Banana, Cranberry, Walnut Muffins made with Almond Flour

We went to the Grayland Cranberry Festival (10-11 Oct 2015).  We had been seeing commercials about the cranberry "bogs", you know the ones that two guys stand in the water with cranberries floating around them, so we decided to find out more about cranberries.

We did.  The plants grow in fields of peat with sand (see photo below) and do not grow in water!  Before this trip, I had visions of cranberry plants growing in rice paddy like fields.



Cranberry plants are ground covering evergreens and if sustained correctly can survive for many, many generations.  



There are two ways to harvest cranberries.  Flooding the fields so the cranberries float to the top (wet harvesting, just like in the Ocean Spray commercials) and dry harvesting using the Furford Picker/Pruner.  

Most of the dry harvested cranberries are sold whole at the markets.  The wet harvested cranberries go into the processed cranberry market.






We purchased some dry harvested cranberries to make the Almond Flour muffins.  Hope you enjoy the muffins.  We did.

Banana, Cranberry, Walnut Muffins made with Almond Flour







Make first and cool.  In a 3qt pot, combine

2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberies
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup organic maple sugar from Canada
Bring cranberries to a boil.
Simmer for 7 minutes.  You will hear the berries popping.
I allow it to cool before draining, but your preference. The mixture is good enough to eat as sauce for toast, waffles, or pancakes.

Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Prepare 3, 6 muffin trays with baking cups.

Muffins

1 cup chopped Woodstock Organic Walnuts
3 cups Honeyville Blanched Almond Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 3/4 cups mashed, large ripe bananas (about 3 large bananas; ripeness will determine sweetness of the muffin)
1 1/4 cups well drained cooked cranberries
2 Tablespoons California (or Oregon) Olive Oil
3 extra large eggs, beaten frothy

Combine all dry ingredients and whisk thoroughly.
Combine mashed bananas and cooked cranberries and mix well. Add olive oil.
Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the eggs then the mashed bananas/cranberries/olive oil mixture.
Do not beat. Fold the mixture together so the dry ingredients are wet.
Use a 1/4 measuring cup and pour into the muffin cups.
Place muffin pans in middle rack and bake for 35 minutes. (Test with a toothpick.) Let the muffins rest for 30 minutes before serving.