banana bread

CHUNKY MONKEY BANANA BREAD MUFFINS (GLUTEN-AND-DAIRY-FREE) / April 16, 2020 by Lindsey | Dolly and Oatmeal

comfort in the form of food. i think it’s a place where we’ve collectively found relief in these times (if we’re fortunate enough). the past few weeks i’ve been craving everything from eggs, to meaty pasta dishes, buttered toast, and very specific baked goods. i think the psychological toll of a pandemic has us reaching to foods that soothe us/make us happy. no wonder then, the internet is aflame with homemade sourdough, pasta & carbs aplenty, banana bread, focaccia, etc., etc., etccccc. yes, many have more time on their hands to cook and pick up a new hobby, be that cooking or baking. but many of us, have way less time if there are children running or crawling around the house. i am grateful to be able to spend this time with my family, so many with essential jobs don’t have the opportunity to do that. but i would be remiss if i didn’t mention that i’m exhausted. both frank and i can easily feel overwhelmed at any given moment. despite that, we’re trying to make the most of our days - art projects, little morning walks, lots of music and dancing, and baking - lots of baking!

but let’s talk muffins, because we all deserve one (or 10). i took a bit of liberty with the recipe title. if you’re familiar with the ben & jerry’s ice cream flavor, chunky monkey, then you already know there’s banana and lots of chocolate chunks and walnut pieces. not much has changed here, except that instead of ice cream, it’s chunky monkey in muffin format. which naturally means you can eat one any time of day.

we use a couple brown, spotty bananas - the kind that sit on the counter that no one wants to touch (they should be that ripe). from there we use a few different flours to get a super puffy/fluffy gluten-free muffin with a good texture to boot. i call for 1 cup + of chocolate chunks because you will want and need more to top these muffins. while a couple ingredients are non-negotiable, many of them can be swapped for what you have on-hand - so ask away in the comment section if you don’t have some of the ingredients, and i can do my best to guide you, because you’re going to want to make these asap 😉

all my love and wishes for good health ❤️

chunky monkey banana bread muffins | gluten-and-dairy-free

notes:

while i love the combination of flours here to achieve a really good muffin, some can be substituted if you don’t have them all on-hand. please ask in the comment section and i will do my best to guide you :)

print the recipe

| makes 12 large muffins |

1 cup fine brown rice flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1/4 cup arrowroot flour
1/4 cup oat flour
2/3 cup coconut sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1 cup banana (roughly 2 large bananas), smooshed with a fork
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
2 large pasture raised eggs, at room temp
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate, plus more for topping
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, plus more for topping

method

preheat oven to 350°F, and line a muffin tin with 12 liners.
in a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. in another large bowl, whisk together the smooshed banana, oil, eggs, and vanilla. mix the dry ingredients into the wet a little at a time, until combined. then fold in the chocolate chunks, and walnuts.
evenly divide the batter among the 12 muffin tin liners, and top with extra chocolate and walnuts.
bake in the center of your oven until a cake tester inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes.
let muffins cool for 10 minutes, then carefully transfer the muffins to a cooling rack.
eat warm, or at room temp. muffins will stay good for roughly 3 days on your counter, covered with parchment paper.

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COZY BANANA BREAD GRANOLA / October 2, 2019 by Lindsey | Dolly and Oatmeal

COZY BANANA BREAD GRANOLA | dolly and oatmeal

early fall will forever be granola season in my house, i’m never able to really deep-dive into autumn right away (especially when daytime temps are still pretty warm), and granola is the perfect touch of cozy that shifts everything towards a more snug vibe, plus it’s a cinch to make, and lasts for breakfast and snacks throughout the week! but the kicker here is that the banana and spices give your home the coziest fragrance that immediately puts you in the mood for all things fall.

weekday breakfasts tend to be an eat-and-go situation where frank and i are independently huddled in some corner of the house trying to get food in our mouth while we feed amesy, and in between nursing joey. almost 2 months of juggling 2 children, and we still haven’t really gotten our groove, but having prepared breakfasts are key to starting our day out nourished and feeling our best. i love granola just for this reason: it has the ability to be the cornerstone of wholesome breakfasts and snacks.

this granola is grain free, and made from chopped nuts and seeds. we add a good bit of spice here to help with the banana bread flavor we’re going for. but the glue that holds it all together is my new favorite oil, thrive algae oil! it’s a wonderful oil to cook, bake, and make sauces and dressings with, especially when you don’t want any unwanted added flavor in what you’re cooking or baking. take this granola for example. we really want the banana to shine here, and thanks to this flavorless, odorless oil, it very much does! unlike most other flavorless oils, algae oil is high in the kinds of healthy monounsaturated fats our bodies love, and low in saturated fat. it’s really been a game changer in my kitchen. i also love that it’s widely available and isn’t a niche product. i get it at my local whole foods, but it’s available on amazon, and at grocery stores nationwide.

i hope you all are enjoying the first weeks of fall so far. our mornings in southern california are cool, but the afternoon temps are still in the 80s. but nevertheless, we’re planning on getting out and living up all those fun autumn activities - i’ve been looking into where L:A picks apple and pumpkins (it’s harder to find patches here than i thought), i’m also trying to get ahead of the game when it comes to halloween costumes for both the boys (!!), while also decking out our entrance for all things fall/halloween (amesy, who’s now 3, is alllll about it!).

big cozy hugs! xo

*this post was created in partnership with Thrive Algae Oil. all thoughts and opinions are, as always, my own. thanks for supporting the sponsors that keep dolly and oatmeal going!

cozy banana bread granola | v & gf

feel free to swap out any of the nuts and seeds for what you prefer or have on hand. if you don’t want this to be grain-free, by all means swap out some nuts for rolled oats or even puffed quinoa or rice. this is the kind of recipe that begs for customization.

print the recipe!

| makes roughly 3 cups |

1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup chopped almonds and cashews
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 sunflower seeds
3 tablespoons ground flaxseed
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 ripe banana, peeled
1/4 cup Thrive Algae Oil
2 tablespoons good maple syrup
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

method

preheat oven to 325°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
in a large bowl, mix together the chopped nuts, seeds, spices, and salt. set aside.
add the banana, oil, maple syrup, and vanilla to the container of a food processor fitted with a metal “s” blade. pulse until the mixture is completely smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides, as needed.
pour the banana mixture over the nut and seed mixture. use a rubber spatula to thoroughly stir everything together. turn the granola out into the prepared baking sheet; use a spatula to evenly spread the granola out.
baked for 15 minutes, then add the coconut and toss it together with the granola. bake for another 10-15 minutes, until lightly toasted and fragrant.
let granola cool completely, then store in a lidded container. granola can be stored at room temperature for up to 5 days.

(Baby-Friendly) Pumpkin Spice Banana Bread Pancakes / November 15, 2017 by Lindsey | Dolly and Oatmeal

Pumpkin Spice Banana Bread Pancakes | dolly and oatmeal

it's fall and i think i can finally say we've somewhat settled here in our new LA home. frank and i have increasingly found our groove a bit more, navigating work schedules, the baby's schedule/non-schedule, and trying to take the time for ourselves to just be. i think part of feeling at home, and cozy in your space, is what you surround yourself with. before making the move out here, we lived in a literal shoebox apartment in brooklyn. the living room (if you could even call it that) and kitchen area was narrow and dark, and kind of depressing. i know it's small change compared to a lot of other problems out in the world, but i yearned for more natural light, and real space to dress.

when we moved, one of the first things i said to frank was that i wanted an actual dining space. one that we could gather around as a family, share meals, and memories. we took our old table with us during the move, and intended to use for a much longer time than we did. but our once, too-big-for-our-former-space table was lost in our much larger dining area. not to mention that all of our chars didn't make the move either. and with amesy only growing bigger, and get more messy, i knew we needed something baby-friendly, and practical, so i settled on plastic shell chairs which are light weight and easy to clean. we find ourselves having so many more meals than we did previously, which is such a welcome change.

and now that amesy is eating actual food, we really get to share in a meal together. breakfast is the one meal we all eat around the same time, so when the weekend rolls around we try to make it more of a point to eat together. ames generally eats yogurt with almond butter (his favorite!), and some sliced berries for breakfast. but for his mid-morning snack he usually munches on a couple of these pancakes. i load them up with healthy fats, and protein (and the only sweetener used is the banana), so that way they keep amesy full for hours. i usually make a batch on the weekends and make 2-pancake pouches for amesy's snacks during the week. and bonus! they're totally good for adults too ;)

xo!

*chairs provided by rove concepts

pumpkin spice banana bread pancakes | gluten-free, sugar-free, grain-free

these pancakes are a bit delicate, i would advise to make silver dollar pancakes as opposed to big ones, as they can easily fall apart.

| makes 14 silver dollar pancakes |

1 ripe banana
3 large pasture raised eggs
1/2 cup almond flour
3 tablespoons coconut flour
1/4 cup unsweetened full-fat yogurt (preferably grass-fed), or plant-based yogurt
3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
coconut oil, for cooking

toppings:

yogurt
almond butter
chia seeds
banana slices

method

place all the ingredients, except the coconut oil, into your blender (if you don't have a blender, a food processor will work as well) and lend for 45 seconds - 1 minute, scraping down the sides as needed, until the batter is smooth. let the pancake batter thicken for about 10 minutes.
heat a skillet over medium heat, once the pan is hot, add a knob of coconut oil. spoon about 1 1/2-2 tablespoons worth of batter into the pan (i usually only cook 2 at a time since the pancakes are quite delicate) and cook for about 1-2 minutes on each side. repeat with the remaining batter.
eat right away and top with yogurt, almond butter, chia seeds, and banana slices. or, make 2-pancake packets and store in the refrigerator and/or freezer.