Banana Nut Muffins

I altered a recipe from Joy of Cooking for the reduced fat Banana muffins. So these probably fall between reduced fat and full fat :). If you want the truly reduced fat, check out the Joy of Cooking cookbook, Banana Muffins II.

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour (i used whole wheat because it adds more flavor)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar (light or dark)

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 pinch nutmeg

1/8 tsp cinnamon - few pinches

1/4 tsp vanilla

3 ripe bananas - mashed

2 tablespns vegetable oil

1 large egg

1/3 cup applesauce (all natural/no added sugar)

1/3 cup crushed walnuts - optional

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Whisk together wet ingredients into large bowl:

Egg, banana, oil, vanilla, applesauce

Whisk together all dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add 1/2 the dry ingredients at a time and mix together. Batter will be lumpy and sticky. Add walnuts and mix in. Don't try to make the batter smooth - it's expected to be lumpy. Just work all the dry ingredients through.

Spray your muffin pan with non-stick spray, or grease with vegetable oil/butter to keep your muffin from sticking to the pan. I prefer to use the muffin pan that makes extra large muffins, so it makes 6 instead of 12 muffins. Either is fine. Bake the muffins for approximately 30 minutes - your toothpick will come out clean if you stick it through the muffin. I found the large muffin sizes took exactly 30 minutes to bake and they came out great.

Enjoy!

Instructions:

Ginger Spice Cookies - Delish

I decided to finally try something other than chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin this year for my holiday cookie exchange - ginger spice cookies! These were delicious. I found the recipe in epicurious.com, but I altered it as mentioned below: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Ginger-Spice-Cookies-103156. The alterations were by default of what I had in my cabinet, but it worked out!

Changes:

- I tripled the recipe and only used 2.5 tablespoons of ginger. I recommend trying 1 tablespoon per batch.

- I had regular organic molasses and used it - it turned out just fine and delicious.

- I ran my candied ginger through the food processor for an easy chop. It totaled 1 cup for 3 batches. I recommend 1/2 cup per batch.

I think pairing down the strong ginger flavors actually worked out well for a more universal cookie that still definitely qualifies as a ginger chew cookie.

Tips:

* If you prefer "snaps" over chews, just make the cookies a little smaller and they will make the perfect bite size snap!