Muffins you can celebrate!

Last week we had our first big snow of the winter...This was the view from my backyard:

And, no, I do not live where there is a lot of water...I live in West Texas, and am fortunate enough at the moment to have a man-made lake (or, rather, pond) in the back of my apartment complex. The geese like it, though, and come in flocks every winter.


With the thought of cold winter weather on my mind, I decided to share today two recipes that I've really liked so far: warm muffins! And you can feel good about these recipes, because one has almond flour, which is just ground almonds, and the other uses quinoa flour, which is a unique grain with protein intrinsically in it.

Banana Quinoa Muffins
This recipe comes straight from the back of the box of quinoa that I bought, except that I substituted agave nectar in place of honey in the original recipe.

1/2 c. quinoa flour (process the quinoa flakes in a blender)
1/2 c. quinoa flakes
2 T. agave nectar
2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
2 very ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix flour and flakes with dry ingredients. In separate bowl, mix together bananas, eggs, and agave. Add to dry ingredients. Pour into greased muffin tins; fill 1/2 full with batter. Bake 20-25minutes. Makes 7 muffins.

Cranberry Muffins
These muffins were from this recipe at Elana's Pantry for basic Almond Flour muffins, then added the cranberries because my sister had been asking for cranberry muffins.We both agree the cranberries may be our favorite part!

2 c. (226g) almond flour
4 lg. eggs
2 T. (45g) agave nectar
1/2 t. baking soda
1 t. apple cider vinegar
1/2 c. fresh or frozen cranberries

In medium bowl, combine almond flour and baking soda. In large bowl combine eggs, agave, and vinegar. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients; mix until combined. Gently fold in cranberries. Scoop about 1/4c. of batter into greased muffin tins or paper muffin cups. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, until slightly browned around the edges. Cool in pans for 30 minutes. Makes 8 muffins.