Belle Trudeau lived in a small town in the north of France with her widower father. She was a simple girl who liked to read and write and dreamed of traveling the world. One day she was walking in the woods near her house when she encountered an angry rabbit.
“Hello,” said the rabbit. “You’re stepping on my clover.”
“Oh, forgive me,” said Belle. “I didn’t realize.”
The rabbit harrumphed and folded his paws across his chest. “You’ll need to do better than apologize.”
Belle flushed and knelt down to the creature. “What can I do, little rabbit?”
“You can follow me.” The rabbit hopped away and Belle scrambled to follow him. Moments later, they emerged onto the grounds of an imposing stone castle. The rabbit darted its eyes left and right and cried out, “Beast, beast! I’ve brought you another!” before scampering away into the forest.
Belle looked around nervously and began to back towards the woods, but it was too late – a large animal was racing towards her from the castle, saliva dripping from its enormous jaws and fangs. She expected to be eaten right away, but Beast merely carried her into an expansive dining hall and plopped her down on a chair at the head of a long table.
“Stay there,” he ordered.
Belle, her curiosity piqued, obeyed. After waiting thirty minutes, she grew bored and began to play with the silver cutlery. Suddenly her fork popped out of her hand and said, “Excuse me, do you mind? I’ve just had my hair done.” Belle gave a little peal of surprise, then began to laugh as she realized that half the furnishings in the castle were enchanted. Surely, if the castle were enchanted, Beast couldn’t mean to eat her.
Moments later, Beast emerged carrying a tray filled with food. He placed a creamy soup in front of Belle, followed by some crusty French bread and a soufflé, and stood back rubbing his paws together eagerly. “This is for you!” he said, his grimace replaced with an expectant smile.
Belle’s face fell. “Oh Beast,” she began. “This is too kind, really…” The Beast’s smile widened. “But, you see, oh how do I put this without hurting your feelings…I’m afraid I can’t eat dairy.”
Beast frowned. “No dairy?” he said, skeptically. “Okay, no problem.” He removed the soup from in front of her. “You can still eat the bread and soufflé.” His smile returned.
“No, I’m afraid not,” mumbled Belle. “Wheat and egg allergies too.”
“WHAT?!!” bellowed the Beast. He knocked the food off the table and onto the floor. Belle began to cry.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” said the Beast, chastened. “Please don’t cry. It’s just that all these stupid talking utensils and clocks can’t eat real food, and I was so bent on trying out my new recipes on a real person.”
Belle nodded eagerly, wiping her tears away. “That’s okay Beast, I understand! I love food too!”
Beast ordered the candlesticks to clean up the floor. “It’s too late to send you home now, so you may as well be our guest for the evening.”
“That would be lovely,” said Belle. Relieved, she went off to her room where a pillowy pile of bedding awaited her. In the morning she awoke, well-rested, and noticed a glass cloche covering what looked like roses on a table near the window. Upon closer inspection, Belle realized the flowers were actually rose-shaped blueberry muffins. She lifted the cloche and was arrested by the sweet aroma of berries and cinnamon.
“It is my life goal to please through food,” said Beast’s note. “Please enjoy these specially crafted muffins.” Belle’s eyes filled again. She bit into a muffin and snuggled up next to the fireplace as the snow came down on the forest outside her window.
- 2 bananas
- ½ cup water chestnut flour
- ½ cup cassava flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 4 tb coconut oil
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ cup - 1 cup fresh blueberries
- 1 tb apple cider vinegar (ACV)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Mash up bananas well and combine with all other ingredients, adding the ACV right at the end. Spoon into lined muffin tin or silicone muffin cups.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Enjoy with tea or coffee and friends of all eating prescriptions.
Hi there,
Is there any way to sub the banana? My daughter has histamine issues and would love to do this recipe!
: )
Sure – the bananas are mostly there to provide sweetness/moistness and help bind, so you could just try increasing the flours and adding some natural sweetener and more fat, or maybe try subbing an apple. You could also add a bit of grassfed gelatin to the flours to bind in place of the bananas. Good luck!
Hi There,
These had a good taste, but mine came out super dry and crunchy, they look nothing like the ones in your photo, which look beautifully moist and cake like. I used liquid coconut oil, should I have used the coconut oil in the jar and melted it, or left it solid and cut it in? My batter was chunky, and it didn’t seem right when I finished it, but I spooned it in the pan and hoped for the best. Sadly it didn’t work out for me. Do you have any suggestions?
Hi Michele – What brands of flours did you use? If the texture was off it’s probably not the oil but the flours (if you used Otto’s it tends to absorb a lot of liquid)…unless your bananas happened to be not very ripe (or very small). You could try again and add some additional water to compensate if your flours seem to be absorbing a lot of liquid.
Thank you, I will try with riper bananas and I did use Ottos, so maybe I’ll add a little water next time to make a more moist batter. Thank you for your help!
Is there another flour that can be subbed in for the water chestnut flour? Possibly almond flour? Thanks!
Yes almond would probably work! (Also tigernut…)
Can I food process the bananas so it’s super liquidy?
Sure, they should be mashed or blended going into the batter, you could food process the recipe up to the blueberries if you like, it shouldn’t make much difference.