Golden Beet Banana Fig Muffins
Makes approximately 24 medium-sized muffins.
Ingredients:
1¾ cup organic unbleached white flour
1 cup organic oat flour
½ cup organic cane sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder, slightly rounded
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ginger
¼ cup diced organic celery
3 small fresh organic golden beets
½ cup organic sunflower oil
3 teaspoons organic vanilla extract
¼ cup Fig Spread
4 large cage-free organic eggs whites
½ cup vanilla-orange seltzer water
½ cup organic whole milk
1 cup puréed ripe bananas (2 large bananas)
2 cups unsweetened organic dried figs, chopped
Instructions:
1. Prepare the Fig Spread in advance (see below).
2. Prepare the beets in advance: cut off the leaves about 3” from the beets, put the beets in a pot of cool water, bring the water to a boil and cook the beets for about 45 minutes or until they are tender. Make sure to replenish the water as they boil so that the beets are always covered with water. Under cold running water, remove the skin of the beets with a knife, slice the beets, and chop them into 1” chunks. Set the beet chunks aside.
3. Preheat the oven to 350F.
4. Grease muffin pans, making sure to grease the tops of the pans to prevent muffin-tops from sticking.
5. In a large mixing bowl, sift the dry ingredients together: white flour, oat flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.
6. Rinse a stalk of celery, remove the stringy exterior with a knife, cut it in half and dice it. This should be about ½ a cup of celery.
7. Put the beets into a food processor with the celery and purée them with the oil, vanilla extract and Fig Spread until the purée is a smooth creamy consistency. Set aside.
8. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites until they’re frothy.
9. Add the seltzer water to the egg whites and whisk until frothy and bubbly.
10. Add the beet-celery purée (it should be about 1 cup of purée) to the egg white mixture. Whisk until creamy and frothy.
11. Puree the bananas with (the milk or some of the milk?) in the food processor and add to the liquid mixture. Whisk until well blended and frothy.
12. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and slowly add the liquid ingredients, blending slowly. Don’t over stir the batter.
13. Fold the chopped figs gently into the batter.
14. Fill the muffin pan holes ¾ of the way with batter, making sure to evenly distribute the dried figs.
15. Bake for 18-20 minutes (or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean).
16. Partially cool the muffins in the pan and then remove them onto a wire rack to complete cooling.
17. When ready to serve, slice in half and spread a layer of warmed Fig Spread on each half.
Shortcut: use pre-made fig jam instead of Fig Spread.
Fig Spread
Ingredients:
1 bag unsweetened dried organic figs, 10-ounce, quartered
4 cups naturally sweetened organic pear juice
2 cups water
¾ cup organic cane sugar
¼ cup quick-cooking tapioca
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ginger
½ teaspoon organic vanilla extract
Juice of ½ a lemon, strained
Instructions:
1. Reconstitute the quartered dried figs in a large saucepan by simmering them with the pear juice and 1 cup of water over medium heat until they are swollen, mushy and have absorbed most of the juice. This takes about an hour, stirring occasionally.
2. When the figs are mushy, add the sugar and simmer the figs until the sugar granules dissolve, stirring so they don’t stick to the pan.
3. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and the vanilla to the figs.
4. Add the strained lemon juice to the figs.
5. While the figs continue to simmer, soak the instant tapioca separately in 1 cup of water until the tapioca softens and “blooms,” which generally takes about 5-15 minutes. Stir it while it soaks so that the tapioca doesn’t coagulate.
6. Add the tapioca in its water to the figs, and bring the figs to a full boil while stirring constantly (you may need to add a little more water to get it to a boil so the tapioca can dissolve fully).
7. Remove the figs from the heat, and pour the thickened fig mixture into a food processor. Purée it until it’s smooth and creamy.
8. Store the Fig Spread in Ball jars in the refrigerator until ready to use.
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