Banana Muffins (nutrient-dense)

Every weekend, I bake a few items that can be used for simple breakfasts throughout the coming week. I usually bake my husband his favorite breakfast of grain-free custard cake, as well as some muffins, granola, or cookies for the rest of us to enjoy. My latest recipe for an easy weekday breakfast is banana muffins.

I've used a combination of flours in this recipe: Einkorn, coconut flour, and sprouted spelt. Einkorn is an ancient variety of wheat that is naturally lower in gluten and higher in protein than modern wheat. The addition of coconut flour allows these muffins to be more-filling, since coconut flour requires extra eggs into the batter.  And the sprouted spelt gives a nice bit of nutty flavor and boosted nutrition (and since the spelt flour is sprouted, the phytic acid anti-nutrient has been reduced). I've made these muffins using a combination of sucanat and sugar for the sweetener; however, sucanat can be used exclusively if you prefer to stick with only unrefined sweeteners.


Banana Muffins
Makes 12 muffins

• 1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup organic Einkorn flour 
• 1/3 cup organic coconut flour
• 1/4 cup sprouted spelt flour
• 1/2 tsp celtic sea salt
• 1 tsp aluminum-free baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp ceylon cinnamon 
• 1/8 tsp freshly-ground nutmeg
• zest from 1 lemon, which makes about 1 tsp of packed zest (I use a microplane rasp, and it works wonderfully)
• 2 ripe bananas (with brown spots on the skin, indicating the bananas are sweet enough for this recipe)
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) grassfed butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup of sucanat 
• 1/4 cup of organic sugar (or just use more sucanat if you prefer only unrefined sweeteners)
• 3 eggs, preferably from pastured hens
• 1&1/2 tsp organic vanilla extract (or use homemade vanilla)
• 1/2 tsp organic almond extract

1. Line a muffin tin with paper cups.  (I prefer If You Care Unbleached Baking Cups because the muffins do not stick to the sides of the cups.) 
2. Zest the lemon using a microplane rasp or other zester.
3. Combine the Einkorn, coconut flour, sprouted spelt flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon zest in a medium bowl. Whisk it all together to break up any lumps.  
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 
5. Mash two ripe bananas in a medium bowl. I like to use a potato masher to mash the bananas, but a fork would work, too. 
6. Combine the butter, sucanat and sugar in a large bowl (a Kitchen-Aid stand mixer works great for this recipe). Cream together for a couple minutes until the mixture turns slightly lighter in color.
7. In the meantime, combine the eggs, vanilla, and almond extract in a small bowl. (I find that a Pyrex glass measuring cup works great for this because the pour spout makes it easy to add these ingredients to the mixer while it is running.) Do NOT mix up the eggs at this point.
8. Once the butter and sucanat/sugar have become well-mixed, mix in the eggs one-at-a-time.  With my stand-mixer, I can just pour in each egg while the mixer is still running.  Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice to get everything incorporated well. (It is okay if the mixture looks a bit curdled during this step.)
9. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just mixed. Because the Einkorn flour does contain gluten, make sure not to overmix or the muffins will be tough. 
10. Mix in the mashed bananas.
11. Use a 3-Tb scoop or large spoon to scoop the batter into the muffin cups.
12. Bake the muffins at 350 degrees F for 27-32 minutes, until a they are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out dry.
13. Remove from the oven and allow to cool a bit before serving.
14. Serve and enjoy! Delicious when paired with a glass of raw milk.

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