Cranberry Banana Quinoa Muffins

I discovered this recipe on my Whole Foods Recipe iPhone app, which is probably my favorite app, and definitely the cooking-related one I use the most. The recipe is actually for Cranberry Banana Quinoa Bread. I decided to make muffins because this way I don't have to actually slice a loaf of bread--yes, I'm that lazy. Also, muffins don't take as long to bake or cool.

Of course, I had to change a few things. I didn't have any quinoa flakes, so I used quinoa flour, hoping they're similar enough to not matter. Also, I didn't have any garbanzo bean flour, so I used up what was left of another all-purpose gluten-free flour I had in the pantry. The only other item I subbed was using unrefined cane sugar in place of regular granulated, so my batter and muffins have a brownish tint. Oh, and I accidentally bought the extra large eggs instead of large ones the last time I went grocery shopping, but I couldn't tell that it made any difference.

Ingredients

3/4 cup quinoa flakes (I used quinoa flour)
1/2 cup garbanzo bean flour (I used what was left in my box of Gluten Free Pantry All Purpose Flour)
1/3 cup potato starch (make sure you use potato starch and not potato flour, BIG difference)
1/3 cup tapioca flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 1/4 cups (about 3) ripe mashed bananas
2 large eggs
1/3 cup non-hydrogenated, non-dairy margarine that has been melted and cooled (I used Earth Balance)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a loaf pan (or muffin tin). Combine quinoa flakes, bean flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum in a medium bowl and use a wire whisk to mix everything together. Set aside. (I forgot to get a photo of that step.)

Mix mashed bananas, eggs, and margarine together in a separate bowl until well combined. Add sugar, cranberries and lemon juice and mix until blended.

 

Gently stir in dry ingredients until just combined. Do not over mix batter. Pour into loaf pan/muffin tin and bake until lightly browned, about 40 minutes for loaves and 25 minutes for muffins.

  

Allow to cool completely before serving.

 

I was very pleased with how these came out. I taste the banana more than the cranberries, but the mouthfeel is very pleasant. They do smell and taste slightly of quinoa, but that may be better balanced out when used with garbanzo bean flour as per the recipe, and they still taste good. In fact, I've eaten 3 so far. The rest are in the freezer. I can defrost them as needed for breakfast or a snack, and I'm less likely to eat more than 1 at a time that way.

  

I didn't mention it earlier, but these muffins are also dairy free. There is sugar in them, but the bananas replace a good deal of the fat, so they're also a tiny bit healthy. I'm thinking about trying these again only with applesauce instead of bananas, since not everybody likes banana bread.

Gluten Free Banana Ganache Tart With Peanut Butter Cookie Crust

Whew, that's a mouthful, isn't it? You guys remember the peanut butter cookie recipe I posted not too long ago? Well, what I didn't tell you then was that I only baked half the recipe as cookies. The rest I baked in a 8-inch loose-bottomed tart pan, thinking it might make a good crust for the right pie.

All I did was press the cookie dough thinly, yet evenly into the base of a loose-bottom tart pan. If I had enough dough, I would have gone up the sides, but I barely had enough to cover the bottom. I baked it for around 10 minutes. Since the dough was thinner than the cookies I kept my eye on it so it wouldn't burn. It came out of the oven looking fine and smelling awesome.

As I searched the internet looking for a filling, thinking that gluten-free banana cream might be nice on a peanut butter cookie crust, but really wanting to dump a bunch of chocolate all over it, I stumbled upon a recipe for Banana Ganache on the Kitchen Unplugged blog. Only she calls it "Choco-ban-nache" which is a name I love, but won't steal. Her recipe was more traditional, with heavy cream and corn syrup, so I put in my usual substitutions.

Banana Ganche pie filling:

8 ounces chocolate (I had 60% chips in my pantry, so that's what I grabbed.)
1/2 cup coconut milk
2 very ripe bananas, pureed
2 tablespoons maple syrup (I may omit this next time, as the ganache is really sweet.)

Heat coconut milk and maple syrup over medium heat until almost boiling.

Pour over chocolate and stir until thoroughly melted.

It will go all smooth and shiny. Stir in the pureed bananas.

Allow to cool, then chill in refrigerator until a pudding-like consistency. Pour into baked pie crust then return to refrigerator and chill until set.

Slide the bottom of the pan up and out of its ring, there's a pie. Tart. Banana ganache covered giant cookie thingy, whatever.

That's honestly all there is to it, folks. It tastes a lot like my chocolate-dipped frozen bananas, but considering it's essentially the same ingredients in slightly different proportions and arranged differently, I guess that's no shock.

Now, this isn't one to make ahead of time if you want a nice crunchy crust, because it will go soft and cake-like after a day or so. It's still yummy, just more of a brownie-type texture. The banana ganache stays smooth and pudding-like. Feel free to serve with a dollop of... something. I vote for vanilla coconut milk ice cream, but I put that stuff on nearly everything.

Elvis Cupcakes

How can I not be totally in love with a blog called Legalize Frostitution? I first heard about the  Cupcake Royale bakery while listening to The Splendid Table. As the Sterns described the Velvet Elvis cupcake, I thought it sounded like a genius idea, only I needed it to be gluten-free.

I had grand plans to make these as healthy as possible by substituting unsalted, pureed garbanzo beans with 1 cup of the flour, using agave nectar or maple syrup instead of sugar, and replacing the butter with coconut oil. Unfortunately, when I made that batch I forgot to add the maple syrup. The inedible result took the fast track to the trash. 

With my only can of unsalted garbanzo beans gone, I had to go with a gluten-free baking mix for round two. I also went ahead and used raw sugar because I was afraid maple syrup would make the batter too runny, and I didn't want another disaster.

I'm much happier with these, but I do apologize for the out of season baking cups. I kinda had to go with what I had on hand for the second batch. And hey, Halloween is only 6 months away. Just around the corner, really.

Banana Cupcakes, adapted from Martha Stewart.

1 1/2 cups gluten-free baking mix of choice

3/4 tsp xanthan gum

3/4 cup raw sugar 

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

1/2 cup coconut oil

3 large, very ripe bananas

2 large eggs

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a standard muffin pan with gold lame baking cups. 

Whisk together the baking mix, xanthan gum, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until well combined. In a blender, puree the bananas with the eggs, vanilla, coconut oil. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir to incorporate, but don't over mix. Spoon into prepared pan while humming "Heartbreak Hotel." 

Bake for 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack. Makes 12.

Peanut Butter Icing, adapted from Ina Garten

1 cup powdered sugar (Sorry about this, guys. If I had used agave nectar the icing would have been way to thin.)

1 cup creamy peanut butter (I use the all natural kind that requires stirring up before use.)

1/2 cup coconut oil

3/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

Mix together until creamy. I had to refrigerate mine before using to help it firm up. Since I use all natural peanut butter, it was pretty runny. If you use regular peanut butter, then the stabilizers will probably help with icing consistency. 

I iced half of the cupcakes with the peanut butter icing and poured chocolate ganache over top. This was messy. If I decide to do these again I think I'll unwrap the cupcakes, turn them upside down, frost the top, then glaze the whole thing like a petit four. You can tell it took me a few goes to get it right.

With the other half, I waited for the ganache to firm up and then used it as a filling for the cupcakes before icing the tops.

What? You don't believe there's really chocolate filling in there? Very well. O, ye of little faith. Sorry it's blurry. The sky was darkening due to severe weather moving in at the time, so the lighting was all off. Hey, I'll take my excuses anywhere I can find them.

Oh, yeah. I suppose I better tell you how to make the ganache, right? It's the same recipe I used for chocolate truffle filling only I left out the vanilla.

Ganache:

1 cup coconut milk

16 ounces good quality chocolate

Melt chocolate using your method of choice (microwave, double boiler). Add coconut milk and stir until smooth. Allow to cool before using as a glaze, otherwise it will melt the peanut butter icing right off the cupcake tops (read: lesson learned the hard way). If using as a filling, chill it in the refrigerator until it starts to cool and thicken. You'll just have to keep checking on it, but you want it to be the consistency of chocolate pudding, maybe a little bit thicker. 

I think the filled cupcakes look better, but that's a big glob of chocolate ganache filling to bite into! For taste, I prefer the chocolate glazed cupcakes as they're not quite so rich. Next time I think I'll try making them as mini-cupcakes and see what happens.

Want tips on how to fill and frost cupcakes? Check out my Chocolate Cupcakes post. They have Spider-Man baking cups.