Packed with fiber and protein-rich beany goodness, delicately flavored with cardamom, these muffins are sweetened exclusively with fruit. They do not contain added fats or refined sweeteners. Great as an afternoon pick me up or breakfast on the go.
BAKING WITH RED LENTILS
Using beans in plant-based oil-free baking is relatively new to Western cuisine, with health conscious vegan and plant-based foodies at the forefront of this trend. While many Westerners remain reluctant about getting their beans in these unexpected places, Asian culinary traditions have used beans in sweet confections for centuries if not longer. Putting beans in your sweet snacks is a delightful way to increase your intake of legumes. And nutritional science suggests that regular intake of legumes and other pulses may be the single strongest dietary predictor of a long lifespan. Each kind of bean brings a unique nutritional profile, color, flavor and texture to your baking.
While all beans have some binding properties, lentils work less well as binders. So when baking with cooked lentils, I usually also include flaxseed meal in my recipe to help everything hold together. In this recipe, pureed fruits also act as binders.
Dried red lentils cook up fast, usually in about fifteen minutes. In order to make one cup of cooked red lentils that are the consistency of thick cooked oatmeal, you need to start with a scant half cup of dried beans and at least one cup of water. You can add more water if you think you need it. Red lentils get very mushy. The mushiness is normal and desirable, but they are far too mushy to try to strain away excess water. You’d be straining away most of your beans. Instead, keep cooking your red lentils until the excess water boils away and you achieve the desired consistency. Just be sure that your beans are soft and porridge-like. If your final muffin batter is dryer or wetter than you want, you can always adjust it by adding a little bit of liquid or flour.
FRUITS FOR SUGAR-FREE OIL-FREE BAKING
Fruits have always added sweetness, flavor and nutrients to baking. But in whole food plant-based baking, pureed fruits and fruit smoothies can do a great deal more than that, working as an egg, oil and sugar substitute all rolled into one. The fruits you use can be fresh, frozen, dried or canned. In this particular recipe, I use a combination of dates, bananas and apple sauce to create a sweet, moist and spongy muffin. Deglet noor dates, my all time favorite fruity ingredient, first need to be chopped and pureed with the bananas and plant milk. “Pitted” dates often still have pits in them or hard stems still attached, so always pre-chop your dates, removing any hard bits before using them in a recipe. As they vary a great deal in size, bananas should be sliced then measured in order to get consistent results.
BLENDER OR FOOD PROCESSOR NEEDED
You need a blender or food processor for this recipe in order to create the fruit puree that does so many great things for these muffins. Electronic appliances like food processors and blenders allow us to quickly and easily harness the power of whole plant foods, eliminating the need for ingredients like oil, sugar, white flour and eggs which are calorie dense and comparatively low in nutrients. A high speed blender is the easiest and fastest way to puree fruits for baking, but with a little patience any blender or food processor will do the job.
ALWAYS LOVELY CARDAMOM
I love the understated magic of cardamom flavor and how it enhance the sweetness of my recipes. For me, ground cardamom is a pantry staple. But if you don’t have any cardamom, or you’re not a fan, just leave it out, or substitute with another spice like cinnamon, apple pie spice blend, or a pinch of nutmeg.
VARIATIONS
You could make this recipe your own by adding all sorts of chunky ingredients like nuts, seeds, unsweetened shredded coconut, fruits or even chocolate chips. I suggest you limit yourself to adding no more than a total 2/3 cup to the recipe. For example, you could add 1/3 cup of walnut pieces along with 1/3 cup of chopped dates. Or you could add 2/3 cup of blueberries. Or 1/4 cup of unsweetened shredded coconut along with 1/3 cup of dairy free chocolate chips. Or you could just go with 1/2 cup of dairy free chocolate chips by themselves. You get the idea, anything that tastes good with bananas would be good in these muffins.
When frosted with one of my scrumptious healthy plant-based frostings these muffins become festive dessert worthy banana cupcakes!
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Red Lentil Banana Muffins Vegan WFPB Oil-Free No Refined Sweeteners
Equipment
- blender or food processor
- Standard Muffin Pan
- 12 Paper Baking Cups, 2-1/2 inch
- 1 Large Mixing Bowl
- 1 Cake Spatula
Ingredients
- 1-¼ cup whole wheat flour
- 1-½ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- 1 Tbsp ground flaxseed
- 1 cup cooked red lentils (start with a scant 1/2 cup dried lentils and cook in water to consistency of very thick oatmeal)
- 1-½ cups very ripe bananas, sliced (2 to 3 large ripe bananas)
- ¼ cup Deglet Noor dates, sliced (remove any stems or pits and slice into 1/4 inch cross sections before measuring)
- â…“ cup unsweetened plant milk
- ½ cup apple sauce
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Line a standard muffin pan with twelve 2-1/2 inch paper baking cups and preheat oven to 350º
- In a large mixing bowl, use a cake spatula to combine whole wheat flour, baking, baking soda, salt, ground flaxseed and ground cardamom. Set aside.
- Place sliced bananas, chopped dates and unsweetened plant milk in a blender or food processor. A high speed blender is best. Food processors or conventional blenders also work but may take a bit longer. Process until mostly smooth and no large chunks of fruits are left. You will still see specs of dates.
- Add the processed banana, date and plant milk blend, apple sauce, cooked red lentils and vanilla extract to the whole wheat flour mix in the large mixing bowl. Using the cake spatula, form the muffin batter by folding until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated.
- Spoon batter into muffin cups and bake at 350º for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean and muffins look slightly golden around the edges.
- It's best to cool the muffins completely before serving as warm muffins stick to paper liners.
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