Gluten Free Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Spring is well underway and with the warmer weather, the bananas in our fruit bowl are ripening at a pace we can't keep up with.  Cue banana baking recipes for the school lunch boxes.

These gluten free banana chocolate chip muffins are delicious, filling, have some beautiful superfood and ancient grain ingredients and most importantly, get the big thumbs up from the kids! In this recipe we've incorporated banana flour made from Australian green bananas. It's gluten free and rich in dietary fibre.

Ingredients

1 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup banana flour (naturalevolutionfoods.com.au)
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 cup packed brown sugar - (we like the unrefined kind, e.g. muscovado sugar)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground chia seeds
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup sour cream or plain yoghurt
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup ripe bananas mashed (approx 2 medium bananas)
3/4 cups gluten free/nut free chocolate chips (always check the packet)

1) Grease or line a muffin tin. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

2) In a large mixing bowl, sift together the sorghum flour, banana flour, tapioca starch, xanthan gum, sugar, baking powder and baking soda. Then stir in the ground chia and salt.

3) In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, sour cream, milk vanilla extract and mashed bananas. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just to combine. Fold in the chocolate chips.

4) Spoon the batter into muffin tin. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

5) Allow to cool for a few minutes before removing from muffin tin and placing on a cooling rack.  Cool completely before storing in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Coriander Pesto (Or Cilantro if you Happen to be American)

Happy Coriander

After some unsuccessful attempts at coriander cultivation in our herb garden, I was thrilled to see we'd finally made some progress.  I love a flavoursome pesto and thought I'd whip one up for a mid-week pasta.  This recipe was one from bestrecipes.com.au that I adapted slightly.

NB: I buzzed this up in my food processor, but for those lucky Thermomix owners - even easier -  (please tell my hubby I NEED one) 

2 cups of coriander with stems - give it a good rinse
2 cloves of chopped garlic
3/4 to 1 cup of unsalted cashews (I followed the recipe and used 1 cup, but personally think 3/4 cup would be a better balance - up to you depending on whether you prefer more coriander flavour to come through or you like the extra nuttiness)
4 tablespoons of macadamia nut oil - the really real virgin olive oil can sometimes have a slightly bitter aftertaste, hence the macadamia oil but again, up to you
1 lemon juiced
4 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Briefly blitz all the ingredients except the oil and then slowly add the oil while you continue blitzing.  And your pesto is done! 

I cooked up some gluten free penne pasta, added some roasted then peeled capsicum (hint - roast capsicum in oven on high temp until they've softened and have slightly blackened skin, take out of oven and cover for a few minutes to sweat making peeling off the skin much easier), some halved and oven roasted cherry tomatoes, a bit of rocket and goats cheese on top.  Get as creative as you want with what you add. 

Delicious!