TasteTake my word on this and bake these cookies as soon as you can. You won’t believe that these are egg free and gluten free cookies also made with whole grain flours. It tasted just like the usual chocolate chip cookies, crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle. Since I couldn’t find fine grind whole cornmeal, I had to powder and sieve the medium grind cornmeal a couple of times before using. Even then it was little gritty. Otherwise there were no issues at all with this recipe. I’m definitely making this again and again at least with the regular fine grind cornmeal available in the supermarket.

My Notes1 Be sure to check that all the ingredients you are using is gluten free if you are baking these for gluten allergic people.

2 The original recipe uses regular cornmeal and white rice flour. I have used whole cornmeal and brown rice flour to incorporate whole grains.

3 The ratio of EnerG and water given in the pack is 1 and 1/2 teaspoons and 2 tablespoons of water. The EnerG egg replacer powder I’m having is almost a year old. So I wasn’t sure if it was good enough, so I increased it to 2 teaspoons and 3 tablespoons of water and this did not affect the cookies. In fact the cookies came out very good, the shape, texture and taste was awesome.

Procedure1 Preheat the oven to 400F for 15 minutes. Line the muffin tin with paper liners or grease the tin.

2 In a medium size bowl combine together the milk, butter and buttermilk.

3 In another large bowl sift together the flour, salt and baking powder.

4 Add the sugar, chocolate chips and nuts to the flour mixture and stir well.

5 Slowly stir in the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, but do not overdo it.

6 Fold in the mashed bananas.

7 Fill each muffin cup with 3 tablespoons of batter.

8 Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean.

My Notes1 The bananas I used were extremely ripe, so I simply mashed it with a fork. If the bananas are not that ripe you could cut into pieces add few drops of water/milk and blend it in a blender/food processor.

2 The original recipe used chocolate chunks. Since I did not have it I went with semisweet chocolate chips. If you have chocolate chunks, chop 5 ounces of semi sweet chocolate into large chunks and use it instead of the chips.

3 The sweetness was perfect for us. Not very sweet like the ones you get in stores. If you have a very sweet tooth you would have to increase the quantity of sugar or chocolate chips.

4 You could substitute vegetable/canola oil instead of butter to make it healthier. I have tried it in couple of other recipes and it works. Since I wanted to finish the butter in the refrigerator I did not do this substitution.

5 You could also substitute whole wheat flour for the all purpose flour. I didn’t do it this time because the brand of wheat flour I’m using right now is not good in banana muffins. A couple of days ago I tried a banana muffin recipe with whole wheat flour and did not like the taste. I liked it when I made something similar a year ago, but that was a different brand of wheat flour, so I went with all purpose flour itself.

Step-by-Step Procedure Check here for the procedure.

Procedure 1 Preheat oven to 350F/ and line a muffin tin with paper liners.

2 Melt the butter and chocolate chips together. I did this in the microwave oven, first for 15 seconds, stirred it once and heated it again for 20 seconds. Microwave oven times may differ so use caution while melting the mixture.

3 Remove from heat and let it cool for sometime.

4 In another bowl, stir together the pureed prune, vanilla, purple puree, sugar and 1 tablespoon water.

5 Combine this purple mixture with the melted and cooled chocolate mixture.

6 In another mixing bowl, stir together the dry ingredients and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda. Add this to the chocolate mixture and blend thoroughly.

7 Scoop out the dough and fill it in the muffin cups almost to the top. (I used an ice cream scoop, which measures 3 tablespoons)

8 Bake 23 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Mine was done exactly at 23 minutes, but anyway I baked it for another 1 minute, just to be sure.

9 Cool the cupcakes on a wire rack before frosting. Frosting is optional, you may simply dust it with some powdered sugar or leave it plain.

My Notes 1 For the prune puree I used Beech Nut brand, baby food. It’s a small 2.5oz jar of pureed prunes. It measures exactly 1/4 cup. Alternatively you may buy prunes, soak them in hot water and grind them into a smooth paste and measure 1/4 cup of the paste. We were not able to taste the prunes in the cupcakes.

2 I strongly recommend eating these cupcakes the day after baking. It is unbelievably good the next day. When I tasted on the same day the taste was definitely good, but since I had used the Earth Balance blend, that flavor was definitely dominating. Actually we (couple of testers) did not taste the blueberries or spinach. I was so sure that it was the Earth Balance because I had a similar experience with the Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. But we were in for a big surprise the next day because the cupcakes tasted very normal, like any other regular cupcake.

3 Also when tasted on the day of baking, we were able to tell that it was made of whole wheat flour, but not on the second day. The only thing which was different is the texture. I guess that’s because of the blueberries. I did grind it smooth, but I guess I should have processed it for some more time in the food processor.

4 My son ate half a cupcake on the first day. But when offered another piece after sometime he told me that he didn’t like it. I iced the cupcakes the following day, while he was in school. They were ready when he came back and he had totally forgotten that it was the same cupcakes which I had offered him yesterday. He was clearly attracted by the icing and the sprinkles and he ate 1 cupcake without complaining. To my surprise he liked it the next day and also the day after. I also tested it with another kid who is 5 and also a picky eater. He usually doesn’t eat anything including junk food like cupcakes and cookies. To his mother’s surprise he also ate it. So I guess this cupcake recipe is definitely a keeper.

5 Alternatively this batter can also be baked in mini-bundt pans and vola you have your baked donuts. For donuts, bake 12 to 14 minutes until the tops spring back when pressed lightly. Loosed the edges with a knife and turn the donuts out over a plate. I have not tried this.

6 These cupcakes are vegan if you leave out the icing.