Sprouted Spelt Banana Walnut Muffins #BreadBakers

Made with one of the ancient grains, these sprouted spelt banana walnut muffins have a wonderful nutty flavor and a mellow sweetness from the banana and brown sugar. 

Hard to believe but my fellow Bread Bakers and I have been baking together once a month for more than 10 years! We’ve lost some members and gained others over the years but I love their enthusiasm each December when I ask for hosts and themes for the new year. 

To take the pressure off, I usually volunteer for January and so it is this year as well. I chose ancient grains as our main ingredient because we hadn’t used them as a group since January 2016. Seemed about time to revisit that theme! 

Sprouted Spelt Banana Muffins - Small Batch

This recipe makes six normal sized muffins but it is easily doubled if you need a full batch of 12. Right at the end, I decided to fold in some chopped walnuts so I was going to make those optional but they were such a good addition that I changed the name of my muffins!

Ingredients

1 cup or 120g sprouted spelt flour

1/3 cup, packed, or 66g brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup or 60ml milk

1/4 cup or 60ml canola or other light oil, plus extra for the pan

1 very overripe banana (mine weighed 92g without peel)

1 large egg

1/4 cup or 28g chopped walnut halves, plus six more to top, if desired.

Method

Preheat the oven to 400°F or 200°C. Prepare your six-cup muffin pan by brushing it will a little canola oil. 

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

In another bowl, add the banana, milk, oil and egg. Mash the banana with a fork. Then use the fork to mix the four together thoroughly. 

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredient bowl. Fold until well combined. 

Add the chopped walnuts and fold again until combined.

Spoon the batter equally into the 6 muffin cups. Top each with a single walnut half, if using. Set a timer for five minutes and leave the muffin pan to rest on the counter. 

Bake for 5 minutes in your preheated oven then decrease the oven temperature to 350°F or 180°C WITHOUT opening the oven door, and bake for 15-18 minutes more until domed and set. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean or with just a couple crumbs attached.

Let cool for a few minutes then remove to the wire rack to cool completely. 

Enjoy!

It’s the second Tuesday of the month so that means it’s Bread Baker time. As I mentioned above, this month I’m hosting and I’ve chosen ancient grains as our theme. Check out the breads with ancient grains my fellow bloggers are sharing below.

• Bajri Tilachi Bhakri from Sneha's Recipe
• Banana Millet Bread from The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Banana Oat Pancakes from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Khapli Wheat Roti from Cook with Renu
• Milled Ancient Multigrain Bread from A Messy Kitchen
• Peanut Butter Ancient Grain Corn Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Spelt and Poppyseed Sourdough Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Spelt Coconut Sourdough Bread from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Sprouted Spelt Banana Walnut Muffins from Food Lust People Love

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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Olive Cream Cheese Stuffed Celery

This olive cream cheese stuffed celery is a throwback recipe from the Sixties but it’s still just as deliciously tasty today. Savory, creamy AND crunchy. Mix, fill and munch! 

Not too long back, a friend of mine celebrated her 60th birthday by throwing a Sixties theme party. Guests were asked to contribute a dish from that decade and come dressed in Sixties attire. 

The fun food included salmon mousse made in a fish mold, deviled eggs, several Jello desserts, a spiky cheeseball shaped like a hedgehog, a multi-layered savory sandwich “cake” and pistachio marshmallow fluff, just to name a few. 

It was a super fun party and a delight to see what everyone brought and wore. At first I thought I didn’t have anything to wear that was Sixties worthy but then I remembered, I own a caftan! We need to bring those back. It is the most comfortable outfit ever for a party.

Olive Cream Cheese Stuffed Celery

This recipe makes a bunch of filling! My pictures show just half of the stuffed celery I made. Feel free to halve the quantities if you don’t need that many. I used the already cut celery stalks one can buy in a bag. 

Ingredients

2 lbs or 900g celery stalks, washed and cut into 3 sections each

2 packages (8 oz or 225g each) cream cheese, at room temperature

¾ cup, chopped, or 120g pimento-stuffed green olives

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

A few generous grinds of black pepper

Method

Thoroughly dry each piece of celery with paper towels. 

Mix the  chopped olives and garlic together in a large bowl.

Add in the cream cheese and black pepper in and mix until completely homogenous.

Use a plastic bag with a corner cut off or a piping bag to put a generous amount of cream cheese filling down the center indentation of each celery piece. 

Serve immediately or cover with cling film and refrigerate till ready to serve.

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today my blogger friends and I are sharing nutritious nibbles. Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on a Farm. Check out the links below. 

• Culinary Cam: Adventures in Bliss Balls 
• Sneha's Recipe: Beetroot Tikkis 
• Karen's Kitchen Stories : Fresh Tomato Salsa 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Fruit and Nut Bars 
• Our Good Life : Healthy Pizza Bites 
• Food Lust People Love: Olive Cream Cheese Stuffed Celery 
• Amy's Cooking Adventures: Peanut Butter Energy Balls (No Bake)

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

Pin this olive cream cheese stuffed celery! 

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Roasted Asparagus Soup

Creamy and rich, this roasted asparagus soup is made with potatoes, celery and shallots. It's full of flavor, topped with sour cream and crispy prosciutto. 

I had a completely different plan for this post but when I saw the skinny little asparagus on offer at my local supermarket, I had to pivot. The little guys wouldn’t have made a great baked dish – my original intention - but I did think they would add a lot of flavor to a soup, especially if I roasted them.

And since I was preparing this as part of our New Year’s Eve menu, a dollop of sour cream and some leftover prosciutto from Christmas seemed like a good addition to fancy it up. 

Roasted Asparagus Soup

This recipe is adapted from one on Food52. It makes four servings. If you don't have white pepper, by all means sprinkle in some cayenne or black pepper. The soup won't be as purely green but taste matters more!

Ingredients 

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 lb or 450g green asparagus, trimmed

2-3 pinches flakey sea salt

8 oz or 225g waxy potatoes (like Yukon golds)

1 stalk celery

1 clove garlic

1 small shallot

2 tablespoons butter

4 cups or almost 1 L chicken or vegetable stock

White pepper, to taste

Optional garnishes:

Sour cream

Prosciutto or bacon, fried till crispy with a drizzle of olive oil

Method

Heat the oven to 400°F or 200°F. Drizzle the asparagus with the olive oil, using a basting brush to make sure they are coated all over with the oil. 

Sprinkle with flakey sea salt then roast for 15 minutes. 

While the asparagus are roasting, peel and cut your potatoes in pieces. Mince the garlic and finely chop the celery. Thinly slice the shallot.

When the asparagus are done, leave them to cool a bit, then cut into pieces, setting aside 8 tips to use later for garnish when you serve. 

In a large pot that will hold all of your ingredients, melt the butter and cook the shallots, celery and garlic over a low heat, until soft.

Stir in the potatoes and stock. 

Turn up the heat, bring to a boil, then simmer, uncovered, until the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat and stir in the asparagus.

Process in a blender, in batches, or with a stick blender in the pot until smooth. 

I used a stick blender and noticed that some of the more fibrous bits of asparagus were getting caught on the blades. I decided, in the interest of making this a smooth soup, to strain it. I poured it through a small colander first and then put it through a fine strainer, mashed all of the liquid out and discarded the fibers. If you don’t mind the bits in your soup, you can skip this step. 

Season to taste with the salt and white pepper. 

Garnish each serving with a dollop of sour cream and a few crispy bits of prosciutto or bacon, if desired. Put two crossed asparagus tips on top of each serving.

Enjoy!

Happy New Year and here we go again, starting at A for the 2025 rendition of the Alphabet Challenge! Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the great A recipes in the links below. 

• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Aglio e Olio Pasta
• Sneha’s Recipe: Aloo Phulkopir Dalna 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Apple Latkes 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Apples and Greens with Apple Vinaigrette 
• Blogghetti: Apple Pie Tacos 
• Magical Ingredients : Artichoke Baby Greens Dip 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Avocado, Bean & Mango Salad 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Creamy Parmesan Acini di Pepe with Potatoes 
• A Messy Kitchen: Dianna’s Almond Cake 
• Food Lust People Love: Roasted Asparagus Soup 

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