Banana Almond Butter Cookies

This was my first attempt at cooking with almond butter.  I found a recipe that I had the ingredients for and went for it.  I reduced the amount of almond butter, added a banana and some coconut flour.  The cookies came out looking and tasting really good!

Adapted from Amee's Savory Dish

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup almond butter 
• 1 banana (mashed)
• 1/3 cup honey (can sub real maple syrup)
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. salt (*only add the salt if you are using unsalted almond butter)
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 Tbsp Coconut flour
• 1/2 cup dairy free chocolate chips (such as Enjoy Life brand)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Oil baking sheets or line with parchment paper.
3. Stir together first 9 ingredients. Mix well. Make sure honey is fully incorporated.
4. Add chocolate chips and mix until well combined.
5. Scoop tsp sized balls onto baking sheet.  The cookies may spread, depending on the thickness of the nut butter, so leave space between.

6. Bake 9-12 minutes or until lightly browned.  The top of the cookies will be very soft.  Let them sit and cool a few minutes to set before moving them to a cooling rack.

Banana Avocado Coconut Cookies (Gluten/Dairy/Nut/Egg free)

I have to be somewhat creative when it comes to cooking for an autistic child with a limited food palate.  I came upon a recipe by Ditch The Wheat which used bananas as the sweetening ingredient.  This was perfect.  I also added avocado, which is a sneaky ingredient.  They were a hit and gone within a couple days.  I'm currently making my 2nd batch.  No need to deny him when the ingredients are actually healthy.

Ingredients

• 1 fresh ripe large banana, (200 grams)
• 2 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil, (slightly warmed for easier mixing. Room temperature)
• 3 tbsp coconut flour, sifted 
• 1/2 avocado
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp baking powder (you can sub 1/2 tsp cream of tarter and 1/8 tsp baking soda)
• 1/8 tsp sea salt
• 1/8 -1/4 cup of chocolate chips
• 
  

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line a baking pan with parchment paper.
2. Using a mixing machine combine the banana and the egg. Slowly add the coconut oil (coconut oil must not be hot or it will cook the egg. You just need to the coconut oil slightly warmed enough to mix smoothly). Add the coconut flour, avocado, vanilla, baking powder and sea salt. Mix until smooth. Lastly add the chocolate chips.
3. Using a spoon, drop 1 inch balls of batter onto the baking tray leaving space between each cookie. Use the back of the spoon to smooth the cookies to a flat cookie shape. *The cookies will not naturally flatten, you must do this manually.
4. Bake for 20 minutes. 

Banana Cinnamon Muffins

Cinnamon Rolls are usually a big hit with my husband so I thought I'd try this recipe when I found it on Pinterest via Multiply Delicious (Her page has much better pictures).

Muffin Ingredients:
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
4 eggs
1/3 cup coconut milk (canned coconut milk)
1/2 cup ripe banana, mashed (about 1 banana)

Cinnamon Topping Ingredients
1 tablespoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons ripe banana, mashed
2 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
1 tablespoon honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
Grease/oil Muffin pan or use paper liners.
Whisk dry ingredients together.  Set aside.
In a small bowl add mashed banana, eggs, and coconut milk and mix with a hand mixer until well blended. 
Add wet ingredients into dry ingredients and with a hand mixer until well combined.
Add batter until prepared muffin cups.  Filling to about 1/4-1/2 filled.

Topping:
In a small bowl, combine cinnamon, mashed banana, melted coconut oil, and honey. 
Drizzle mixture over top of muffins and using a toothpick swirl the topping into the muffin batter.  Reserve some of the cinnamon topping.
In the last 5 minutes of baking you will add more cinnamon topping to the tops of the muffins. (I skipped this step)

Bake muffins for 20 – 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. 
Allow muffins to cool in pan 5 – 10 minutes then transfer to wire rack. 

This yielded 9 muffins from my pan.  The muffins came out moist and especially tasty with some butter melted on them.  In the future, I may look into adding more banana or applesauce to sweeten them up a bit.