Mash Muffins aka Puffins

I know you are going to ask what the heck? Puffin? Isn't that a penguin? Well yes, it is a specie of penguin but no I am not cooking it! What this is, is the result of an experiment gone awry yet still coming out surprisingly good and tasty, at least that's what Mesha told me. So boo hoo for you Meesh if you lied, but I doubt that since she would not have eaten as much as she did. :)

By the way, I really need to keep these experiments to the weekend and save myself the 'overly inflated light bill' I suspect JPS won't hesitate to put on me come the end of the month, even though 3.5 weeks out of the month I barely boiled water let alone cook. But I'll wait and see.

Now where was I... ah yes the experiment. I have been craving bananas, which never happens, and wanted to make muffins, putting my own spin on it of course. Whether or not its healthier (because of the fat content) is debatable, but just in case, I did do two versions of it. So I took a basic banana flaxseed recipe,which admittedly I did make as instructed - ingredients and all ,before, and made a few substitutions, even adding a few extra ingredients, hence the 'mash'. Admittedly, the 1st try came out a little wetter than expected because I skipped the oats, and my surprise guest sampled it, even going for 2nds, and said it had a pudding like (again confirming the 'mash') texture but was really good. Given the ingredients I wasn't surprised and said why not keep it like that; call it a Puffin! So here is the revised version of it, but note that this is not yet perfected so results may differ and you can make adjustments where you feel  they are needed.


Ingredients:

1/4 cup flaxseed meal
1/4 cup oatmeal flour (regular oats pulsed in a food processor)
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 medium bananas, mashed
1/4 cup honey (I used a little less since the banans were sweet)
1 large egg
1/4 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp olive oil (coconut oil is a good sub here)
1/4 cup sweet potato, baked and mashed
1/4 cup shredded gala apple (optional)


Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease a muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray or use muffin liners
2. Combine flax, oatmeal, salt and baking soda in a bowl and set aside.
3. Using a hand mixer, mix bananas and honey together until thoroughly combined
4. Add egg, vanilla and oil, potato and apple and mix for 30 seconds
5. Incorporate flax/flour mixture just until combined.
6. Scoop into muffin tins and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into muffin comes out clean or dry.

Mash Muffin Mixture

Version 2:
Take out the apple and oatmeal mixture and replace the oil with unsweetened apple sauce. Increase the potato to 1/2 cup and ensure that it is very dry. If it is too wet, the mixture will be wet.

Banana-Apple Flax Puffins!

I hope you enjoy this one! I sure as heck did!