Fridays with Beatrice: Banana, Chocolate and Hazelnut Muffins

I confess: It's not friday. It's the last day of the year, and I feel obliged to post one more time this year. To be honest - those muffins were baked over a week ago; and I took several pictures of our christmas dinner or the cookies I baked. But when it comes to posting I just stare at the display and feel empty - it's not just my blog, all my other internet activities have decreased. I am kind of hibernating I would say.

So I am glad Lena is kind to adhere herself to my (pregnancy related) dietary restriction too - she chose something sweet again, banana, chocolate and hazelnut muffins. Normally I am not a friend of baked goods containing mashed bananas because I think they start to smell kind musty of after a day. But this recipe was different, and the muffins didn't survive to that smelly point. We ate some right from the oven - couldn't resist the soft inside and kind of crispy outside. So if I ever want to make banana muffins again, this is the recipe - forget the rest!

Roundup: THE banana muffin recipe.

Fridays with Beatrice: Millet, oat and apple muffins

This time it was my turn to choose a recipe again, and because I'm limited right now concerning ingredients, I picked a plain & simple muffins recipe. Unfortunately nearly all the recipes I'd like to cook in this book contain ingredients I should'nt eat at the moment, like peas, lentils or cabbage-like vegetables ...

 

Like Lena said in her post, the muffins didn't taste anything special. I liked the idea of using tahini instead of just oil or just butter; and I think I could taste a hint of that when eating the muffins. Because of the tahini and the millet flour they had a very nutty taste. My muffins were moist (just how I like them), but just because I may have used a little bit more apples than recommended. Unfortunately you couldn't taste the apples (which were handplucked from a tree in the garden of my hubby's grandparents). At least the muffins were really satiably, so if I would have children in school age and wanted to provide them with a healthy snack, this muffin would definitively be my choice.

Roundup: Healthy satiable snack for in between, but no fancy or extraordinary treat I would serve at the coffee table.

Fridays with Beatrice: Buttermilk, lemon and poppy seed quinoa pancakes

Due to some issues it's already tuesday before I could post about this delicious recipe. I've been sitting into dark rooms (attending an ultrasound training course) during the last days including the weekend and now have to keep up with things I would have been doing at this time normally. Because of my 'condition' I feel constantly tired after a usual working day now so I'm glad I am able to maintain the weekend cooking (and sometimes baking). During the week I have to eat at work, I really don't like the meals at the cafeteria and am already tired of them, so those pancakes Lena chose were a welcomed change. (By the way, check out Lena's new blog - I am really jealous - in a nice way - about the design and her passion about blogging and the constant improvements at her blog and would really like to change mine that way too. Unfortunately my day 'left' has only four hours ...)

Funnily, this time I had 'bookmarked' this recipe too. There were several reasons: First, I like thick fluffy pancakes, especially when they are made with buttermilk. Second, I love lemons. Third, I love the combination of lemon and poppy seed. There is a cake recipe by Jamie Oliver (passed down from his granny) containing lemin and poppy seeds; I made this cake maybe a dozen times and I love it. You can find the recipe here. Those pancakes are even a little bit more sophisticated than the cake. They are made with rice and quinoa flour and quinoa flakes, which I had not at hand, so I used a little bit more flour. Unfortunately they therefore turned out a little bit dry, which we could 'compensate' with more spread on top - we had them with jam and caramel cream. They were very satiable so I wasn't able to eat more than three (which was a pity).

Roundup: If you find 'usual' pancakes boring, try those - and if you like lemon (like me), they are a must!