Date Nut Green Bean Muffins with Toasted Coconut

Makes 16-18 small muffins.

Ingredients:

1 cup organic oat flour
½ cup organic spelt flour
¼ cup organic wheat bran
⅓ cup organic cane sugar
⅓ cup organic dark brown sugar, packed down
2 teaspoons slightly rounded baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon finely ground sea salt
1 teaspoon organic cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
Dash of ground ginger
2 large organic free-range eggs
½ cup organic whole milk
1 container of vanilla Almond Non-Dairy Yogurt, 6-ounce
2 teaspoons organic almond extract
6 ounces frozen organic cut green beans
¼ cup almond oil
1½ cups roasted unsalted almonds
1½ cups chopped dried dates
1½ cups Toasted Coconut or Quick Fix coconut chips

Instructions:

1. Prepare the Date Spread and the Toasted Coconut in advance.
2. Preheat the oven to 350F.
3. Line muffin pans with colorful liners.
4. Sift dry ingredients together: oat flour, spelt flour, wheat bran, cane sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.
5 In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, yogurt and extract (one at a time) until well blended.
6. Steam the beans, and purée them in a food processor with the oil until a creamy consistency. Press the purée through a sieve into the wet ingredients. Whisk them together.
7. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients, and add the wet ingredients.
8. Coarsely chop the almonds in a food processor.
9. Fold the chopped almonds, chopped dates and 1 cup of the Toasted Coconut into the batter.
10. Fill each hole in the muffin pan ¾ full. Press a spoonful of Date Spread into the middle of the batter of each muffin.
11. Bake for 16-18 minutes (or until the top of the muffin springs back if you press on it).
12. Cool the muffins on a wire rack.
13. Serve with an extra dollop of Date Spread a sprinkling of the remaining Toasted Coconut.

Shortcut: use jarred baby food instead of homemade puréed beans.

Date Spread

Ingredients:

1½ cups unsweetened dried organic dates, chopped
4 cups naturally sweetened organic pear juice
¾ cup organic cane sugar
Juice of ½ a lemon, strained
Zest of ½ a lemon
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
Dash of ground ginger
1/8 cup quick-cooking tapioca

Instructions:

1. Reconstitute the dried dates in a large saucepan by simmering them with the pear juice over medium-high heat until they have broken-down into the juice (add 1 cup of pear juice at a time, waiting until almost all of the liquid is gone before adding the next cup, stirring occasionally). This takes about ½ an hour.
2.  Add the sugar and simmer the dates until the sugar granules dissolve, stirring so it doesn’t stick to the pan.
3. Add the strained lemon juice and the lemon zest to the dates.
4.  Add the cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.
5.  Turn the dates down to low and add the tapioca, stirring it into the mixture. Let the tapioca soak for 5-15 minutes while the temperature is turned down, stirring occasionally, until it “blooms.”
6. Bring the dates to a full boil on medium-high heat while stirring constantly (you may need to add a little more water to get it to a boil so the tapioca can dissolve).
7. Remove the dates from the heat, and let them sit for about 10 minutes.
8. Pour the thickened date mixture into a food processor. Purée it until it’s smooth and creamy.
9. Store the Date Spread in Ball jars in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Toasted Coconut

Ingredients:

1 cup sweetened coconut flakes

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Spread coconut on a tinfoil-lined baking pan.
3. Bake it for 5-10 minutes or until its golden brown.
4. Stir it occasionally so it doesn’t burn.

Quick Fix: Buy pre-toasted coconut flakes.