For a quick, no fuss one bowl muffin mix, try these Gluten Free Among Friends Cinnamon Banana Muffins. They are whole grain and contain no gums or fillers, which makes eating them that much more enjoyable!
Well, the muffin monster has been after me again to bake some muffins. I overheard Emry yesterday asking Ben in an obviously irritated tone of voice, “Why mom not make us muffins anymore?!”
Well, geez, let’s see here. Maybe because in the past month we’ve had a family vacation to Maui, had my family come and visit for a week, Ben flew to the mainland for a week (which always makes things a bit more stressful), had Ben’s parents come and visit for a week, went on a girls’ trip to Kauai for a few days, and are currently prepping our home for another set of visitors (our besties!!!) over Thanksgiving break.
Hmmm…yeah, let me squeeze in a few batches of muffins with all that free time I’ve got just floating around.
Which, by the way, can I jump up onto my little soapbox for a minute here??? I sure hope you said yes because I am most certainly going to pretend that you did.
Let me preface with the fact that I think all women are amazing and we have a variety of admirable and unique qualities in all of us. I don’t believe that any one woman is inherently better than the other, and I truly believe that we are all trying the best we can in our homes, communities, and work environments.
That being said, can we all stop judging one another???! Let’s embrace the goodness in each and every one of us instead of assuming that those around us are not living up to par.
I ran across a comment online the other day that accused stay at home mothers of being “lazy a$@ women” and they should all find jobs and go to work. Initially I was highly offended (I’m keeping my choice of vocabulary words appropriate…Grrr!) and would have liked nothing better than for this person to follow me around for just one day.
Oh, if only I could!
I would drag them out of bed at 6:00 am to join me on my 6 mile run (at a 7:30 minute/mile pace nonetheless), have them make breakfast, clean the kitchen, get my kids ready for school, run Braelyn to school, head to work out group, do grocery shopping, pay bills, do my laundry, watch Emry all day, make lunch, clean the kitchen again, pick Braelyn up from school, drive Emry to gymnastics, take Braelyn to dance, help my children with homework, make dinner, clean the kitchen AGAIN, read to my children, get my kids showered and ready for bed, find a little time to blog, finish any other odds and ends projects around the house, and then maybe…just maybe…be in bed by 11:00 at night.
But I guess all of those tasks aren’t really considered “work” since I’m not being paid for my services. Correct???
Okay, so as you can tell, I was a little unnerved by this ignorant comment.
But then my anger turned to sadness. I was sad that this person probably did not experience having a mother that had time for them, either by choice or by necessity. And consequently this person views motherhood as worthless. So very sad.
So here’s the thing; we are all worth more than you can ever imagine. Every minute we spend loving others is worth more than any monetary amount. The more we love, the richer we are. So let’s all work towards becoming millionaires because the world would be a much happier place with many more smiles to go around.
And to start off in the act of mending this relationship between working and non working women/mothers, I’m offering a peace treaty in the form of a simple and easy recipe for my hard working, career driven women friends out there. I know you may not have quite the same time opportunities that I do to bake completely from scratch. But, just because you don’t have the time doesn’t mean you don’t deserve the goodness.
These are for you: one bowl, whole grain, from a mix Gluten Free Among Friends Cinnamon Banana Muffins. Even the name proves that we can all get along.
I ran across this muffin mix on sale while I was at Target a few weeks ago. It’s from the brand Among Friends where they create a variety of gluten free baking mixes. They are dedicated to fresh and simple ingredients without loads of fillers and gums. I was really impressed when I glanced at the ingredient list and found it to be very straight forward and minimal.
The specific baking mix I purchased was a gluten free cinnamon muffin mix that just required eggs, buttermilk, and melted butter. Sounds easy, right??? And I’m sure it tastes just great as a basic muffin. But, we all know I don’t do basic.
I had a bunch of ripened bananas laying around, so I figured I could jazz these muffins up with some extra flavor. And in addition to adding bananas to the mix, I found it completely necessary to dump a crunchy, sugary cinnamon streusel on top. It was good idea if I may say so myself.
The muffins baked up nicely with a moist, slightly spongey texture with just the right amount of sweetness. The cinnamon and vanilla really came through and complimented the subtle banana flavor. My girls and Ben thought they were just perfect.
I can’t vouch for how the muffins taste straight from the mix, but it seemed like quality ingredients. I didn’t taste any weird flavors from the flours or any type of grittiness. I basically followed the instructions on the package except for adding a bit more salt (I tend to think people never add enough salt in their baked goods), reducing the amount of buttermilk and eggs to compensate for the extra liquid from the bananas, and topping the muffins with streusel.
Even though the streusel is delicious, it is completely optional. In fact, I used a recipe for another topping on the back of the muffin mix for a few of the muffins. It was sooooo easy and tasted almost as good as the streusel. All you do is dip the tops your warm muffins if melted butter and then immediately dip them into a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. Since I used cane sugar, it created a nice sugary crust on top with a little extra butter flavor to the muffins. Yum!
If I’m being completely honest, I still prefer making my muffins completely from scratch for optimal texture and quality, but hot diggity dang…if I were in a time crunch, I would make these over and over again. They come in a close second. And I thank the lovely ladies that founded this company (as well as owners of other gluten free flour companies out there) for making life just a little bit easier and a tad more convenient for those of us who need it.
I can’t tell you how grateful I was for pre-made gluten free flours and mixes when I first started out baking gluten free. Without those blends, I would have never found the patience to create mixes of my own.
So just like these muffins, let’s live “among friends” and be kind to our neighbors. Let’s help instead of hate, reach out instead of ridicule, and accept instead of accuse. We’re all just doing the best we can in life.
What gluten free flour brands do you prefer?
- For the muffins:
- 3 ripened mashed bananas
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup (optional)
- 1 package Among Friends Francie’s Make It Your Own Cinnamon Sugar Muffin Mix
- For the topping:
- 3 tablespoons cold butter
- ⅓ cup gluten free flour (I used Bob's Red Mill 1:1 baking mix)*
- dash of salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ cup packed brown sugar
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffins tins with paper liners. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, mash bananas until smooth and soupy. Whisk in two eggs and buttermilk. Add salt, vanilla, maple syrup, and Among Friends muffin mix. Whisk until smooth. Add melted butter and whisk until incorporated. Let mix sit while making streusel.
- To make streusel, sift together flour, salt, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Cut in butter until coarse, crumbly pea sized pieces form.
- Fill muffin tins ⅔ way full and top with about 1 heaping tablespoon of streusel. Very gently pat streusel down so that it sticks to the batter while baking. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-22 minutes or until tops of muffins spring back at touch of a finger and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
- Carefully remove from muffin tins and cool on cooling rack for 10 mins. Store leftover in an airtight container at room temp for up to 3 days, in fridge for up to 1 week, or in freezer for up to 3 months.
You are the best. Definitely a hard working mom that’s healthy and loves her family.
Aw thanks! Ditto to you. You seem like you love your kiddos and are always happy to take on the responsibilities of motherhood. Props to you!