Treat Yourself to Some Carbs

With the unseasonably cool weather Winnipeg is experiencing, this is the perfect time to get back into some baking! Hence... time to make some cookies, cakes and muffins oh my!

The other night, the goal was to make some banana muffins with flax seed. I wanted to add flax seed to pump up the health factor. My friend from Ottawa, Mo., shared with me one of her banana chocolate chip muffin recipes. I love this recipe so much that it's become a little tradition of ours that every time I or she either makes the flight to visit, she always makes this muffin recipe for me. Well, tonight I wanted to revamp it and ditch the chocolate chips, add some nuts, flax seed and, instead of using enriched white flour, use whole wheat flour instead.

I invited my friend K. (not from Ottawa) for a visit and help me whip up a batch. She is also a health nut, so I knew this experiment would be up her alley.

While talking about the recipe, K. mentioned how she made some banana bread off of allrecipes.com that included nuts, whole wheat flour and no sugar. I have never baked without sugar... so I was evidently intrigued. What do you use instead of sugar? Honey!

So, we decided instead of making banana muffins... Why not put the mixture in a loaf pan instead for some banana bread? GENIUS!

K. found a similar recipe to what she tried on allrecipes.com that included mashed bananas, pecans, whole wheat flour, honey and wheat germ. We also wanted to try and add 1/3 cup of flax seed into it.

Unfortunately, we got a little too into the talking than paying attention to the recipe and I missed the flax seed entirely. I was very, very, very disappointed.

BUT! The recipe turned out beautifully... except for the part of the chunk that stayed attached to the pan... but... if you were going to cheat and have some carbs, this would be a perfect treat!

Yeah... I guess the pan wasn't greased up enough... still good! Still good.

Despite the sugar being replaced with honey, the loaf was sweet, moist and just overall yummy! I would definitely make this again.

I can't share the banana bread recipe but here is the recipe for the banana chocolate chip muffins that K. and I intended to make. (So, instead of putting the mixture in a loaf pan... make muffins! Makes sense!) I found a picture in the archives when I had made this recipe previously. One day...the flax seed will make its entrance but why mess with a classic right?

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup of vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup of mashed banana
• 1 cup of chocolate chips
• 1 cup of flour
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 tsp of cinnamon

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Use a large mixing bowl and add the oil, sugar, egg and the banana and then mix.
• Add the rest of the ingredients and then mix again.
• Fill up the muffin pan up with the mix at about 3/4 of the way
• bake for 12-15 minutes.

If you decide to make mini muffins like I did, it only needs to bake for 8mins. I hope you enjoy these delectable morsels as much as I do.