No Sugar Added Banana Blueberry Muffins

I love to bake, but baking in the summer is nearly impossible. It's just not worth heating the entire apartment for some muffins or a cake.

But there are mornings that are actually crisp, reminiscent of autumn mornings, where the sun is shining in through the windows and there's a cool breeze floating around. These are the mornings where I throw open the windows, slip on a cardigan, and bake.

On one such morning I made these:

No sugar added banana blueberry muffins. Recipe here.

I modified things slightly to accommodate what was in my cupboards (because who has time to run to the store at moments like these?) including substituting all-purpose flour for the gluten free flour and leaving out the xantham gum. My batter was thicker than the recipe said it should be, but it all worked out just fine.

They were wonderful...more bread-y than cake-y. I like that. And you really don't miss the sugar (thank you, bananas).

Love, T.

No Sugar Added

I'm back to being more relaxed with sugar. I've drastically cut down on the amount of sugar I eat, but won't refuse a small piece of sweetness anymore if it comes my way.

And I'm still committed to finding other ways to satisfy my sweet tooth that have less to do with added sugars and more to do with natural sugars. Like these from CCK. (They are amazing and taste like brownie batter. Seriously.)

A huge gap in my efforts has been baking. I mean, how do you bake a cake without sugar? I plan on finding out...and when I have developed a recipe, I'll share it.

In the meantime, I did manage to adapt a banana bread recipe to make it a bit healthier than it would have been otherwise.

-:- Healthier Banana Bread -:-
adapted from here

2 c. whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 c. Greek yogurt
2 eggs, beaten lightly
3/4 c. butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 tsp. liquid stevia
1/4 c. applesauce

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan; dust with flour, tapping out the excess.
Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl; set aside.
Mix the mashed bananas, yogurt, eggs, butter, stevia, applesauce, and vanilla with a wooden spoon in a medium bowl. Lightly fold the banana mixture into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula until just combined and the batter looks thick and chunky. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
Bake until the loaf is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

Next time I might try adding a fourth banana instead of the stevia. I have a feeling that'll work just fine. But this turned out wonderfully too and it has given me a bit of courage to try a No Sugar Added Chocolate Cake.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Love, T.

(Sugarless) Vegan Fudge

This whole no sugar thing has been great in a lot of ways. It has also been not great in a lot of ways. I have craved sugar a lot since I gave it up a few weeks ago, especially after dinner when I usually have a bit of dessert.

Enter CCK with a whole slew of sugarless, healthy dessert recipes. She has other recipes too, which I'm sure are great...but frankly I've been overwhelmed by my new-found dessert options that I haven't paid too much attention to anything else.

The first thing I made was some sugarless, vegan, delicious, almond butter, chocolate fudge. Yes, really.

And you know what? It's pretty good. Find the recipe here.

I doubled the recipe for the peanut butter chocolate fudge, substituting almond butter for peanut and adding a few drops of liquid stevia. I think I'm going to play around with the almond butter/coconut oil ratio a bit and try some of the other flavor options.

Next up? These. This weekend, probably. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Thanks for the blog introduction, C!

Love, T.