Remember my Dark Chocolate Banana Bread Brownies? Healthy, gluten-free and delicious? Well, I know they say, “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” but I couldn’t help playing around with this recipe before I served it at the Junior League breakfast. And, I am so glad I did, because this version is EVEN BETTER.
Here are the changes:
1. I decreased the amount of buckwheat flour and added a little all-purpose flour so this version is not gluten-free. Of course, if you need a gluten-free version you can keep just stick to the buckwheat and flax.
2. I added an extra banana – this one little banana makes a huge difference. It adds flavor and moisture and general yumminess.
3. Instead of squares, I baked these into little mini muffins. This recipe is very rich, especially for breakfast, and the mini muffin is the perfect size.
4. I added a little more chocolate. Because, let’s be honest, there’s nothing wrong with more chocolate.
Healthy Recipe Ecstasy? Even though these banana bread bites are no longer gluten-free, they are still incredibly healthy. Most of the moisture comes from fruit – bananas and applesauce – and the bites still contain the healthy buckwheat flour and ground flax. And they taste AMAZING.
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
- 1/4 cup ground flaxseeds
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 large ripe bananas
- 4 ounces unsweetened applesauce
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5-6 ounces dark chocolate (I used 1.5 bars of Lindt Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Get your old bananas out and mash them. Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine the flour and ground flax, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.
- Place applesauce and butter in a large bowl, and mix by hand (my preference) or beat with a mixer at medium speed until just blended. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing/beating well after each addition. Add banana and vanilla; mix/beat until blended. Finally, add the flour mixture; mix/beat at low speed just until moist.
- Cut the dark chocolate into little pieces and gently mix the pieces into the batter. Spoon the batter into mini muffin pans coated with cooking spray. Bake for 17-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one muffin comes out clean.
- Cool on a wire rack.
[…] I had two thoughts: 1. Where has the past year gone? 2. How am I going to top blueberry oatmeal and banana bread bites? As far as what you’re supposed to eat before a race, unless you have a stomach of steel, […]