Bananas & Dried Fruits Galore

On a splurge, we decided to bake up some snacks tonight. We had some ripe bananas to use up & had a craving for some chewy cookies! So I put my recipes to work. Although I ran into some obstacles with the cookies, the end result still yielded the chewy cookie we wanted, albeit a little sweeter than anticipated, they were still a success (in my mind). I had added two tablespoons of oat milk to the wet ingredients since my batter was too dry the last time I made it. For some odd reason it made the cookies completely wet this time, I may have mis-measured this time or previously or it may be related to using only half spelt flour. So I just ended up leaving them in the oven a tad bit longer.

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Dried Fruit Cookies
1/2 cup whole spelt flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/3 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tblspn blackstrap molasses
3/4 cup dried fruits (cherries, raisins, blueberries & cranberries)
1/4 cup white chocolate chips

• Preheat oven to 350F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• In a medium sized bowl, combine & mix the dry ingredients.
  
• In a small bowl, whisk together wet ingredients.
  
• Add the wet mixture to dry ingredients & stir till combined.
  
• Fold in dried fruit & chocolate chips. If the batter is too dry, add more rice/oat milk, a little at a time.
  
• Lay onto cookie sheet and flatten down slightly with fingers.
• Bake for 11 minutes.
• Makes 9 large cookies (54 grams each).

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Banana Nut Muffins
2-3 ripe bananas, 1 cup smashed
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup rice/oat milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp molasses
1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1 cup barley flour
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup walnuts, chopped

• Preheat oven 350F. Line or oil muffin tin.
• In a small bowl, smash bananas. Leave some chunks.
• Add in oil, syrup, milk, vinegar, extract, molasses & sugar - stir to combine.
• In a separate larger bowl, sift flour, soda, powder, ground cinnamon & salt. Whisk to combine.
• Whisk wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Do not overmix or overwork batter. Fold in walnuts till well incorporated, batter will be wet.
• Divide batter evenly among muffin tins.
• Bake for 20 - 23 minutes, till toothpick comes out clean.
  
• Allow to cool for a few minutes before removing & cooling completely on wire rack.
• Makes 12 muffins.