Persimmon Apple Muffins

The smell filling the house this morning is autumnally divine 🙂 The combination of the sweet persimmon puree, mixed with the subtle spice flavor from the cinnamon, nutmeg and coriander create a wonderful home for the soft chunks of apples that easily melts in your mouth. Add to that the occasional date bite surprise and you got yourself a beautiful fall muffin treat, healthy enough for breakfast, sweet enough for dessert.

I just thawed my last bag of muffins this week, so I had been pondering what muffin flavor I was going to start with to work on filling up my freezer again. While I had a few other flavors in mind, when I looked at my fruit rack this morning and saw the abundance of ripe persimmons, there was no doubt that was going to be the flavor of the week 🙂

For this recipe, either persimmons will work, but I used the fuyu, the small squatty ones that can be eaten hard. I had some soft ones so I used those. If you have some super ripe hachiya, those will work great as well, but just make sure they are super ripe. These are the tear drop larger ones. Those are pretty much inedible unless they are fully soft to the point of almost falling appart in your hand. I learned this the very hands on way. 

While I am typing this, it is quiet in the house as the kids are busy eating all the muffins that are barely cool enough to grab, but I made sure to put a large batch in a box out of reach. It makes me happy that my kids love my cooking this much, yet at the same time, it’s hard to not have them eat all the baked goods in one day!

 

 

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour (I mixed spelt, rice and teff. Don’t use spelt if gluten free)
• 1 cup small oats (regular works fine)\
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground coriander
• 3/4 cup coconut sugar
• 4 large dates chopped really small (I used medjool because I love how juicy and thick they are)
• 2 ripe persimmons, pureed
• 1 small apple, chopped small
• 1 cup water (or more if you find your dough too dry depending on what flour you use)
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1/4 cup ground flax seeds soaked in 1/2 cup water

 

Steps:

• preheat oven to 350*F
• grind your flax seeds and put them in a small bowl in water, set aside
• mix first 9 ingredients in a large bowl
• blend the persimmons in order to make a puree
• add all the remaining (wet) ingredients in another bowl and mix well
• combine wet and dry ingredients
• grease muffin tins
• pour dough in tins and bake for about 10-12 minutes for mini muffins, probably around 18 minutes for larger ones, or until a toothpick comes out clean
• let cool in pan for about 5 minutes before transferring to cooling racks
• eat at will or store out of sight so you are not tempted to eat at will!!

 

Note this made about 56 mini muffins. I like to make mini muffins because it’s easier for the kids to handle and good to transport. Also, I make this many because I like to freeze some for later use so I can have an easy snack to grab, or a quick breakfast on the go.

 

 

Advertisement

Luxurious Chocolate Chai Latte

Just as the title states, luxurious, hint of chocolate, creamy and decadent, this beverage is a weekend treat. After making my Black Tea Mocha a few months back, I knew I was on to something with replacing coffee for tea in all the specialty coffee drinks. I like coffee, but I prefer tea. My warm beverage drinking world has opened up even wider!

This is a perfect fall beverage. While I enjoy chai tea at any time of the year, I feel more drawn to it during the fall and winter months because of all the warming spices. And if you’ve been following me for a while now, you have surely caught on to what a chocoholic I am, so naturally finding ways to sneak that delicious superfood in where ever I can has become quite a skill 😉

And lastly let’s not forget about what makes this drink so luscious: coconut butter. That’s right. I’ve been using coconut butter in drinks for a while now to add healthy fats and decadence. A winner every single time.

While I would love to say I get to enjoy this beverage quietly in a cozy chair while reading a book, the truth is, I generally have 3 minutes to myself before I have to brace the cup and raise it high above my head while I get jumped on by one of my children, or shoved off my seat by another or even just have the cup grabbed out of my hand because “Can I have some?”. In any case, how ever you get to enjoy this Latte, it is well worth it and will put a smile on your face 🙂

Ingredients:

• 2 cups steeped and strained chai tea (I buy mine in bulk and prefer the slightly spicy kind)
• 1 cup almond milk (or any other milk), for this drink I used almond coconut milk that I had just made, and it was such a divine choice 🙂
• 1.5 TBS coconut butter OR 3TBS coconut cream (the rich stuff from a can)
• 2-3 dates
• 1-2 tsp cacao powder (Depending on how chocolatey you want it)

Steps:

• Put everything in blender and blend on high until you get a little foam at the top
• pour and enjoy!

Pumpkin Toasted Coconut Bread

MMmmmm mmmmm. This bread came out great. Moist on the inside with a slightly crisp outer shell. My plan was not to make pumpkin bread. I actually had other plans for this pumpkin. But it started going bad and I needed to use it immediately. I had already made dinner so the obvious choice was to make something, well not dinner-y.

Although I usually choose muffins when making baked goods, we have a guest staying with us and serving a warm slice of pumpkin bread with either some butter or coconut oil and a drizzle of honey and some tea is such a nice treat. (Although I have a feeling the kids will be eating most of it.)

I made this last night so I went to bed with a house filled with beautiful sweetly spiced autumn smell.

Again, this bread is not too sweet, which I like because then we can add toppings to it if we feel like it.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour (I used teff and rice)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups chopped raw pumpkin
• 1 1/2 cups milk (I used coconut)
• 1 inch chunk of fresh ginger
• 2 TBS apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 shredded coconut
• 3/4 cups coconut sugar

For topping:

• 2 tsp coconut oil
• 2 tsp honey
• (melt those two together in a small bowl)
• 1/4 cup coconut flakes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 F
• in a large bowl sift flour and add following 4 ingredients
• in a blender blend pumpkin and milk until smooth
• add all other ingredients and blend until well combined
• pour wet ingredient into the large bowl and mix well with dry ingredients
• pour in a bread pan (mine is 9.25×5.25×2.75 in/23.5×13.3x7cm) if yours is bigger, you will have to bake for a shorter time
• bake for a total of 50 minutes.

BUT

• 5 minutes before the bread is fully done baking (Insert a knife, if it comes out with just a little stickiness, then it probably only has a short time left of baking) quickly rub the oil and honey mixture on the bread (I used a small spatula) then sprinkle the coconut flakes on top and put back in the oven to finish baking.
• keep a close eye on this as the coconut can burn quickly. If you notice the coconut getting too dark and the bread is not done baking, just put a piece of foil on top. Don’t seal the foil around the bread, just lay it on top of the flakes so they stop browning.

And yes, those are little muffins topped with chocolate mouse that you see in the picture. The muffins are the same dough. I will post the recipe for the chocolate mouse real soon, I promise 🙂 And here it is 🙂