How Low Can You Go?

Since my last post, I must confess I have spent much time wandering around the kitchen, scheming, with just one thought in my head. What else can I make low fat?

 Today I meandered in and glanced at the counter. There, in all of its glory, was a bunch of overly ripe bananas. By jing!

 Banana bread, in this house, lasts about five minutes. Alright, alright. Four minutes. Once that bad boy is cool enough to not burn the top three layers of skin from the inside of your mouth, it's fair game. My kids alone could eat an entire loaf. I suppose I should consider that a compliment... though I don't feel that warm and fuzzy feeling when I have dreams of banana bread for breakfast the next day, only to realize it is long gone.

But back to the kitchen counter and the overly ripe bananas.

How can I protect my latest recipe challenge from being inhaled by the residents of my abode? How can I keep them around long enough to examine the texture, moistness, taste? MUFFINS. Leave some out, freeze some. By jing times two!

I feverishly set to work, mumbling under my breath the ingenious substitutions I would cleverly use, all the while absolutely certain I had no idea what I was doing or whether it would even remotely resemble anything banana or muffin-like. (What? Did y'all think I just strutted into the kitchen, threw things together and instantly created a masterpiece? HA.)

These little muffins are sweet... and I mean that in the "dear little puffs of banana-ness" way... not the "my teeth hurt, use less sugar" way. I used half Stevia, half sugar. If you are not on the Stevia boat, feel free to use your own substitute or just use all sugar.

 Well, I'm off. I think I may have managed to hide one of the non-frozen muffins well enough to actually be able to sit down with a cup of tea and enjoy it. One can only hope!

Low Fat Gluten Free Banana Muffins

2 cups Pamela’s flour (if you use another gf flour mix, add another Tbsp of baking powder and a 1/4 tsp baking soda)
1 Tbsp baking powder
2 cups mashed banana
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup Stevia
4 egg whites, slightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup unsweetened applesauce 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 18 muffin cups with non-stick spray.

Combine flour and baking powder in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Mix together banana, sugar, Stevia, whites, vanilla and applesauce in a small bowl. Add to dry ingredients. 

Fill cups 2/3 full. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Pocket O' Chocklet!

Since my last post here, I have made up my mind to add one more condition to my recipes.... low fat. Seemed like an easy thing, just cut fat here and substitute there! Ha. Silly, silly me.

Because some of the gluten free ingredients used in cooking and especially baking are... finicky... gritty... stubborn... (you get the point)... that extra fat really is needed to moisten cake and give great texture to cookies.

I must admit, there have been some dismal failures in my new endeavor.

First up was a gluten free, peanut free brownie made with pureed pumpkin... which turned out tasting like a block of pumpkin with a little chocolate in it... the texture was horrible.

Next up... peach crisp. How can you mess up a low fat peach crisp, you ask? The answer would be... use Stevia instead of sugar. Wow. The crumble topping stayed dry and grainy, despite the fact that there was a little butter in it. And the aftertaste! I physically shuddered. Literally.

So... now we are up to my last attempt, courtesy of Pinterest (with a couple of Katie Tweaks). A low fat chocolate muffin using ground oats instead of flour, egg whites instead of whole eggs, lite sour cream instead of butter, applesauce instead of oil, and half sugar, half Stevia. (Lesson learned. Stevia and sugar want to share the spotlight.)

The results? A lovely little muffin that takes away the chocolate craving... and is truly low fat, gluten free and peanut free!

It is because of this little morsel that I shall continue my quest to create low fat yummies for you, dear readers! All is NOT in vain! We gluten free-ers CAN have yummy, low fat desserts! Can I get a "HOLLA!"??

I know, I know. Way too much enthusiasm for one little muffin. Gotcha.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins


1 3/4 cup gluten free oats (I use Bob's Red Mill)
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup Stevia (or other sugar substitute, like Splenda granular)
1/2 sugar
3 egg whites
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup light sour cream
1 cup hot water
1/2 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 muffin cups with cupcake liners or spray muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.

In a food processor, pulse oats until they are ground. Add the rest of the dry ingredients (except for chocolate chips) and pulse to combine. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk egg whites until foamy. Add the remaining wet ingredients and whisk to combine. Add the dry ingredients from the food processor and stir with a wooden spoon until well incorporated.

Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Using half the chocolate chips, evenly sprinkle a few in each cup. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, leaving the oven on. Sprinkle the remaining chips evenly over each muffin. Bake for another 5-7 minutes to finish baking.

Remove from oven, let cook for 3 minutes, then removed muffins to a cooling rack to finish cooling. (Leaving muffins and cupcakes in pans too long steams the bottoms and makes sogginess!)

Makes 18-24 muffins, depending on how high you fill them.