It is September and kids are going back to school tomorrow. For us parents it is a tough time as we need to prepare nutritious meals that kids will eat and at the same time pack some nutrition that will help them thrive in school.
This year I decided to do a series of posts dedicated to back to school recipes. I will be covering snacks and lunches that my son will be taking with him to school.
Today I baked vegan banana chip muffins. Muffins area great snack that most kids love. This provides us parents with an ability to sneak few extra valuable nutrients.
Ingredients:
2 cups of all purpose ancient whole grain flour
2 ripe bananas
3 dates
2 tbsp flax seeds, milled
3 tbsp hemp hearts
Handful of chocolate chips
3-4 tbsp of brown sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
Pinch of sea salt
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
Steps:
1. Place milled glazed with water and set aside for a 2-5 minutes
2. Blend bananas, hemp hearts, and dates with half a cup of water until smooth
3. Mix all ingredients except chocolate chips in a large bowl. I usually mix them by hand with a spoon. Add more water as needed - approx 0.5 cup. Let it rest for 5-10 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven at 375F.
5. Add chocolate chips to the muffin mix.
6. Divide the muffin mass into muffin forms. Bake at 375c for 25-30 minutes.
7. Let muffins cool off for at least 5 minutes so they come out if the form easily and you don’t burn yourself.
Why I used selected ingredients?
I use whole grain ancient flour as it contains more nutrients, including gut benefiting fibre.
Hemp hearts in the recipe act as added fat replacing butter. However, my primary reason is extra protein that most baked treats are deprived of.
Flax seeds are replacing egg and butter in my vegan recipes. Also, they are a great source of omega 3 and fibre.
Bananas and dates are used in this recipe to help reduce quantity of added sugar. Both fruits are a great source of potassium that does not exist in refined sugars.
Chocolate chips - I use semi-sweet Made Good brand as they clean ingredient and not excessive amount of added sugar.
Muffin forms: I have been using Tchibo silicone forms for 7 + years and love them. I find removing muffins from them is very easy and barely ever I have issues with muffins sticking to them.
