Paleo-friendly Chocolate Chip Muffins – Recipe in progress

This is a recipe in progress! After my success in making delicious paleo muffins including banana berry and pumpkin pecan, I decided to try making chocolate chip muffins!

I’ve made really tasty chocolate chip cookies in the past (I’ll save that recipe for a future post) using Enjoy Life Semi-sweet chocolate mini chips. Only THREE ingredients: evaporated cane juice, chocolate liquor, and cocoa butter! They’re as paleo friendly as chocolate chips can get! Plus the mini chips means that you can use a lot less chocolate. Who wants that really, but being paleo you’re probably trying to keep your sugar intake at a minimum.

These muffins turned out grainier than the others. Haha, a grainier grain-free muffin! I used 2/3 cup almond flour and 1/3 cup coconut flour, which is a different coconut to almond ratio than I’ve used in the past. It was also a tad dry. I also either used too much banana or not enough. There’s a hint of banana flavor of which I ended up wishing there was more or none at all. I think next time chocolate chip banana muffins would be better, especially since the extra banana will help with the dryness. There’s lots of potential here though. I basically followed the banana berry muffin recipe, using chocolate chips instead of berries. I only added some vanilla and used less banana. I won’t post a recipe until I feel like I’ve perfected it though! Leave a comment if you’d still like the recipe or if you have any baking tips!

Even the batter/dough was dryer and doughier than the other muffins I’ve made.

 

Good thing I made half a batch and ended up with only 5 or so muffins! These weren’t bad at all. They were good enough for me to eat all of them in two days, actually… They were better than most gluten-free muffins. Just not up to par with the other muffins I’ve made, so that’s why it’s in progress. 🙂

 

Paleo Pumpkin Pecan Muffins

I’m really getting the hang of this paleo baking thing! I should stop posting my recipes and open a paleo bakery! Seriously. I’m that awesome. I especially enjoy making banana-based paleo breads and muffins! So far I’ve made  banana bread, banana berry muffins, and now these PUMPKIN PECAN MUFFINS!

You might recall from the last muffin post that Holly made me a batch of pumpkin muffins as well. I ended up doubling the recipe and then making several changes to create  a denser, heartier muffin with pecans throughout and more pumpkin spice flavor. The original muffins were sweeter, lighter, and had sliced almonds on top. Here is the original list of ingredients plus all the changes I made so that you can follow either recipe.

Paleo Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients:
1 cup 1 15oz can pure pumpkin puree
1 2 large [over]ripe bananas
1/4 1/2 cup pure almond butter
1/3 1/4 cup raw honey
1 Tbsp pure coconut oil, melted
4 large eggs
zest of 1 lime
1 3/4 2 cups almond flour
[1 cup coconut flour]
1/4 1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/8 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 3 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp aluminum-free baking powder
1 1/2 3 tsp baking soda
1/4 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
Sliced almonds, pumpkin seeds, or unsweetened shaved coconut, for topping.
[1 1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped]

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans.
2. In a medium bowl, mash the bananas and then mix in the pumpkin puree, raw honey, and eggs. In a large bowl, combine the almond and coconut flours, spices, baking soda, and sea salt. Stir the wet mix into the dry mix.
3. Fold in the pecans.
4. Fill the cupcake pans using an ice cream scoop
5. Bake for 30 minutes. Makes 20 muffins.

These were super delicious and turned out exactly the way I like my muffins! I like my muffins to be dense yet soft and slightly moist… Something I can eat on the go for breakfast or as a snack and be full. I also like my muffins to have only a hint of sweetness without losing the flavor of the star ingredients. Less added sugar of any kind is more paleo, too. I find that I can stop at one muffin because mine aren’t too sweet. Good luck stopping me from eating a whole batch of anything that’s sweet enough to register as dessert in my mouth!

After making the banana berry and pumpkin muffins, I think I can be the queen of paleo muffins. I’m planning on making the following in the future inspired by my favorite muffins, scones, cupcakes, and ice creams from my non-paleo days!
– Cranberry Orange
– Lemon Poppyseed
– Chai Cardamom
– Strawberry Almond
– Honey Lavender
– Green Tea
– Pineapple Coconut
– Chocolate Hazelnut
– Date Nut
– Cinnamon Raisin
Sooo many possibilities!!! I’m thinking one batch of muffins per week, that should keep me busy! I also see breads, cakes, and more cookies in my future.

Maybe I AM serious about this paleo bakery thing… I’ll take online orders, let me know! 😀

Paleo Banana Bread Experiment #1

I used to bake a lot of bread. Banana bread, date nut bread, apple bread… Bread baking stopped when I started eating paleo, because I didn’t think paleo bread would be nearly as good! Well after making some great banana berry muffins, I was inspired to make banana bread! I’m having a lot of fun with paleo baking.

I didn’t use a recipe, I made my own based on what I remember about making banana bread. My first attempt was a huge success! The taste and texture are EXACTLY the same as regular banana bread made with wheat flour. It was even better the next day! Dense and not too sweet, just the way I like it!

The dough needs to be packed down into the pan because it’s really dense unlike regular banana bread batter. I think I’ll add an extra banana and cut out the coconut palm sugar for my next experiment. My mom thought it was perfect as is! She’s not paleo, but she has finally jumped on the gluten-free bandwagon.

I only made enough for one mini-loaf! It’s dangerous for me to make a regular sized loaf since I’m prone to eating the whole thing in one sitting.

Ingredients:
1 Mashed overripe banana
1 Tbsp walnut oil (plus a little extra to grease the pan)
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp coconut palm sugar
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine wet ingredients, then add dry ingredients, then fold in the nuts last.
3. Pack into a greased bread pan and bake for ~30 minutes or until it’s golden brown and cracked at the top.

Paleo Banana Berry Muffins

I’ve actually been meaning to post about these muffins for several months now! Holly, my tunnel coach’s wife, is an incredible baker and she was so sweet (seriously… she’s not even paleo!) to bake me TWO kinds of PALEO MUFFINS on one of my trips to Utah. On this last trip she made paleo brownies for me! I don’t go to Utah for tunnel time, I go for the baked goods… haha! They were all delicious, I think I almost cried eating them they were so good! I actually ate all dozen or so muffins in one day! And I have the recipes to share with all of you! I would absolutely love to spend a day baking with Holly, hope it happens soon!! Check out her food blog, Phemomenon!

Holly used frozen huckleberries and raw honey. Huckleberries are by far my favorite kind of berry, but all I had on hand were fresh blueberries which worked just as well. I would love to bake these with a whole medley of different kinds of berries. I also didn’t have raw honey, but figured I didn’t need to add any extra sugar because I had super overripe bananas. Instead, I made a cinnamon-nutmeg-coconut palm sugar topping to sprinkle on the tops of my muffins for a little extra sugar and spice. Note: That’s why the tops are brown, I didn’t burn my muffins! My muffins weren’t as moist as the ones I had from Holly, maybe because I omitted the honey or because I used fresh instead of frozen berries? But it doesn’t really matter because they were fantastic!

Paleo Banana Berry Muffins
Ingredients:
1 1/3 cup almond flour
1/3 cup coconut flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp sea salt
1 Tbsp coconut oil
2 large eggs
2 large overripe bananas
2/3 cup berries of your choice, fresh or frozen
2 Tbsp raw honey (optional)

Cinnamon sugar topping (optional):
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp coconut palm sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mash the bananas, add oil and eggs (and honey if you wish).
3. Combine the dry ingredients, then mix into the bowl.
4. Gently fold in the berries. (My batter was more dough than batter.)
5. Fill cupcake/muffin pan lined with cupcake paper. (They don’t rise much, I use an ice cream scoop to fill the cupcake pans.) Sprinkle the tops with cinnamon sugar.
6. Bake for 30-35minutes.

Enjoy! 🙂

In case you were wondering, the other muffins from Holly were pumpkin! I’ll have to make those soon, too!

Chocolate coconut cookies

I make Coconut cookies more than any other treat because they’re easy to make and yummy! I decided to try adding some cocoa powder to make them chocolate coconut cookies and they were pretty good! Much better than the chocolate cookies I made before with disappointing results.

Chocolate Coconut Cookies

Ingredients:
1 egg
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup coconut palm sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup almond flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
2/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Combine wet ingredients, add dry ingredients, mix into dough. Roll dough into smaller than walnut sized balls, press down half way.  Makes about 12 cookies. I always line my cookie sheets with foil or parchment paper for easy clean up.

3. Bake for ~10 minutes! Make sure they cool before you attempt to remove them from the pan because they fall apart when warm.

Paleo-friendly zucchini brownies with chocolate frosting

Three posts today to make up for being behind on blogging! Now that I’ve justified my inability refusal to get rid of my sweet tooth, it’s time to share my latest paleo baking experiment!  Paleo-friendly, rather, since it uses plenty of my beloved coconut palm sugar! These were rich, moist, non-cakey, dark chocolatey brownies that taste like brownies. The frosting may need a little work.

 

Paleo-friendly Zucchini Brownies
Adapted from this recipe

Ingredients:
– 1/4 cup walnut oil
– 3/4 cup coconut palm sugar
– 1 tsp vanilla extract
– 1/2 cup almond flour
– 1/2 cup coconut flour
– 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
– 3/4 tsp baking soda
– 1/4 tsp salt
– 1 cup shredded zucchini
– 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 8×8 baking pan with foil and lightly grease with a little walnut oil. (You could grease and flour the pan, but it’s so much easier to lift the foil out of the pan and not worry about sticking.)
2. In a large bowl, mix together the oil, sugar, and vanilla until well blended. Combine the flours, cocoa, baking soda, and salt then stir into the mixture. Fold in the zucchini and walnuts. This will not look like a batter, it’ll be dry and crumbly since the moisture from the zucchini comes out during baking.
3. Spread evenly into the baking pan, pressing down and compacting with the back of a spoon.
4. Bake for 25-30min in preheated oven. Remove from pan and let cool completely.

Paleo-friendly Chocolate Frosting (Work in progress)
This is a little grainy since the coconut palm sugar doesn’t dissolve as readily as white sugar, but it’s not that noticeable. Maybe I can melt it in the oil and then wait for it to cool back into a frosting consistency? I only made a small amount as an experiment and it’s ok the way it is, but I want to continue perfecting it in the future. The coconut oil is a spreadable solid at room temperature, but has a very low melting point, so make sure the brownies are completely cooled (or better yet, chilled) before spreading. Note: The following doesn’t make enough to cover the entire 8×8 brownie.

Ingredients:
– 1/4 cup (4 parts) virgin coconut oil (Coconut butter might be better, but would have a stronger coconut flavor. The oil lends just a slight hint of coconut.)
– 2 Tbsp (2 parts) coconut palm sugar
– 1 Tbsp (1 part) cocoa powder
– 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Blend together and spread over cool brownies.