The Best Banana-Coconut Muffins Ever

If I could make one quick bread ever, it would be banana bread...and I do make it a lot. Sometimes I'll even buy more bananas than I know I'll be able to eat (especially if they're on sale), just for a good excuse. As a result, I've done quite a bit of experimentation with the recipe over the years. I thought this was the pinnacle of banana bread...but that was until now. These muffins are flavorful, tender, and moist. The coconut adds a nice texture. They're indulgent without being sinful. Oh, yeah, and they're vegan. I'll call these the "So Good You Wouldn't Know They Were Vegan if I Didn't Just Tell You" Banana Muffins.

I use a mix of flours here, all whole grain, as inspired by the carrot muffin recipe in the Sprouted Kitchen cookbook. It's definitely worth it. You can swap out the whole wheat flour for your favorite gluten-free mix if you want, and you can always just use 2 cups of one flour - but I warn you, it won't be quite as good. Refer to here for making your own almond flour. If you hate coconut, don't let that deter you from making this recipe - just omit it. You'll love these; I know this is the recipe I'll be using from now on. So go out and buy that huge bunch of bananas, then forget about them for a week or so. You won't regret it.

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat (or spelt) flour

1/2 cup oat bran

1/2 cup almond meal

2 Tbsp wheat germ

1 tsp baking soda

pinch salt

1/2 cup slivered or chopped almonds

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

2 Tbsp chia seeds + 6 Tbsp water

3 medium bananas, mashed

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

Directions

1. Combine chia seeds with water in a small dish. Set aside for 15-20 min, or until a gel forms.

2. Combine dry ingredients (flour, oat bran, almond meal, baking soda, salt, almonds, coconut) in a medium mixing bowl.

3. Whisk together mashed bananas, honey, coconut oil, and chia seed gel. Add to dry ingredients, stirring just until combined.

4. Divide batter into 10-12 paper-lined muffin cups. Top with extra coconut, if desired.

5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 min, or until golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out mostly clean.

6. Transfer muffins to a wire rack and allow to cool completely (if you have the patience).

7. Store in an airtight container for 4-5 days at room temperature, or freeze for 1-2 months.

Makes 10 larger or 12 smaller muffins

Flourless Honey-Almond Cake with Cranberry Orange Frosting

First things first: my husband and I do not celebrate Valentine's Day. We're not really into the cheesy "romanticism" of the holiday, and the day doesn't hold any personal meaning for us - we have our own special days of the year. Personally, I think the holiday also puts a lot of negative pressure on those who don't have a significant other and wish they did. That said, I don't begrudge those who choose to celebrate Valentine's Day in good faith. After all, there's nothing inherently wrong with a day that celebrates love.

With that said, I did not make this cake with Valentine's Day in mind, but the tangy and just-sweet-enough cranberry frosting took on quite a distinct pink color that's fitting for the holiday. It may not be the most dramatic or elegant covering for a cake, but as with love, it's more about the substance than the appearance, and the flavor does not disappoint. It's a perfect cover for this cake that contains no flour - not that you'd notice. The almond flour creates a nice delicate crumb, and honey adds some natural sweetness, with fresh orange zest for some extra flavor. Cranberries and orange are the perfect combination of winter fruits, and they play a starring role here.

This cake is sweet, but not annoyingly so. Like real love, it's sweet enough and has real substance to it that allows you to indulge and leaves you with no regrets. It'll keep you coming back for more. ;)

Ingredients

3 eggs, separated

6 Tbsp clover honey

zest of one unwaxed orange

1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch salt

1 1/2 cup almond flour*

 4 oz cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup demerara sugar (or other natural sugar)

1/2 cup halved fresh or frozen cranberries, thawed

juice of one medium orange (about 1/4 cup)

Directions

1) In a medium mixing bowl, combine egg yolks, honey, baking soda, orange zest, and salt. Beat in almond flour until well combined.

2) Beat egg whites (allowed to warm to room temperature) until white and foamy, but not quite holding peaks. Gently fold into batter.

3) Pour batter into a parchment-lined 9x5" loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 min, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

4) Meanwhile, combine orange juice and a small handful of cranberries in a blender; blend until smooth. Add remainder of cranberries and pulse a couple of times until roughly chopped. Beat together cream cheese and sugar with an electric mixer, then stir in cranberry-orange mixture.

5) Allow cake to cool on a wire rack for 20 min or so, then frost. Cake is best eaten within a couple of hours, but can be stored in the fridge for a couple of days. Alternatively, cake can be made ahead, wrapped and stored at room temperature, and frosted when ready to serve.

Makes 4 large or 8 small servings

*Almond flour can be made by placing 1 1/4 cup blanched almonds in a food processor, and pulsing until ground finely (be careful to not go too far, or you'll make almond butter!). I sifted the ground almonds through a fine-meshed sieve to make sure I had a fine flour. If you make extra, make sure to store it in an airtight container in the freezer - the oils in the almonds can make it go rancid fairly quickly .

Cardamom-Ginger Blueberry Crisp

Yes, I am aware that blueberry season is long over. Like a good little squirrel, though, I stashed several bags of delicious Michigan blueberries in my freezer for winter. Girl Scouts (yep, I was a Girl Scout for ten years), after all, are always prepared. So when I decided that I wanted a little variety with my apple- and squash-filled autumn foods, I had a couple bags of blueberries ready to go. I had every intention of making some tasty little blueberry hand pies. Unfortunately, that was an epic fail, since my blueberry mixture was oozy, making the crust soggy and keeping me from being able to seal the crusts together. Luckily the blueberries were salvageable, my Plan B turned out to be even better than my original intentions.

Tossed with honey and cardamom, then topped with a hearty ginger oat crumble, this blueberry crisp is a dessert that'll tempt you to eat the whole thing, by yourself, in a single sitting (I avoided this temptation...barely). The natural sweetness of blueberries enhanced with a touch of honey make the crisp sweet enough to satisfy the sweetest of sweet teeth without being sugary, and the abundance of whole grains and antioxidant powers of the blueberries makes it completely justifiable as a breakfast dish. Well, it was justifiable enough for me, at least.

Ingredients

4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed*

1 1/2 tsp lemon peel

1/2 tsp freshly ground cardamom seeds

2 Tbsp arrowroot starch (or 1/4 cup all-purpose flour)

1/4 cup raw clover honey

3/4 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp ground ginger

pinch salt

1/4 cup cold unsalted butter

Directions

1) Toss together blueberries, lemon peel, cardamom, and honey. Pour into a 9x5" loaf pan (you can put it into a 8x8" pan too, but it'll be thinner).

2) Whisk together oats, flour, brown sugar, ginger, and salt. Cut in butter and rub together with fingers until flour/oat mixture is incorporated into coarse crumbles.

3) Sprinkle crumble mixture on top of blueberries. Bake in a 375 degree F oven for 30-35 min, or until fruit is bubbling and crumble topping is lightly browned. Serve warm or allow to cool on a wire rack. Crisp will last 3-4 days when tightly covered, although it's best within a day.

*If you don't allow frozen blueberries time to at least partially thaw, then you'll find that it's impossibly difficult to incorporate the honey, since it'll stick to the first few blueberries it touches, then you'll have to put the whole thing in the microwave. Just a warning.

Kidney Beans & Quinoa with Acorn Squash: Squish n' Squash Revisited

Around autumn, a perennial dish at home while I was growing up was one that we dubbed "Squish n' Squash." My mom roasted acorn squash halves, melted a smidgen of butter and a teaspoon of brown sugar in their center, then served them alongside kielbasa sausage. I'm told I gave the dish its name when I was very young - although I'm not sure what thought process led me to name the sausage "squish"...because it's squishy? 

When I was younger, of course, I gladly ate the sausage with a small pool of ketchup, and choked down only as much of the squash as my mom required before leaving the table. Since then, I've learned to appreciate the flavor of squash, lending itself so well to both sweet and savory adornments. I also understand why my mom wanted me to eat it, because squash is chock-full of fiber, vitamins and minerals. I still enjoy a good meal of squish n' squash, but kielbasa sausage isn't exactly something you should eat with any frequency. So I set out to find a healthier alternative that captures the flavor of kielbasa without requiring some fake processed soy sausage.

What I came up with seems to be a pretty good alternative (and it's vegan!). Red kidney beans and quinoa, both excellent sources of plant-based protein and fiber, combine with a good helping of garlic and paprika, with a little fresh marjoram to recreate the seasonings in kielbasa. Scoop that into your squash that's been roasted to a delicious tenderness with a touch of maple syrup, and you've got the makings of a good, healthy, satisfying meal. You'll almost, almost, forget about the kielbasa sausage.

Ingredients

3/4 cup quinoa, rinsed

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups water or veggie broth

2 cups cooked red kidney beans

1 tsp paprika

2 Tbsp fresh marjoram (1 tsp dry)

freshly ground pepper, to taste

2 acorn or "heart of gold" squash, rinsed, halved and seeded

4 tsp maple syrup

olive oil to drizzle

Directions

1. Place squash halves, cut side down, on a baking sheet. Roast in a 375 degree F oven for 30-40 min, or until squash flesh is tender. Turn squash over, lightly drizzle with olive oil, and put a teaspoon of maple syrup into each squash half. Return to oven and bake for an additional 5-10 min.

2. While squash is roasting, add quinoa and garlic to a medium saucepan. Toast over medium heat until quinoa starts to crackle, then add water (or broth) and salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, until liquid is absorbed.

3. Add cooked kidney beans, paprika, marjoram, and ground pepper to quinoa and cook over medium-low heat until cooked through, about 5-10 min.

4. Scoop bean mixture into each squash half, or serve on a plate alongside squash.

Serves 4

The Maillard Reaction: The Chemistry Behind Cooking

I know my typical post on here involves recipes, but this is Kitchen Chemistry, and I am a chemist, so you have to expect that some chemistry will slip in here every once in a while. It just so happens that this year is the 100th anniversary of the Maillard reaction (pronounced May-yard), discovered by the eponymous and well-mustachioed Louis-Camille Maillard. You probably have no idea what the Maillard reaction is, but you most certainly know its application: it's the chemistry behind the browning of food when cooked.

When you subject food to high temperatures in a relatively low-moisture environment (a.k.a. sauteing, grilling, baking, but not boiling or microwaving), it browns. What's happening is that the sugars in the food are reacting with the amino acids that are also in the food, resulting in a number of new compounds. The specific compounds will vary among different kinds of food, but generally they're responsible for the pleasant taste and texture of cooked food.

Now, wait a minute, you might ask: table sugar can brown to make caramel, but there's no amino acids around there (OK, maybe you're not asking that, but I'll answer anyway). This is the result of another non-enzymatic browning reaction: carmelization. In this case, the sugars are reacting with other sugars, producing rearranged compounds, fragmenting and polymerization, all of which change and enhance the flavor of the food.

Of course, it's not really that simple (if you've taken chemistry, you should know that it's never that simple - otherwise people like me wouldn't have a job!). Since most foods have both sugars and amino acids, often a combination of these two reactions occurs when they're cooked. Also, even if you assume that only one of the Maillard reaction or carmelization are at work, still as many as hundreds of new compounds can be made. Despite discovering the reaction, Maillard never really understood it. It was about 40 years later that an American chemist, John E. Hodge, delved deeply and worked out the various processes at work. Impressively, he did the work himself. In case you weren't yet convinced of the complexity of the reaction, here's a schematic from his paper in Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry:

Basically, there are three stages to the reaction:

• The sugar and amino acid combine to form a glycosylamine.
• The glycosylamine, which is unstable, undergoes an Amadori rearrangement - atoms get moved around, and what was a cyclic compound gets opened up into a linear chain.
• This intermediate (which is also an intermediate of glycation in the body; that's right, your body does the Maillard reaction too - except in the body it's not good) reacts in different ways, branching out to form a wide array of nitrogen-containing products, both small molecules and polymers.

Is this really a big deal? Well, turns out, it is, for a couple of reasons. The discovery was the first to really explore the chemical basis behind the flavors and smells in food, and led to the establishment of food science. Also, while a large number of the compounds produced upon cooking are pleasant and desirable, some of them, particularly in processed foods, can be dangerous. It's been a long goal of food chemists to find ways to process food in ways that minimize the harmful compounds while enhancing the pleasant ones, such as enzymatic pre-processing to break down the amino acid asparagine, which forms some amount of acrylamide (a carcinogen) in the Maillard reaction when it is present in food. It must also be a big deal, because a group of chemists recently convened in France near Maillard's hometown for a conference celebrating the 100th anniversary of the discovery, complete with a large tower of profiteroles.

Still not convinced? At the conference, Nobel Laureate Jean-Marie Lehn contended, “The Maillard is, by far, the most widely practiced chemical reaction in the world.” That's because people like you are running this reaction every time you cook. See? You are a chemist after all. :)