Melty Choc Nut Muffins…and why I’m here

I’ve been threatening to start blogging my healthy recipes for some time now, and I have finally perfected enough successful concoctions to get it going. It would have been a bit awkward if I’d started a food blog only to run out of recipes that work in the first week!

I’ve spent the better part of the last two years experimenting with all things gluten, dairy and sugar free, focussing on whole foods that nourish the body and yet are easy to throw together in healthy recipes. A masterchef candidate I am not – in fact, I produce one flop for every three recipes that I get right (although in my defence, have any masterchef contestants actually tried a gluten free krockenbush?? Exactly!). But the beauty of cooking with whole and superfoods is that things don’t have to be complicated. You can make delicious healthy snacks with nothing more than a few ingredients and a food processor, and voila! Your friends all think you’re Bradley Cooper in Limitless.

So don’t worry if your cooking repertoire consists of rubbery scrambled eggs on toast, or if the only time you made muffins they resembled wet cement building blocks. This blog is not really a place to learn how to cook, but rather how to eat. And luckily for us less talented chefs out there, great eating doesn’t necessarily mean great cooking.

These melty choc nut muffins make great afternoon snacks when you feel for that sweet pick-me-up at 3pm. Using honey instead of sugar, as well as blood sugar balancing cinnamon, means you get the sweet taste without the sugar spike that sends you on a foraging mission in the biscuit tin.

Melty Choc Nut Muffins

Makes 4-6 muffins

Ingredients:

1 large ripe banana – mashed

2 tbsp raw honey (I use)

2 tbsp natural peanut butter or nut butter of choice (I use)

1 egg – beaten

1 tsp cinnamon

Pinch of nutmeg (optional)

3 tbsp cacao powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

Handful of choppen pecan nuts

Handful of goji berries

Method:

1. Mix all ingredients except goji berries together in a medium size bowl.

2. Pour dough into greased muffin tin – I use coconut oil to grease my baking tins. Keep a little mixture aside in the bowl to use as icing.

3. Bake at 180 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

4. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and ice on a cooling rack. Tops with goji berries and serve.

Tips: when using just banana instead of flour as your base ingredient, muffins tend to go soggy after a few days in a container. Keep them in the fridge to extend their shelf life and they’ll keep perfectly for up to a week.