Everything-Free Banana Muffins

.... egg, dairy, and gluten-free!

I love recipes that are easy to make substitutions.  Although my fridge and cupboards are always crammed full of every ingredient under the sun, I frequently find myself short on something.   Like today, I wanted to make muffins and use up some of the many, many frozen bananas currently taking up valuable real estate in my freezer.  But no oatmeal.  And I was down to my last two eggs, and planned to try a loaf of gluten-free bread later, which called for, you guessed it, two eggs.  So I got creative on my basic banana muffin recipe, and was richly rewarded with these tender, chocolatey, delicious morsels.   Some suggestions are made for substitutions you can make in this versatile recipe:

1/2 cup coconut oil (or butter, shortening or margarine)

3/4 cup white sugar (or brown sugar, or 1/2 cup honey, or 1/3 cup maple syrup)

1 1/2 cup mashed banana

2 Tbsp chia seed* + 6Tbsp water (or 2 eggs)

2 cups oat flour (or all purpose flour, almond flour, spelt flour)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup cocoa powder (optional)

1 cup chocolate chips (or blueberries, raisins, craisins, nuts)

Pre-heat oven to 350F.  Grease a 12-cup muffin tin or line it with paper muffin liners.

Combine the chia seed and water in a small bowl and set aside for a few minutes.  As it sits, it will form a sort of thick gel.  In a medium bowl, cream the oil and sugar together until fluffy.  Stir in mashed banana and softened chia seeds or eggs.  Sift together dry ingredients, then stir in to wet mixture.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Scoop into prepared muffin tin and bake for about 20 minutes.  Remove from the oven when they look done, allow to cool for a few minutes then turn onto a wire rack to finish cooling. 

*a note on chia seed:  the internet wisdom is that you should use ground white chia seed mixed with water for an egg substitute.  I only had black chia seed, and my food chopper appeared to just stir the seeds around.  I think this would make a difference in, say, a smooth vanilla cupcake, but with these muffins the whole seed didn't seem to upset even my most texture-wary taste tester.  (the cocoa was a last-minute addition to disguise the little black flecks.  Success!  These disappeared after school with requests for more)

Over Night Spelt Bread

Good bread at the grocery store is expensive.  The loaves that my kids like are the ones that are cheapest - the store brand, white, squishy, fluffy bread that are delicious with peanut butter and nutritionally useless.  The flour is stripped of all the good stuff, and the wheat has been so genetically modified to resist drought, disease, pests and everything else that it's hardly even recognizable as wheat anymore. So I started playing around with some good flour, looking for a balance between a nutritious, environmentally friendly grain but one that tasted good, my kids would eat, and didn't break the bank.  Here is the recipe that has worked best for me - simple, healthy, and most importantly, my kids will eat it!

I adapted this recipe from Chef Michael Smith's method of using very little yeast, minimal kneading (less work! Yay!)  and lots of time.  Letting the dough rise overnight adds the extra bonus of soaking the flour, which is supposed to make nutrients easier to absorb.  Because spelt has less gluten than regular bread flour, I use xanthan gum (available at health food or bulk stores) which gives the dough strength to hold up the little air pockets that make the bread fluffy.

3 cups spelt flour
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp honey or brown sugar
3 Tbsp oil (I use olive oil, you can also use grapeseed, canola, or whatever suits your fancy)
1 cup warm water (or more)

Measure out the flour, xanthan gum, yeast and salt into a large bowl, along with the sugar if you are using it (if you're using honey, wait until you add the water).  Sift the dry ingredients together, then add the warm water, oil and honey (if using).  Stir together with a wooden spoon until it looks like dough - you may need to add a little more water to incorporate all of the flour.  Add a little splash of oil to coat the top, cover with plastic wrap and put it in a warm spot to rise (I use the oven with the light turned on).  Leave it overnight, about 12-14 hours.  The next day, the dough should have doubled in volume.  Turn the dough out on to a clean work surface, and knead for about 5 minutes, until the dough is no longer sticky.  Generously oil a loaf pan and form the dough into a log shape, then press it into the pan. Cover it loosely with plastic wrap again and place it back in your warm spot to rise.  Let it rise for at least a couple of hours, I've waited as long as six hours before baking - the top of the loaf should be puffed up over the top of the loaf pan.  Pre-heat your oven to 350F and bake for about 40 minutes.  If the top starts to get too brown, cover with aluminum foil for the last 10-15 minutes of baking time.  Remove it from the oven and brush the top with oil for a soft crust.  Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.  Allow to cool completely before slicing!