No Sugar? That's Bananas

If you have been following me on IG for a while, you know I used to bake A LOT! I would make black bean brownies, cranberry breads, “healthy” cookies etc. I loved twisting unhealthy recipes to make them “healthier” and that mostly consisted of swapping out white flour for wheat (or almond) and replacing white sugar with honey or agave. In hindsight, they were not really that healthy, but they were definitely better than the full sugar alternative. Unfortunately, once I eliminated grains, dairy, and sugar, my baking habit had to come to an end. It was sad, but it's what needed to be done in order to be compliant to my new way of life.

Thennn, last night I was staring at a rotten banana on my counter and thought, hmm, I have more banana’s in the freezer, I have almond flour, coconut oil… I bet I could bake something with all of those things! So, here is what I did

Ingredients:

3 brown bananas

3-ish cups almond flour

3 eggs

½ cup coconut oil

1TBS apple cider vinegar

1-2 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

¾ tsp baking powder

(all rough estimates, I literally eye-ball everything)

Directions:

Mash bananas in a large mixing bowl. Stir in eggs, coconut oil, and apple cider vinegar. Then add vanilla, baking powder and the spices! Once all ingredients are well incorporated, stir in the almond flour one cup at a time! Once all your ingredients are mixed together, either pour into a greased loaf pan or a cupcake pan! Bake at 350 degrees F for about 12-14 minutes (or until golden around the sides). *top with your favorite nut butter :)

Notes: If you guys are going to try to make these, you should be warned, they are not sweet! I omitted any form of sugar, so if you were going to make these as a sweet treat, you may be disappointed. The only sweetness that comes through is from the natural fruit sugar in the banana. For those of you who don't consume a lot of sugar, they will taste slightly sweet to you, as they did for me!

They are pleasantly high in protein as well! This recipe made about 18 muffins and they each average around 6.5g of protein! (*my mom commented on how filling they were! That's what healthy fats and protein will do!)

Next time, I also may try to add almond butter or peanut butter to the mix for added flavor, fat and protein! These little muffins were already super moist, but it may just add a little something to the flavor profile!

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One of the most difficult parts of building this positive relationship with food has been eliminating sugar! I always had the most intense sweet tooth! I was a sugar addict. And when i say addict, i mean it. I would physically and emotionally crave sugar. The cravings would take control of me and I would feel powerless. I was tormented and would more often then not, give into my need for sweets. But now, after not having any sugar for about 3 months (with maybe 1-2 slip ups) I feel like I have finally overcome this hurdle. I no longer search for that sweet treat after every meal, I can effortlessly say no to desserts, and for the first time I feel powerful; empowered by the will to say NO to sugar! : )

I hope you all enjoy this recipe! And find these muffins as delicious as I did! Let me know what you think!!

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