Salba® Banana Nut Mini-Muffins

I talked about the wonders of Salba in the Salba Anytime Muffins posting, but some of that information begs to be repeated! This is good stuff!

Gram for gram, Salba® provides 8x more Omega 3s than salmon, 25% more fiber than flax, 6x more calcium than whole milk, 30% more antioxidants than blueberries, and much more. Salba® is all-natural, has no trans-fats, very few carbohydrates, and is certified Non-GMO, Vegan, Kosher, and Gluten-Free for those who suffer from celiac disease. (www.salba.com)

Salba® is quite easy to cook with, and can be used as an egg replacer, like flax, by mixing it up with water. It can also be used as a grain, and has a neutral taste that blends well with many foods.

In the spirit of finding new and exciting ways to include Salba® in my diet, I have been testing and modifying recipes, trying to include this exciting grain in order to further enhance the health benefit of my food items. This is the second muffin recipe my family and I have gotten really excited about! I imagine it would also work very well as banana bread, but to me, banana bread begs to be slathered with butter, and muffins do not. Plus, my kids LOVE these miniature muffins, and at 55 calories per muffin, they can have several!

Even at this very petite size, each muffin provides almost a third of my daily dosage of Salba® (1 tablespoon per person per day is recommended).

To make this a little more special, I added a nice, crispy streusel topping. It really adds a nice CRUNCH! The streusel recipe makes way more than you need, but the proportions are nice and easy to measure.

Worth noting: If you do not have Salba®, this recipe would still taste great and be very healthful with ground flax meal.

Salba® Banana Nut Mini-Muffins!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and prepare 36-40 muffin pans with nonstick spray or muffin liners.

First, prepare your streusel mixture.

Crispy Rice Streusel:

In a large ziplock bag, mix then crush with a rolling pin:
1 1/2 cups puffed brown rice cereal
1 tablespoon almond slices
1 t cinnamon
1/8 cup all-purpose flour

In a small, microwave-safe bowl, melt and then mix into a nice syrup:
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 teaspoon water

Mix rice cereal mixture and syrup together until well blended.

This should make a bit over a cup of streusel. One tablespoon of this mixture is about 24 calories.

Next, mix together the dry ingredients.

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup ground Salba meal
1/4 cup organic sugar
6 single serve packets Truvia
(Truvia is a plant-based sweetener. Alternatively, you could use 1/4 cup of Splenda instead of the sugar, or a full half cup of sugar. I’m trying to steer away from Splenda as much as possible, because it’s made from chemicals.)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon Also Salt
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Set aside.

Now, throw the following into a food processor or blender:

1 tablespoon non-dairy egg replacer
3 tablespoons not-from-concentrate orange juice

(One could just use an egg or two egg whites here – but this way, you get to dump the cholesterol and fat of the egg yolks, get a delightful orange taste, and not significantly alter the wet/dry ingredient ratio.)

3 medium or 2 large bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tbsp nonfat yogurt or soygurt
1 tablespoon coconut oil
3 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce, organic or homemade if possible
(I made mine in the microwave; 3 apples, chopped, with 1/8 cup apple juice, cooked and put through the food processor)

Mix well.

Fold liquid/egg white mixture into dry ingredients, trying not to overbeat the batter.

Using an 1/8 cup or smaller scoop, drop a bit less than 1/8 cup of batter into prepared pan or muffin cups.

Sprinkle 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon streusel mixture across top of each mini-muffin.

Bake for 15 minutes (mini-muffins) or 18-20 minutes (regular sized muffins); or until tops are golden and they are firm to touch.

Betcha can’t eat just one…!

Making them with 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 tablespoons of batter each, the yield is approximately 40 mini-muffins, 55 calories each.