Tag Archives: banana

Paleo Banana Cacao Nib Muffins

Sometimes when I want to bake, I only want to make a few of something.  Meaning, I don’t want an entire loaf of bread or a dozen muffins.  That’s why these paleo banana cacao nib muffins are perfect.  Minimal ingredients + 3 muffins total.  What’s not to love?

Paleo Banana Cacao Nib Muffins Close

I used an extra large muffin pan, so these would be perfect with a layer of peanut butter (and jelly!) or just with a nice pat of butter on top.  I’ve been packing them in my work lunches to enjoy as a mid-afternoon snack as well.  And since bananas are the perfect post-run food, I’ve found these to be especially tasty after a long, sweaty run.

These paleo banana cacao nib muffins are only sweetened by the banana in the recipe, so if you want something a little sweeter add a tablespoon of honey.  If you don’t like the taste of cacao, semi-sweet chocolate chips would be a nice addition as well.

Easy muffins that are ready in under an hour.  Wins all around.

Paleo Banana Cacao Nib Muffins

Paleo Banana Cacao Nib Muffins (makes 3 large muffins)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup almond flour

2 tbsp ground flax

1 egg

1 banana

1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk

1 tbsp cacao nibs

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350F.  Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray or line with paper liners.

Mash your banana in a small bowl.  Add your egg, vanilla and almond milk and mix well.  Set aside.

In a larger bowl mix your dry ingredients: almond flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, ground flax and cacao nibs.  Gently fold your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients and mix well.

Scoop your batter into your muffin tins and place in the oven for 35-40 minutes, or until the tops begin to turn golden brown.

Paleo Banana Cacao Nib Muffins

Dig in and enjoy!

Baked Chocolate Banana Doughnuts

Once upon a time I bought a doughnut pan and was so excited that I made pumpkin doughnuts the next day.  And then Sidecar Doughnuts came to town and my life was suddenly filled with maple bacon, chocolate ganache and huckleberry goodness.  As much as I love Sidecar, they certainly aren’t the healthiest doughnuts in town, so I decided it was time to dust off the ol’ doughnut pan and make baked chocolate banana doughnuts.

Baked Chocolate Banana Doughnuts PlateTruth be told, this recipe for baked chocolate banana doughnuts was kind of thrown together at the last-minute.  I was watching the live stream of the 14.2 Crossfit Open WOD and when I heard it was Overhead Squats and Chest-to-Bar pull-ups, I immediately panicked and decided I needed a baked good in my life in a bad way.  As per usual, we had some overly ripe bananas on our counter, so baked chocolate banana doughnuts were born.

Since my spelt banana muffins came out so good I decided to use spelt again in this recipe.  Add in some chocolate chips, a little honey and an egg, and you have a delicious baked doughnut as a health(ier) treat.

Baked Banana Doughnut TrioThis recipe actually yields 10 doughnuts, but since my doughnut pan only holds 6, I improvised and made muffins with the remaining batter.  The muffins were just as tasty as the doughnuts, so if you don’t have a doughnut pan, make muffins instead!

Baked Chocolate banana Doughnuts and MuffinsBaked Chocolate Banana Doughnuts (makes 10 doughnuts)

Baked Chocolate Banana Doughnuts PinIngredients:

2 medium ripe bananas

1 cup spelt flour

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1 tbsp honey

1/3 cup canola oil

1/3 cup water

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350F.  Mash your bananas in a mixing bowl with a fork.

Add your egg, honey, canola oil, water and vanilla to the mixing bowl.  Mix all ingredients until well blended.

Add your spelt flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda and continue to mix until the mixture is nice and creamy.

Pour into your greased muffin tins or doughnut pan and place in the oven for 20 minutes.  The doughnuts will be lightly browned once they are done.

Baked Chocolate Banana Doughnuts TwoRemove doughnuts and enjoy!

What’s your favorite doughnut flavor?  I do love the Buttermilk Old-Fashioned at Sidecar.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

Winter appears to have bypassed Southern California.  Temps have been in the upper 80s, and I have found myself craving things like ice cream and milkshakes.  But since both of those options will likely leave me with a sugar coma and a stomach ache, I settled for the next best thing: a chocolate peanut butter banana smoothie.

This smoothie is made with unsweetened cocoa powder, unsweetened almond milk, banana and peanut butter.  That’s it.  All the sweetness from the smoothie comes from the banana and you get an extra dose of potassium as well.  Win-win.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie GroupAnd yes, I drink my smoothies out of wine glasses.  It makes me feel fancy.

I ended up using crunchy peanut butter in this smoothie but creamy would work just as well.  Or if you want your smoothie to be extra chocolate-y, perhaps some Dark Chocolate Dreams PB?

This is the perfect smoothie for when those chocolate cravings strike or you just want something a little sweet.  Throw in some kale or spinach if a green smoothie is more your style.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie pinChocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie (serves 1)

Ingredients:

1 small frozen banana, chopped

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

6 oz unsweetened almond milk

1 tbsp peanut butter

Directions:

Place all your ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie OverheadDrink and enjoy!  I’m sure even Elvis would approve of this smoothie, even if it is missing some bacon.

Cocoa Banana Muffins

I’m in this weird phase where I only enjoy bananas in baked good form, which is odd considering I used to have a banana on top of my oatmeal every single morning.  We haven’t been buying bananas much lately, but the Englishman recently bought a bunch while I was in San Diego for work.  As soon as I returned, I promptly began brainstorming ways to incorporate them into a baked good, and came up with Cocoa Banana Muffins.

cocoa banana muffinsTo be honest, Nigella Lawson came up with cocoa banana muffins and I just took her recipe and modified it a bit.  And since Nigella is the queen of all things chocolate in my book, I knew these muffins would be good and they were.  I even took it a step further with the chocolate-ness and added some extra chocolate chips to the batter, so each bite had an extra chocolate punch.  Oh yes.

cocoa banana muffins close upSo the moral of this story is if you have a bunch of bananas sitting on your counter make cocoa banana muffins,  And if chocolate isn’t your thing, make banana spelt muffins.  Or just slather a banana in peanut butter if that strikes your fancy.

Cocoa Banana Muffins (inspired from this recipe)

cocoa banana muffins pin*Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas

1/2 cup canola oil

2 eggs

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup spelt flour

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

Semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400F.  Line a muffin tin with paper liners or grease with cooking spray.

Mash your bananas in a small bowl and add your eggs, sugar and oil.  Continue to mix well.

In a larger bowl add your flours, baking soda and cocoa powder.  Fold your wet mixture into the dry and continue to mix.  *Note: I used a stand mixer for this, but you can use a hand mixer or good ol’ elbow grease.

Gently scoop your batter into the muffin tins to about 1/4 full.  Sprinkle some chocolate chips into each muffin cup and then top with the remaining batter.

Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes.  Remove and cool before digging in!

cocoa banana muffins bunchIf you really want to make these muffins out of this world, top them with peanut butter.  PB + Chocolate + Banana = perfection.

What’s your favorite banana recipe?