Yes, you read that title right. It’s time. Time for:
THE RETURN OF THE MUFFIN!!!!
If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you know that in the fall and winter in particular, I was pretty much obsessed with muffins and posted a new recipe almost every week. The evidence:
Apparently I was also obsessed with pumpkin and sweet potato ;)
Anyway! Yesterday marked my triumphant return to the muffin world.
My inspiration? This spelt flour that I got on the Stonyfield Blogger Barnstorming Tour!
What the heck is spelt, you ask? It’s actually a species of wheat! It has a similar appearance to wheat, but has a tougher husk. Spelt flour is a nutritious, whole grain flour high in protein. More info (source):
Spelt flour has a somewhat nuttier and slightly sweeter flavor than whole wheat flour. Spelt contains more protein than wheat, and the protein in spelt is easier to digest. This means that some people who are allergic to wheat may be able to tolerate spelt. Spelt has gluten, just like wheat, so spelt is not suitable for a gluten-free diet.
You can find spelt flour at any health food store (Whole Foods, etc.).
Banana Spelt Muffins
(makes 12 muffins)
Ingredients:
- 2 C spelt flour
- 1/2 C brown sugar
- 1/2 C finely ground flaxseed
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 3 very ripe bananas, mashed
- 3/4 C skim milk
- 1/2 C plain (or vanilla) nonfat Greek yogurt
- Optional add ins: 1/2 C each of: walnuts, raisins, blueberries, dark chocolate chips, etc.!
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 300 (spelt bakes more quickly than regular flour!).
2. In two large bowls, separately mix dry (flour, sugar, flax, cinnamon, baking powder/soda, salt) and wet (bananas, milk, yogurt, add-ins) ingredients.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry, stirring until mixed.
4. Spoon into a cooking-sprayed or nonstick muffin pan. Top each muffin with a sprinkle of raw oats so they look pretty ;)
5. Pop them in the oven! At this point, your power will randomly go out. Awesome. Leave muffins in oven way longer hoping that the heat will last long enough to cook them — and voila!
Success! If anyone makes these, please let me know how long they actually need in the oven ;) I’m guessing anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes! Obviously the power came back on like 5 minutes after they were done. Bust.
I tried one immediately and they are DELISH! The spelt flour made them really doughy, and they aren’t too sweet, which I like. Very nutritious, too! Mmmm. I think it’s safe to say I’m back on the muffin bandwagon. My next challenge will be a savory muffin!
Now if only I could come up with a muffin recipe that calls for cumin… ;) (Speaking of — I’ve discovered my 2 Minute Mexican Bean Salad is AWESOME topped with salsa!)
…
Barney Butter Update
Wow, you guys REALLY love your almond butter! Keep the comments, tweets, and posts coming for my Barney Butter giveaway — you have until Tuesday to enter! And be sure to check back and read everyone’s awesome tips for staying healthy while traveling. I’m impressed :)
A lot of you have asked where you can buy Barney Butter. Click here to view their retail locations (sadly none near me!)
And here are links to their products available for purchase on Amazon:
My favorite? Crunchy! :)
The response for the contest has been so awesome I asked Barney Butter if they’d be willing to let me do another giveaway — but this one will be Twitter-based! So make sure you’re following me ;) More details to come!
Have a great Friday, and check back later today or tomorrow for the final Stonyfield Blogger Barnstorming post!
oh, i bet they are incredible topped with barney butter! what a gorgeous recipe! :)
How do I substitute spelt flour in recipes that call for regular or whole wheat flour?
Hey Michelle! :) Apparently it’s a 1:1 substitution, so just try using the same amount!
I am muffin obsessed too! I freeze them and grab and go with two hard boiled egg whites for breakfast at work.
I was lurking on your recipes page this week and planned to try one of the sweet potato ones from the fall. Maybe I’ll try this one instead to play with spelt flour!
Looks delish!
Glad the muffins turned out!! They look + sound awesome :)
Wow those look delicious!
Those muffins looks delish! I happen to be a BIG fan of muffins myself and love coming up with new recipes! This one is sure not to disappoint!
I am a muffin top girl. I’ve been known to steal muffin tops off of a batch and then throw the bottom part away. These tops look like they have potential. :)
Lol! You would like these – the whole muffin is very muffin top-esque!
Those seriously look amazing. Spelt makes some amazing pancakes :)
Ooo… good idea!
I have had great success baking with spelt flour – everything is always so moist!
These look delicious Anne! I’ll be trying this recipe very soon :)
I am going to have to make some of these muffin recipes! I love pumpkin and sweet potatoes too!
I wish my oven didn’t suuuuuckkkkkk . . . it’s like I can’t bake anything, not that I would in this heat wave, but I would every other time :(
YUM!! I loveloveLOVE muffins. And I just so happen to have spelt flour at home :) I originally got it to make Super-Charge Me Cookies. If you haven’t tried these, you must! http://viveleveganrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/04/super-charge-me-cookies.html
Ooo yes I need to make those – been meaning to try them for years!!
The muffins look great. Thanks for this one!
But what’s up lately with your running? What’s the next race? What’s your training plan at present? And how are your past injuries doing?
Looking forward to the twitter giveaway, too!
Right now I’ve just been enjoying taking a break from any sort of official running training! Still been doing a couple runs a week, including one longer-ish (around 5 or 6 miles), though. But mostly just focusing on more LA Boxing boot camp style workouts and indoor stuff since it’s been so crazy hot! My game plan is to start training for some fun fall races in my new NC home, and until then, to just work on shorter distances and speed! I’m debating a 5k race (for speed) before I leave town, but we’ll see – it’s been too hot recently! All seems well on the past injury front!
Spelt flour is my favorite!! I pretty much use it in everything. These muffins look delish. I would add some chocolate chips. :)
Those muffins look so good! I make a lot of muffins too- your recipe looks awesome, I might give it a try! I don’t put oil or butter in mine either, but I don’t usually put yogurt in them!
Try the yogurt! It makes them nice and moist :)
Thanks for posting this. LOVE muffins and just started using spelt flour actually, so this would be a great thing to make with it :)
ILOVEMUFFINS too, one of my comfort foods. I just made your Zesty Lemon Zucchini recipe and foind it to be a refreshing and light recipe. I just copied your banana spelt muffin recipe and will prepare it soon, no very soon. I have long used spelt in my cooking and appreciate your wholesome ingredients in your recipes. Congratulations on your career change. Good Luck in your Studies…
Thanks, Janice! :)
Thanks so much for the recipe.
I bought some spelt flour to make bread, but i am still to afraid to try it. I had some bananas that needed using up and your site was the first i clicked from my google search. i am so happy to have come across it.
i didnt have enought ground flax so i used some oates to get up to 1/2 cup. i also only had one those pro-biotic yogurts, but they turned out awesome! i love the extra touch of oat on top, they look so great. I didnt see a post as to how long to cook (with full power lol) so i started off at 20 minutes (plus chasing a kid who took of his diaper as the timer went off) and they were done. they stuck like crazy to paper liners so i wont do that the next time, and there WILL be a next time.
thanks again!
So glad to hear they turned out well! :)
I made these muffins today with some substitutions: almond meal replacing finely ground flaxseed and soy milk instead of cows milk. They were beautiful! I cooked mine for 35min. I will definitely make them again and have already shared the revipe
Glad you enjoyed them! :)
15minutes in a hot air oven!!
My first try at spelt. What a happy surprise! It’s hard to just eat one knowing there are 11 more wonderfully warm muffins in the kitchen. (ok… so, I ate two.) There are 10 left. calling me……
Hehe glad to hear they were such a success! :)
Hi Anne –
Just made the muffins and they’re DELICIOUS, should have read the comments though, almond meal in place of flaxseed is a great idea, I used whole linseeds instead but still very yum in a more crunchy way ;)
Actually just wondering how good they are to freeze because of the yoghurt…? Are you doing the same?
Anna
PS – 28 minutes in the oven and they’re moist and perfect ;)
Fabulous :)
I’m sure they would be fine to freeze!
Hi
Can we substitute WW pastry flour for Spelt flour wihtout changing the other ingredients ? (In your sweet potato banana oat muffin for exemple).
Annie
Sure, I think that would work – give it a try and let me know!
I tried your recipe this morning. Use whole grain spelt. Added chocolate chips for the kids.
Baked at 350F for 30 min on top rack.
They were perfectly cooked and yummy!
Thanks for recipe.
:)
Hooray – glad to hear it! :)
OMG – so good even the anti-health-food husband ate them (I refused to tell him what was actually in them … some things are better kept secret!). Couldn’t find spelt flour, so used whole weat flour, and substituted the milk with unsweetened almond milk and they came out just fine. Thanks for such great recipes!
Yay! That’s great to hear! :)