Healthy Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Whenever I buy bananas, I am never able to eat them all before at least one gets over ripe. Every time, with out fail. I will peel the over ripe banana and put it in a bag in the freezer. When I have collected 4-5 of them, I usually make banana bread. Over-ripe bananas are the best to use when making something like that because they are so soft and easy to blend in without being too lumpy.

However, this last time when the bag of bananas was full, I decided to go on an adventure and make muffins instead. I came across a recipe using lots of healthy ingredients so I decided to give it a whirl! Of course, I had to put my own spin on it and mix it up. They turned out great and Darin especially loved them! One thing I would have loved was to add some chopped nuts, walnuts would have been great! Feel free to mix some in if that sounds good.

Word to the wise: eat them quickly! Because they are so fresh and use such natural ingredients, they will go bad fairly quickly. You can freeze them if you don't think you can eat them all right away.

INGREDIENTS

(Yield 12 muffins)

2 cups whole-wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

2 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed

1/2 cup applesauce

1/2 cup agave nectar

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted (but not hot) 

1/4 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup chocolate chips, optional

2 tsp flax or chia seeds, optional (I prefer to grind them up first)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, combine bananas, applesauce, agave, coconut oil, milk and vanilla. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients with a wooden spoon. Batter will be slightly lumpy. Stir in chocolate chips/flax/chia if desired. Divide batter into a greased muffin pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes until light golden brown on top. Enjoy!

Batter with out chocolate chips

Read for the oven!

They are so yummy, hot from the oven!

With chocolate chips!

Chocolate Hazelnut Thumbprint Cookies

I am a firm believer that the combination of chocolate and hazelnuts was a gift from the gods. There are few things in this world that are better. These little cookies are to DIE for! Almost a brownie-like texture, with the truffle-y Nutella on top toasted hazelnuts, warm from the oven.... Are you drooling yet? Years ago I came across this recipe and it has been sitting in my recipe book ever since. I keep forgetting to try it! Of course I had to do it a little differently, so here is what I came up with. Enjoy!

TIPS: 

-Always toast nuts before using them. They taste so much better! If you buy hazelnuts with the skins still on, you should be able to get the papery skins right off after toasting them. No worries if you can't get it all off, just do what you can!

-Nutella is NOT easy to spread because it is so thick and sticky. When you are filling your cookies, lift the cooling rack that they are sitting on off the counter and lightly tap it on the counter. This will help the Nutella settle into the indentations. 

-Also, spoon the Nutella into a small plastic baggie and cut one corner off. Use the baggy like a piping bag to make filling the cookies much easier.

Don't forget to share these cookies if you don't eat them all!

INGREDIENTS

(Approx. 2 dozen cookies)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup powdered sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 large egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla extract

2/3 cup finely chopped toasted hazelnuts

1/3 cup Nutella or similar (chocolate-hazelnut spread)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine flour, sugar, cocoa and salt in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, beat butter on medium speed until nice and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add one egg yolk at a time while continuing to beat. Beat in vanilla. Slowly add flour mixture to the butter mixture, beating on medium speed until combined. Turn dough out onto a sheet of waxed paper and knead 6-8 times until smooth. Shape dough into 24 one-inch balls and roll balls in chopped nuts, using light pressure. Arrange on baking sheet about 1 inch apart. Use your thumb to make an indentation in the center of each cookie. Bake for 10 minutes. Immediate remove from baking sheet and cool on a wire rack. If the centers rise while bake, use your thumb after baking is complete to gently press down the center of each cookie again. Once the cookies have cooled but are just slightly still warm, fill the indentations with a scant 1/2 tsp of chocolate-hazelnut spread. Sprinkle any remaining chopped hazelnuts on top.