Today was one of the weirdest Mondays I’ve had in quite some time. I haven’t been able to sleep the past few days because my room is the hottest one in my apartment, therefore getting a good night’s sleep is close to impossible. If you walked into my room it’d be laughable at how many fans I have going and yet I still wake up sweating every night. Currently I have a ceiling fan, one fan in front of my bed, and two next to my bed. Comical, right?
Because of this problem, I woke up this morning at 6a.m. and figured, why not be productive rather than just lay here in a hot sweat staring at the ceiling fan wishing it would just spin a liiiiittle bit faster. I ended up doing a load of laundry and heading to the gym at 6:50. By 8a.m. I had successfully done two loads of laundry, done a quick spin at the gym and made coffee and oats for breakfast. These are the kinds of mornings that don’t happen often but when they do, I’m so happy I can just sit back on my couch for a good hour watching The Today Show, sipping on some cold brew and relax.
When I got home from work today, I wanted to continue on with my long and productive day by consuming some of these delicious chocolate-y and fruity muffins I made last night.
I’ve been wanting to purchase this banana muffin mix from Simple Mills ever since they sent me their pizza crust boxed mix a few weeks ago. I think that pizza crust turned me into a pizza-aholic because now I always crave it. The texture is nothing like regular pizza dough but boy was it tasty.. and extremely filling with just one to two pieces!
I went for the purchase at one of my favorite grocers in the city, Plum Market, during my weekly Sunday grocery trip. When I make “healthy” muffins, I’m always a bit nervous on how their texture will turn out. Too soft? Will they cook all the way through? What if I mix the batter too much and they turn out dense like rocks (anyone experience this with spelt flour)?
But with Simple Mills, somehow and someway they figured out a way to make your average baked goods ridiculously decadent. The ingredients in this mix are the simple stuff (no pun intended): banana, almond flour and coconut flour (key ingredients) and coconut sugar, arrowroot powder, baking soda and sea salt pull it all together.
Like any good old fashioned boxed mix, the back always has a recipe on it for you to try in order to “mix it up” a bit. In this case, adding chunks of bananas or some chocolate chips was recommended. Well duh I’m going to add chocolate! This reminded me of when I was younger and my mom made my brother and I banana chocolate chip bread (what felt like) every week. It was extremely moist with a soft and gooey top and every time you sliced a piece off, you were in heaven.
Because I wanted to re-create this childhood magic, I ended up running up to my closest Whole Foods to find some fair-trade dark chocolate chips (70% cacao) from the brand Equal Exchange – one of my all-time favorite eco-friendly brands. And a pack of raspberries because fruit + chocolate = best combo ever.
- 1 box Simple Mills banana almond flour muffin mix
- 2 organic eggs
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 cup water
- ⅓ cup fresh raspberries
- ¼-1/3 cup fair-trade 70% cacao chocolate chips
- 1 tbsp of cashew (or any nut) butter
- Follow ingredients on the back of the box mixing the eggs, coconut oil and water followed by the dry mix in a large bowl.
- Add in your raspberries and chocolate chips to your liking.
- Spoon into 12 greased muffin tins or muffin liners.
- Cook for 30-35 minutes at 350º.
- Cool for at least a half hour. Best served when cold out of the fridge!
Now it’s save to say I have a new favorite muffin on the block… and a new obsession with these 70% cacao chocolate chips… and I also might want to dip everything in cashew butter because it makes for the best frosting. That or chia seed jam. #forreal
It’s not every day you can find a boxed muffin mix on the shelf of your favorite grocery store that tastes just as good as the ingredient list looks and when you can add your favorite mix-ins, it gives it a little home-baked love. I don’t know about you but I feel like a master chef in my kitchen when in reality I did little to no work.
Whether it’s for breakfast, a snack or dessert, these muffins will do nothing but bring a smile to your face. Word to the wise, you may want to eat half the pan because they’re so bite-sized! 🙂
-Addie
Laura says
Nice post!! Thanks for sharing this info. The cakes look delicious!!