I like chocolate in just about everything baked. Really, doesn't a handful of dark chocolate chips enhance just about every cookie, muffin and sweet bread?
I think so. Phin, well, not so much. But I have a solution for muffins: His and Hers.
Last week, I decided to make KAF's Heavenly Healthy Banana Bread as muffins. Only, I like banana bread/muffins with chips, and Phin prefers without.
Aside: did you know that you can make just about any quick bread (ie: breads leavened with baking powder or soda rather than yeast) into muffins? You can. A quick bread recipe that is supposed to be baked in an 8 1/2" or 9" loaf pan will make about 1 dozen muffins. Just bake for about 25 minutes and test for doneness. So, if you have a favorite pumpkin or cranberry bread or apple walnut loaf, go for it.
Back to my muffins. To please both of us, I made the batter according to the recipe and filled half the muffin tin using turquoise cupcake liners. Then I added a handful of chocolate chips and filled the other half of the tin using orange cupcake liners.
Different liners makes it easy to tell whose is whose, and we both get our muffins exactly how we like them.
The muffins came out really tasty. I'm usually suspicious of "healthy" recipes since they are often made with low/no fat or low carb products or are artificially sweetened. I simply do not eat these sorts of engineered foods. Real food and everything in moderation is my general eating philosophy, and this recipe delivers that - whole grain, modestly sweetened, healthy nuts and loads of banana flavor even without the added flavoring. It's good for this time of year when I have the urge to bake but, after so many holiday indulgences, want to exercise a bit of restraint. I even used buckwheat honey, which has a very dark molasses flavor and a wealth of antioxidants and other health-boosting properties.
Do you have any easy baking tricks like my his and hers muffins? Do you have favorite recipes for when you want something warm and delicious out of the oven that isn't such an indulgence? Please share!
I think so. Phin, well, not so much. But I have a solution for muffins: His and Hers.
 |
| Heavenly Healthy Banana Muffins |
Last week, I decided to make KAF's Heavenly Healthy Banana Bread as muffins. Only, I like banana bread/muffins with chips, and Phin prefers without.
Aside: did you know that you can make just about any quick bread (ie: breads leavened with baking powder or soda rather than yeast) into muffins? You can. A quick bread recipe that is supposed to be baked in an 8 1/2" or 9" loaf pan will make about 1 dozen muffins. Just bake for about 25 minutes and test for doneness. So, if you have a favorite pumpkin or cranberry bread or apple walnut loaf, go for it.
Back to my muffins. To please both of us, I made the batter according to the recipe and filled half the muffin tin using turquoise cupcake liners. Then I added a handful of chocolate chips and filled the other half of the tin using orange cupcake liners.
 |
| Hers on the left and His on the right. |
Different liners makes it easy to tell whose is whose, and we both get our muffins exactly how we like them.
The muffins came out really tasty. I'm usually suspicious of "healthy" recipes since they are often made with low/no fat or low carb products or are artificially sweetened. I simply do not eat these sorts of engineered foods. Real food and everything in moderation is my general eating philosophy, and this recipe delivers that - whole grain, modestly sweetened, healthy nuts and loads of banana flavor even without the added flavoring. It's good for this time of year when I have the urge to bake but, after so many holiday indulgences, want to exercise a bit of restraint. I even used buckwheat honey, which has a very dark molasses flavor and a wealth of antioxidants and other health-boosting properties.
Do you have any easy baking tricks like my his and hers muffins? Do you have favorite recipes for when you want something warm and delicious out of the oven that isn't such an indulgence? Please share!
I couldn't agree with you more about adding chocolate chips. They really do make everything better. My husband is the same as yours and gets very upset when I add chocolate chips to banana bread. It's much better my way!
ReplyDeleteExactly! Much much better with chips!
ReplyDeletemuffins without chocolate chips? blasphemy! i can see now why phin would value you for your wisdom as well as all of your other charms :-) it is true love to give in to that sort of ridiculous preference!
ReplyDeleteROFL! yeah, sometimes it's a warts-and-all when you're in love. ;-)
ReplyDeleteMmmmm, chocolate. And, yes, real food only. None of this artificial nonsense. My two favorite quick-to-make recipes are chocolate chip cookies made with almond flour and maple syrup (http://www.primalpalate.com/recipe/chocolate-chip-cookies/) and vanilla coconut flour cupcakes (http://comfybelly.com/2011/06/very-vanilla-cupcakes-using-coconut-flour/), which would also be awesome with chocolate chips added in. I am not making any sweets this month though (too much baking over the holidays on my end), but when I have cookie cravings that is my go-to recipe.
ReplyDeleteWhen I do baking for game nights I usually have to make 2 batches - one of regular cookies and one of gluten free/dairy free (for me and one of my friends who is intolerant to those food groups). The gluten free/dairy free go first though - people really like those chocolate chip cookies (I use the recipe linked to above, but I make sure to get dairy free Enjoy Life chocolate chips for my friend) - but for people with nut allergies I make regular sugar cookies too. Might be easier to make the vanilla cupcakes and have a plain set and a chocolate chip set though.
Ooops, looks like the links got screwed up.
ReplyDeleteHere are the cookies: http://www.primalpalate.com/recipe/chocolate-chip-cookies/
Here are the cupcakes: http://comfybelly.com/2011/06/very-vanilla-cupcakes-using-coconut-flour/
Omnomnom... both sound yummy. I bet the almond flour really works in a chocolate chip cookie.
ReplyDeleteGreat tip. I have one daughter that likes choc chips and one that doesn't. Do you mind sharing your recipe? It sounds delish and healthy and with two teenage daughters exactly what we need.
ReplyDeleteThat must be some dicey family politics - who's mom's favorite based on baking. ;-) I linked to the recipe in the post but here it is again: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/heavenly-healthy-banana-bread-recipe Do links not appear live if you are reading thru bloglovin or feedly or something like that?
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a great recipe! I am going to have to try it WITH chocolate chips!! I'm lucky man friend won't mind..
ReplyDelete