Blueberry Muffins!

I've made this recipe from the book Wheat Belly by Dr. Davis a couple of times and I really do like it as is, but this time around I wanted to see what would happen if I substituted 1/2 the almond meal with Chickpea flour also known as Besan Flour.

Dr. Davis says Garbanzo Bean Flour is a "safe" flour to use but it barely made his list.  I discovered a Chickpea flour made from the Chana Dal bean.  This bean is suppose to be far better then the garbanzo bean ( GI index and Carb content ) so I decided to use it instead of the garbanzo bean flour.  Now... if you look into it, it can really make your head spin because they are both a form of chickpea, but Chana Dal seems to be the way to go!

So I've decided to play around with my new Chickpea flour ( aka: Besan, Gram ).  It will be more cost effective then using all almond flour.  

The Original Recipe for Banana Blueberry Muffins

Makes 10-12 muffins

2 cups ground almond meal  ( I used 1 cup almond meal & 1 cup chickpea flour )

1/4 cup ground flaxseeds

Sweetener equivalent to 3/4 cup sucrose  ( I use Truvia )

1 teaspoon baking powder

Dash of fine sea salt

1 ripe banana

2 large eggs

1/2 cup sour cream OR coconut milk  ( I used coconut milk from a carton )

1/4 cup walnut oil, coconut oil, or extra-light olive oil

1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease muffin tin with oil.

Combine the almond meal, ground flaxseeds, sweetener, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and mix with a spoon.

In another bowl, mash the banana until smooth.  Stir in eggs, sour cream or coconut milk, and oil.  Add the banana mixture to the almond meal mixture and mix thoroughly.  Fold in the blueberries.

Spoon batter into the muffin cups filling them halfway.  Bake until toothpick inserted comes out dry.  About 45 mins.  Cool in the pans for 10-15 minutes then transfer to cooling racks.

Below is the muffin I just made with 1/2 Almond Meal and 1/2 Chickpea Flour.  I kept all the other ingredients the same and did not change a thing.

Muffin made from original recipe above (photo taken a couple months ago)

In sum, I felt that the new Almond/Besan flour version may have been a little on the dry side compared to the memory of the one I made a few months ago.  Although I only felt like that with the muffins that had fewer berries in them.  They did however pass the "Hubby Test" and he gave me a thumbs up.  I will be making these muffins again in the future weather it be the original or modified version.  Who knows, I just might make them both and then taste test them in comparison.  I realize now that I should have done that in the first place!

Next time:  Chickpea Pancakes!!!!