Sugar. Sugar! SUGAAAAR!

After being a slacker for a few weeks, I’m happy to report that I spent New Year’s Day scouring the web for new recipes to try so I get my ass back on track. I spent most of the holiday season studying, chasing my goal of 500 miles for the year (which I fell short of but that’s okay) and holiday shopping/prepping. I had very little time or desire to grocery shop and meal prep. I barely wanted to do my workouts but thankfully I stuck with those.

Sugar and I have been BFF’s for a very long time and our relationship is very toxic. I have no control when it comes to sugar. It’s my crutch when I’m feeling stressed and anxious and I was feeling both during the holidays. I also love baking and it doesn’t feel like the holidays to me without it, so I created the perfect storm for myself over the past few weeks.

Thankfully I didn’t gain any weight during this downward slide, but I did become highly dependent on sugar again and that’s no good.

I have been wanting to get my hands on a copy of the 21 Day Sugar Detox book but I haven’t ordered it yet (don’t ask why because I don’t have a good answer to that) but I started searching for recipes that are compatible with it and that’s a start.

With my list of ingredients in hand, I braved the grocery store right before a snow storm was arriving. I had to get what I needed to begin the process of meal planning, prepping and detoxing myself of sugar! I figured if I steered clear of the milk, bread and egg aisles, I would okay. What is it about snow storms that make people want to make French toast, anyway?!

The first recipe I decided to try was for Paleo Banana French Toast muffins that I found on What I Gather. Now I know there are different stances when it comes to paleo on the topic of muffins, cookies, cakes and pancakes. Many die-hard fans of this lifestyle feel that our ancestors did not eat these items so we shouldn’t create paleo forms of them, while others feel that it is okay to do so using paleo approved items. Since I don’t follow a paleo lifestyle (I just like some of the principles of it) I didn’t think twice about making these.

Paleo Banana French Toast Muffins
Recipe from whatigather.com
Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups almond flour

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

 2 ripe bananas

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp ghee, softened (I used coconut oil which the original recipe said was okay in a pinch)

3 eggs (For an egg-free version add an extra banana and 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce)

For the drizzle topping

1 tbsp ghee, melted (I used coconut oil again)

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a large bowl, add almond flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix well and set aside. In a separate bowl, mash the bananas. Add vanilla, softened ghee and eggs into bowl with bananas. Whisk until large clumps disappear and mixture is mostly smooth. Pour wet ingredients into bowl with dry ingredients and mix well. Line a muffin tin with liners. I also spray the liners just for a little extra insurance that the muffins won’t stick. (You can also use a silicone baking pan and then you can skip the liners and spray). Pour about 1/4 cup of the batter into each tin until they are all evenly filled. Each tin should be about 3/4 full.

For the topping, mix melted butter, vanilla and cinnamon in a small bowl. Using a spoon, drizzle about a teaspoon of the topping onto each muffin.

Pop the muffins into the oven for 20-25 minutes (until a toothpick entered into center of the muffin comes out clean).

These muffins are not sweet, but they satisfied my craving for something “naughty”. They were really yummy with a little pure maple syrup drizzled over them and I’m sure they would be amazing with some almond butter on top too.

They are not something that I would eat on a daily basis because I view these as a “treat” and they are a less evil option for me while I retrain my brain and break the sugar addiction that I relapsed into these past few weeks.

Do you follow a paleo lifestyle? If so, what is your view on “paleo approved” muffins, cakes and pancakes?