Cookbook a Day - The Purity Cookbook

Hello there!

My ongoing quest to use a different cookbook every day brought me to this one that I picked up in Newfoundland back in June.

As a typical ex-pat Newf, I see the word Purity and I gravitate toward the object. It's a thing with us.

I had some ripe bananas sitting on the counter, just enough for banana muffins or banana loaf and figured I would find a recipe in this cookbook.

Unfortunately for me, I had forgotten that I had tried this recipe previously and was not a fan. One must consider that when this cookbook was originally compiled, times were a tad more frugal. Did you notice the very light hand with the sugar and the fat?? Blech! And the heavier hand with the baking powder. Double blech!

Now, they look okay when the come out of the oven.

But NOT to my taste. I like my banana muffins a bit sweeter, a bit more dense. I have a recipe from one of my Mom's elderly neighbours that I normally use for banana muffins. I think I'll be going back to it.

I DID try the muffins to be sure I didn't like them. AND....I was correct. But, inspiration came to me in the form of a couple of dollops of Nutella.

MUCH better!

And, so I don't make the same mistake again, I have made appropriate notes in my cookbook.

Does anyone else out there write in their cookbooks? I think it is a VERY important habit to adopt.

Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you visit again soon.

Not your run of the mill Banana Muffins

Hello out there!

Since I was baking this morning, I thought I would pop in and share this recipe for our inaugural "Eat" post here at Eat, Drink, and Be Nerdy.

The base for this recipe has been with me for many years - since I headed off to university back in the late 80s. In fact, I STILL have the original, rather worn recipe card.

Over the years, I've added a few notes to the back of the card.

With my latest experiment with this recipe I should be adding  a new note.

The new ingredient? Coconut flour! After all, we all need more fibre in our diet, correct?

As with any high fibre flour, you can't just do a direct substitution of this flour for regular all-purpose flour. The label says that you can only substitute up to 20% of the all-purpose flour with coconut flour. PLUS you have to add an equal amount of liquid. So, my substitution? 1/3 cup of coconut flour + 1/3 cup of canola oil. If the batter still seems too thick, add a little more liquid. I often add about another tablespoon of oil. It depends on the ripeness of the bananas I used.

And here's the finished product:

The full recipe? Here you go!

Banana Chocolate Muffins - yields 15 muffins

Pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (or whatever temperature at which you usually bake. My oven runs hot so I typically set it to 25 degrees lower than recommended).

Beat together 1/2 cup softened butter + 1 cup sugar.
Add 2 large eggs (one at a time), mixing until combined after each addition.
Add 3 mashed, over-ripe bananas and 1 tsp vanilla, mixing until well combined

In a separate bowl, sift together: 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour, 1/3 cup coconut flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda and a pinch of salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until about half combined. Toss in some semi-sweet chocolate chips to your liking (I find 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup to MY liking). Mix until just combined. You DON'T want to overmix or you will have tough muffins.

Line your muffin tins with paper liners and, using an ice cream scoop, fill your tins about 2/3 full. I have several sizes of scoops and one of them is perfect for muffins.

Bake for about 20 minutes (check after 18) until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.

Remove from tins and allow to cool on rack. If you eat them right away those melted chocolate chips will be hot, hot, hot!!!

I find that since this recipe includes both butter and canola oil, the muffins still taste pretty good even after a few days sitting in a container on the kitchen counter.

Hope you enjoy the recipe! If you give it a try, be sure to pop back and leave a comment on what you thought of it - or if you changed things up a little! I also like to add pecans to mine!