but for some reason they seemed super intimidating. I feel like they are a true science and a lot of work and I really just couldn’t bear trying to make them and then having them suck. So I skipped making them for a really long time. Welp, now it was a pandemic and I had NOTHING BUT TIME so if they turned out terrible guess what?! I could try the next day and the next day and the next day … you get the picture. Luckily, it only took one very long day and tons of flavor attempts but I came out with a freaking pretty delicious base formula for any flavor scone!
The first flavor I tried was Strawberry Rice Krispie – requested by my husband. I accidentally forgot the baking powder so they didn’t rise at all. Whoops. This was a trial and error process though so it’s okay! My son requested Cinnamon Chocolate Chip – these were dynamite! And I wanted a Maple Cinnamon flavor – also fantastic. Following these flavors were Coffee Almond and BLUEBERRY LEMON.
All of the scones except for the Blueberry Lemon did have a true scone-like texture – kind of dry and biscuit like. But the flavors of the Blueberry Lemon were unbeatable. You could easily make them on the drier side by adding about 1/2 cup more flour but I happen to like them more moist. I also find that people who don’t love scones will say it’s because they are too dry, so these will make those haters very happy.
Because I made at least 100 scones on this one particular weekend, I bagged them up and delivered them to my family. Everyone unanimously said the Blueberry Lemons were the best. So right now those get to be the star and get their own post!
Okay, a few disclaimers about these scones.
1. My husband is allergic to gluten. So I have only attempted these scones with gluten free flour. However! It must be cup4cup brand of gluten free flour. I have tried other gluten free flours and they are not all made the same! I have yet to try with almond/coconut/oat flour but those will need xanthan gum added to them and I’ll probably need more pandemic isolation to experiment with that.
2. I did not want to use regular milk or cream in these so I opted for full fat canned coconut milk since I often use that in place of dairy milks. I have since made these scones with oat milk and it truly isn’t the same – or it’s in my head – but I’d just stick with the coconut cream.
3. Grating frozen butter into the mix is KEY! Freezing the butter allows for it to stay separated while grating it so it is evenly spread out in the dough. Grate it right into the bowl and stir every few grates. This is time consuming. This is tedious. This is EVERYTHING though. I tried grating the stick onto the cutting board for the comfort of my hand. Doesn’t work the same. Just grate a stick of frozen butter directly over the flour mixture into the bowl. Trust me!
4. Everyone’s oven is different. The first time I made these I had my old oven that did not work very well so I kept checking on them every 4 minutes for a total of 22 minutes. In my new oven, I still check on them often but it totals about 12-16 minutes! Just keep an eye on them!
I think that’s all the tips I have!
I recently chopped up some fresh basil and added it in the glaze and it was so good! You can also cook down some blueberries and add them instead of the lemon extract for more blueberry pop. Or skip the glaze altogether. Possibilities are endless!
A moist, buttery, tart, delicious scone perfect for anytime of the day!
Course Dessert
Cuisine Pastry
Prep Time 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time 12 minutesminutes
Servings 16scones
Equipment
Kitchenaide Mixer
Ingredients
2cupsgluten free flourcup 4 cup brand
3/4cupwhite sugar
2 1/2tspbaking powder
1/2tspsalt
1/2cupbutter1 stick, frozen
1/2cupfull fat coconut milkcanned
1egg
2 1/2tsplemon extract
1/2tspvanilla extract
2 tsplemon zest
1/2 – 1cupblueberrieswashed and rinsed
1tbspalmond milk
white or clear sugar sprinkles
Glaze
1/2cuppowdered sugar
1tbspalmond milk
1tsplemon extract
Instructions
In your Kitchenaide, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
Using a large grater, grate in frozen butter. This is the most tedious and time consuming part but worth it! After a few grates, stir butter into the flour to make pea size pieces of flour covered butter.
In a small bowl, whisk together the can of full fat coconut milk so the thick cream is mixed evenly with the watery part. Then measure out 1/2 cup and mix on low into the bowl. (save the remaining for more scones, smoothies or other recipes)
Add your egg, extracts, and lemon zest and mix on medium till well combined but don't over mix.
Mix in blueberries on low or by hand.
Divide the dough into 2 balls and refrigerate for minimum 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
On parchment paper dusted with flour, roll out one ball at a time to about 1/2 – 1 inch thick. Cut into 8 triangles and place each triangle on a cooking sheet.
With pastry brush, lightly brush on almond milk on top of each scone and sprinkle sugar on top.
Cook for about 12 minutes or until scones have fluffed up and start to turn brown on the edges.
While cooking, mix all ingredients for glaze together. You want this to be somewhat thick so add more powdered sugar/almond milk as needed.
Once scones have cooled, drizzle glaze on top and add more sugar sprinkles if desired.
Enjoy!
Notes
Enjoy with a morning cup of coffee or as a night time treat!Make for a party and trust me everyone will think you’re an amazing pastry chef!
Who doesn’t love a good muffin? Banana muffins, or banana bread, are usually what I have baking in my house because for some reason, I get bananas and NO ONE eats them. Overly ripe bananas are the key ingredient to great banana muffins!
While bananas are necessary for a BANANA muffin, I promise you, dates are the secret to these. I am obsessed with dates and use them all the time to sweeten EVERYTHING. You can substitute coconut sugar for these but trust me, you’re not going to want to. When mixed with the almond butter, they keep these muffins moist and creamy once baked and they don’t dry out. I will find other things for you to add your extra dates to, promise. Or, make a double batch of these and give them to you family and they will love you forever!
