*Muffins!

Mini-jam-filled almond muffins to be exact.

In an effort to make a morning treat as healthy and satisfying as possible, I did a little experimenting. First, I tried to make a pumpkin almond (regular sized) muffin and they were, well, absolutely disgusting: the outside was burnt and the inside was a gooey mess with a mealy texture. So, those got tossed. But, being the girl that I am, I didn't give up. I still wanted a high-protein, low-sugar muffin, but my key -- as it is in a lot of my gluten-free baking, was to make it miniature.

And here you have my miniature jam-filled almond muffins. And they're quite satisfying -- just two of these with your morning tea or coffee can fill you up plenty. Also, I made them two different ways: one with egg, and one with ground flax seed heated up with some water (a basic egg replacer recipe) and they both came out well -- the egg-based muffin looked more, well, muffiney -- the other a tad bit grainier, lighter in color and they didn't rise as high -- but still tasty (in photo above, the flax recipe is the muffin on the left, and egg recipe is on the right -- it's the opposite in the photo below).

Mini-Jam-Filled Almond Muffins (gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan if you want)

makes nine mini-muffins


1 3/4 cup blanched almond flour (aka almond meal)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg (or 2 tablespoons of ground flax seeds mixed with 6 tablespoons water, microwaved for one minute, or until gel-like)
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1/4 cup jam of choice

Preheat oven to 325 F and grease a mini muffin pan with shortening or oil of choice.
In a bowl, mix the almond flour, salt, and baking soda until combined. In a separate bowl, mix the egg, vinegar and agave nectar. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and combine. Fill each muffin tin with a scant tablespoon of the batter, then add about a 1/2 teaspoon of the jam, making a small indent in each muffin. Add about a teaspoon of batter on top of each jam-filled muffin and bake for 10-15 minutes in the oven.




*Said in reference to hilarious youtube muffin sensation found here.

Minature Banana Bread Loaf

I've tried quite a few gluten-free, dairy-free banana bread recipes in my day and none could compare to my dear Mom's banana bread. It was so good that when she sent a loaf back with me to school in college, and I had to hand it off to my friend to bring it back to my dorm because I had to go to tennis practice, there was only half left when I got back to the dorm. And I really couldn't blame her; my Mom's banana bread is good.

Fast forward to a few years later, and I'm trying to replicate that moist, sweet, loaf. I've had a few failures, including a loaf that crumbled to the touch, but alas! I have found a winner, and it's basically my Mom's recipe -- modified gluten free.

I should also mention my slight obsession with "little" cooking tools. The notebook above is the size of a checkbook, so yes, the whisk is really the size of a fork, and the mini-loaf pan (I have four of them) makes a loaf slightly larger than a regular-sized muffin. This banana bread worked perfectly in my mini-loaf pan, but it also turned out well in a regular sized loaf pan -- just adjust your cooking time.

That's Henry -- eyeballing my loaf. Bad Henry.

Gluten-free, Dairy-free Banana Bread

2 teaspoons vanilla (make sure it's gluten-free; I use Nielsen-Massey Vanillas)
3/4 cup sugar (I had vanilla sugar on hand, so I used that)
4 very ripe, mashed bananas (I freeze over-ripe bananas and pop them in the microwave to defrost them when I want to use them)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups of your favorite gluten-free flour (I use a mix of superfine brown rice flour, tapioca starch and potato flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon xantham gum

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large bowl, mix the vanilla, sugar, bananas, oil and eggs. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients.

Grease either your mini-loaf, or regular-sized loaf pans and fill just before you reach the top of the pan.

Bake until a knife comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the loaf. It took about seventeen minutes for my mini-loaf pans, and about thirty-five for my regular-sized loaf.