Cran-ban-nut muffins
Something to do with that leftover cranberry sauce…
Ingredients:
- 3 very ripe bananas
- 3 eggs
- 3 tablespoons soft or melted butter
- about 3 cups of fluffy nut flour (grate in a rotary cheese grater or buy at Trader Joe’s)
- flavoring like vanilla, nutmeg, etc.
- about 1 tablespoon honey
- about 1/4 teaspoon salt
- about 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- about 3/4 cup cranberry sauce, hopefully homemade
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Smash up the bananas in a bowl first, leaving chunks if you like. Mix in everything but the cranberry sauce, adjusting the amount of nut flour to get a batter that’s a little thicker than usual – the cranberry sauce will thin the batter a bit. Fold in the cranberry sauce carefully if you don’t want pink muffins. Spoon into muffin pans and bake about 35 minutes for smallish muffins, watching carefully for brownness – the nut flour burns easily. Hopefully you know how to keep the muffins from sticking to the pans or muffin cups because I don’t…
If you’re wondering how to make homemade cranberry sauce, it’s really easy – just simmer some cranberries with a little water and some honey. Apple or orange juice also work well for a cooking liquid. Stir often and watch the bottom of the pan to make sure it doesn’t burn – it’s done when it’s thick and the berries have mostly popped.
Health notes: The butter and salt can be left out of the muffins, especially if you add some flavor like vanilla, cinnamon, etc. I haven’t tried it, but the eggs could probably be egg whites instead. Talk to your doctor if you’re not sure whether the fat in the nuts is good for you or not, or if there’s a particular type of nut you should eat (or avoid).
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wedin54 said:
isaac…good timing! seems like the turkey always runs out before the leftover cranberry sauce, eh? meanwhile, these things have to be pretty darn healthy: cranberry for immune system…banana (potassium) for sodium reduction…and nut flour for heart health: i saw an article recently that said nuts are VERY heart healty! (Eating a handful of nuts a day for a year — along with a Mediterranean diet rich in fruit, vegetables and fish — may help undo a collection of risk factors for heart disease): http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-12-08-nuts-heart_N.htm?csp=34
be sure to add this to the org recipe section! l,j
isaac said:
Jack, this should already be on the recipes page – if you check the Recipes box in the Categories box down below the posting area, your post will automatically get added to the recipes page. Nut muffins are a great alternative to snack bars and are a good vehicle for healthy stuff like cranberries and blueberries.
wedin54 said:
Yup! It’s right there on top in the Recipes Section. cool. and yeah, snack bars these days are glorified candy. With very few exceptions, most of their nutrition listings read like a Snickers Bar. l,j
prispig107 said:
Isaac ive discovered that cold pressed ground up flax is an excellent substitute for butter, eggs or oil in recipes. I add it to all my baked goods and oatmeal, etc…and they never know!!!! Nuts are awsome, I eat a lot of them but duke doesn’t eat them as much. So the almond flour is a great idea. So many tricks to learn. Sarah sneaks squash, cauliflower, etc in muffins and baked stuff. I can’t taste it and its really moist. She told me the trick of adding winter squash to mac and cheese, it makes it taste like velveeta and its a beautiful orange. Giselle loves it. Annies make a good mac n cheese. I tried it on Tim and he got suspicious and found me out. He can get anything out of me!!!
Ben said:
They kinda resemble hockey pucks. Cleans the colon and practice the wrister, I like it. Go Aces!
Ben
*Disclaimer: these views are mine alone and may not represent the views of my immediate family.
isaac said:
Ben… They usually turn out pretty tender, so you’d probably need to freeze them before employing them as hockey pucks. They’d slide around pretty well on your downstairs floor, and the berries would certainly make artistic splatters on the walls…depending on the quality of your wrist shot of course.
For those in need of snacks but too lazy to bake, I like Lara bars – they all only contain nuts and dried fruit. For instance, the only ingredients in Cashew Cookie are cashews and dates.
Lisa said:
The muffins look quite tasty. I love Ben’s disclaimer.
wedin54 said:
lisa…yeah, ben’s quip wins the “commedy comment” of the month award! the comment itself is funny, but the disclaimer…comedy genius!
btw, the aces ripped the steelheads last night 3-0…looks like they went cran-ban-nuts on and OFF the ice. see you at the OP tonight…l,d
wedin54 said:
P.S. we don’t have time to try the cran-ban-nut muffin recipe this week, but cheri WAS inspired to buy Whole Wheat & Flax bread the other day! it’s a new favorite here…really good, and i now we know it’s GOOD FOR US. l,j/d
prispig107 said:
Ben…I think my snickerdoodles that I made with Whole wheat and flax the other day would work quite nice as pucks as well…and no berries splashes on the walls!!!