Banana-Apple Buckwheat Muffins

So I got several gift cards for Christmas.

I knew exactly what I wanted to get….a Fitbit.  

And I did get one, at Target, on sale.  I had to wait for one of my daughters to come help me sink it to my various devices.  I’m pretty computer savvy but I do have limitations.

Like setting up a Fitbit.

I had some gift card dollars left over and I decided to order the Clean Slate cookbook by Martha Stewart…I just had to have it.

This is not a regular, run-of-the-mill cookbook.  It’s a guide to “Reset Your Health, Detox Your Body and Feel Your Best.”  

Sounds like a New Year’s resolution but, it’s Martha, so she gets a pass.

It arrives and I’m flipping though, reading about why you need to detox and give your body a rest every now and then to reboot, recharge, restore…wash, rinse, repeat.  There are also smoothie recipes, collected into nice and neat detox, de-puff, recharge and rehydrate categories.

It does suggest life without coffee.  I draw the line there.  Sorry Martha.

Seriously, it’s a helpful, beautiful book, filled with ideas, inspirations and delicious recipes to help a person stay on a healthy track. One such recipe involves a muffin.

I love muffins.   I look for any excuse to make them.  And this particular recipe calls for buckwheat flour.  I’m all about the buckwheat and you can read about my buckwheat pancakes here.  I made them for dinner club one evening and my pals often comment that the “Breakfast for Dinner” dinner was one of the all-time favorites.  You can also learn why buckwheat flour is gluten free….it’s a completely different — and surprising — botanical family than wheat!

So as I scanned the muffin ingredients for the recipe on page 90, Banana-Apple Buckwheat Muffins, I realized I had all on hand (including a very ripe banana) so, of course, I just had to make them.

These muffins are gluten free, the honey and bananas offer sweetness, and the apples keep them moist.  They freeze beautifully!

Banana-Apple Buckwheat Muffins
by:  Martha Stewart

Ingredients
1/4 cup buckwheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp coarse sea salt
2 large eggs
1/2 mashed banana
1/4 cup honey
1/2 finely diced sweet apple (like Honeycrisp; I used a Piñata Apple and cut it into bigger than diced chucks so the apple would be noticeable after baking)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place four baking cups in a muffin tin.  In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together eggs, banana, and honey. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry, then fold in apple and walnuts.

Fill the batter to the tops of the lined cups and fill remaining cups halfway with water.  Bake 30 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack.

Blueberry Scones

I did not make these scones from scratch, but I opened the tube, sprinkled them with a pinch of sugar and baked them so I count them as “More-or-Less Homemade.” They are from Immaculate Baking Co. and, honestly, I don’t know that I could have made these much better…they are really, really good, made with all natural ingredients - not too sweet, lots of plump blueberries, wheat flour and no trans fat!
The label on the colorful packaging explains that the guy who started Immaculate Baking Co., Scott Blackwell, did so in 1995 with a “simple dream: bake great-tasting, all natural treats and inspire the natural artist in all of us.” The company supports folk artists, whose art is featured on their packaging. You can read all about them and the Foundation that Blackwell began to “help deserving folk artists maintain the integrity of their lifestyle and the sincerity of their unique vision” at Immaculate Baking Co.

You can also order products from their website...our local Co-Op carries them!