Carrot Banana Chickpea Flour Muffins

This recipe was passed on to me by a friend and I was up to the pantry challenge; plus it does seem like I have been baking muffins quite a bit lately. I sum that up to many reasons, they are quick and easy to make, pantry ingredients may be low or sparse, and at times whatever I can find on the shelf at the shop; therefore making me pull ingredients together and also modifying recipes. 

The original recipe called for two mashed bananas, not having any, I grated 1 to 2 apples, cored. Also the recipe called for 8 tablespoons of melted coconut oil, I used vegetable oil instead. Dark brown sugar was used instead of light brown sugar and sour cream replaced the natural yoghurt. Still, these muffins turned out wonderful. Crumbly and tender.  

Carrot Banana Chickpea Flour Muffins 

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1 1/2 cups chickpea flour

1/4 cup light brown sugar or coconut sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 eggs

1/2 cup natural yoghurt or sour cream

2 mashed bananas

2 large carrots, peeled and grated

1 apple, cored and grated 

8 tablespoons coconut oil

1 teaspoon maple extract

sunflower seeds, to sprinkle on top, optional 

Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC) and line a muffin tin with muffin liners.

In a large bowl mix the chickpea flour, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon together.

In another bowl, beat the eggs, sour cream, mashed bananas, or shredded apple if using instead, shredded carrots, grated apple, oil and maple extract together until nice combined. Pour into the dry mixture. Stir until the wet and dry ingredients are well combined.

Spoon the batter, equally, into 6 muffin moulds and fill to the top. Bake the muffins in the  preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until the tops of the muffins are golden brown. 


Have a good weekend and stay safe everyone! - JD

Vegan Frittata

I stumbled upon this recipe after a friend shared it on-line. The ingredient list may look long however don't let that stop you from making this delicious dish. 

Vegan Frittata

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half an onion, chopped in half

2 - 3 stalks of celery, chopped in half

2 carrots, peeled and chopped in half

2 garlic cloves, peeled 

1 cup of broccoli 

200g chickpea flour

3 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 tablespoon thyme

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

some pepper

2 1/4 cups Veggie stalk

1 cup chopped spinach

Preheat oven to 400ºF (200ºC) Using vegan butter, butter the bottom and sides of a quiche or baking dish. Set aside.

Using a food processor, pulse/blitz the onion, celery, carrots and garlic a few times. Then add the broccoli and pulse/blitz again. Set aside.

In a large bowl combine the chickpea flour, nutritional yeast, turmeric, thyme, baking powder, salt and pepper together; then add the veggie stalk, blend until smooth. Fold in the blitzed veggies plus the spinach. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until brown.  

Notes: With a few simple changes this recipes lends itself for modification if you are not vegan however the recipe as is, is great! 

You can find the video recipe on Youtube titled Easy Vegan Frittata by Vegish. or Vegish (vegish foods) on Facebook.  

Hope everyone is having a good week. Stay warm! - JD 

Rosemary Crackers

These simple crackers have a subtle nutty rosemary flavour with a slightly salted top. A wonderful pairing to accompany any cheese board. 

Rosemary Crackers

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1 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1 cup chickpea flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

2/3 cup warm water

1/3 cup olive oil

2 to 3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

sea salt, to lightly sprinkle on top, optional

Preheat oven to 400ºF (200ºC) Line a baking tray with baking parchment paper.

In a large bowl combine, flour, chickpea flour, baking powder, sesame seeds, and  chopped rosemary. Stir in the water and oil, mixing until a smooth dough has formed. Halve the dough.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out half the dough into a large square, as thin aa you can get it... about 1/4 inch or so, they will puff up a bit more in the oven. You can also roll the dough out on a clean sheet of baking parchment paper. 

Cut rolled out dough into small squares or shapes, by hand or by cutter. Place the shapes on to the prepared baking sheet. Pierce with a fork and lightly sprinkle with the sea salt.

Bake until crackers are dry and golden, about 10 to 12 minutes. Pulling the really brown ones. Cool completely on wire racks. Store in an airtight container. 

Notes: you can add more or less of the sesame seeds or not add them at all, it comes down to personal taste. You may also try using a different oil. I cut the cracker dough into shapes by hand, using a ravioli cutter.

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend! - JD 

Chickpea Flour Crackers

I guess the chickpea flour was calling out to me from the pantry so I decided to make crackers. Savoury bite sized morsels for snacking or with soup. A bit of blue cheese or stilton on top would do nicely too.  

Chickpea Flour Crackers 

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1 cup flour

1 cup chickpea flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 and 1/2 teaspoons poppy seeds*
1/2 teaspoon paprika*
1/4 cup grated parmesan
2/3 cup warm water
1/3 cup vegetable oil or light olive oil*

* You may want to try other ingredients such as cayenne, sunflower seeds, chives, turmeric, cumin, or curry powder.
* I used Camelina oil instead of vegetable oil or light olive oil. Coconut oil would also be a nice substitution.

Method:    

Pre-heat oven to 400ºF. Get a baking tray and set aside.   

In a large bowl, combine flour, chickpea flour salt, baking powder, poppy seeds, paprika, and parmesan cheese.

Stir in water and oil, mixing until a smooth dough forms. Divide the dough in two halves.

Place a sheet of parchment paper on a clean flat surface. Take one half of the dough and gently shape it into a square or a nicely compact rectangle. With a well floured rolling pin, roll the dough into a large square as thin as you can get it. Roughly about a 1/4 inch. You will have to keep re-flouring the rolling pin because the dough is soft and a bit sticky or lightly flour the top of the dough as you roll. 

Once the dough is all rolled out cut into small pieces using a knife or a pastry wheel cutter or a small cookie cutter. I used a pastry wheel cutter. Using a fork pierce all over the dough. This prevents the crackers from puffing up too much. Lift the parchment paper with the doughy crackers carefully over to the baking tray and place it on baking tray, parchment paper and all. Easy... no transferring onto the tray or greasing the tray. Repeat with the remaining dough. 

Bake until crackers are dry and golden... for about 10 -13 minutes. You may have to pull the really brown as they bake to prevent them from burning. Cool on wire racks, parchment paper and all, and store in an air tight container. 

What started out as a square became looking more like a geographical land mass. I rolled the dough as best I could. Cut it into squares and they were ready for the oven.  

After 13 minutes they were puffed up and browning nicely. However I found a few extra minutes helped to achieve a more toasted baked look. Easy to pull apart and crisp.

Have a good weekend everyone! - JD 

Chickpea Flour = Chocolate Chip Cookies

For some reason I was set on buying chickpea flour. And after seeing the long row of packaged chickpea flour at the Italian Centre, here in E-town, I was even more set on trying a recipe with it. The great thing about using chickpea flour is that it is high in protein and generally no eggs are needed for binding. Why haven't I used this sooner with my baking, I do not know. 

Chickpea flour Chocolate Chip Cookies  

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3/4 cup chickpea flour*

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons caster sugar

3 tablespoons coconut oil, melted before measuring

3 tablespoons maple syrup 

1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1/3 cup mini dark chocolate chips

2 - 4 teaspoons water, only as needed

Makes 8 to 10 cookies only

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Line a baking tray with parchment paper and set a side. 

In a large bowl mix all the dry ingredients together (flour, salt, baking soda, and sugar)

Add the coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla, chocolate chips and water stir until well combined. Add in just enough water to moisten all of the ingredients together. The dough will be fairly thick and sticky. 

Roll the dough into balls and place them onto the prepared baking tray.

Using clean fingers press down on each to flatten. If need be dampen fingers with water first, to prevent the dough sticking to your fingers.

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes until lightly golden.

After removing the baking tray from the oven, and here is a trick I have found out along the way in my baking travels, take a fork and press down lightly on the top of each cookie to flatten them a bit. This will compact the cookie, giving it more of a chewy centre and crisp edge. Try this tip with some of the cookie recipes you already bake.   

Transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Notes: Small batches do make sense considering when using melted coconut oil because as it cools it solidifies back to it's original form. So you have to work fast. Which is not a problem as this recipe is easy, only one bowl! I found that baking the cookies for 12 minutes was sufficient. They had a lovely golden colour and the bottoms were perfect. Nice and golden all the way round. You could try and replace the maple syrup with golden syrup my only concern is that golden syrup is thicker which might change the consistency of the dough therefore possibly adding more water, as needed. If you can not find mini chocolate chips then use standard chocolate chips however you may have to give them a bash or two to make them into smaller pieces, making it easier to press them down when taken out of the oven. I prefer flattening cookies with my fingers. There is something very child like about this process however using the tools which you already have is a bonus! 

*Some store chickpea flour in the freezer.* 

This week has flown by. Seems like the weeks just keep getting busier for me. Hope everyone is doing great and having a good week so far. - JD