Any time you stuff a something into another thing, you’re going to have a pretty good time. This has been proven time, and time, and time again. Also, Puppy Surprise. It’s a weird thing we, the American people, have with things inside of things making both A and B things better as a C thing. It’s like we cannot get enough of everything ever all at once. Case in point? The Turducken. USA! USA! USA!

Patriotism aside/NEVER PUT PATRIOTISM ASIDE, this recipe just makes me super happy. It’s an absolute game-changer with the game being you-having-more-friends. I’ve made it once before but that banana bread wasn’t vegan and honestly, this one is just all around better. Finesse. We can call it finesse. (I mostly just know how to use knives better now.) Some people think vegan baked goods are dry or crumbly or sorta yuck but that’s what makes baking in an apple so successful – it keeps the banana bread extra moist and the boost of baked apple flavor doesn’t hurt either. All around goodness.

Big tip I’m just learning about now that will probably rock your life as hard as it rocked mine: I’ve been making flax “eggs” wrong this whole time. I know! It’s fucking ridiculous! One day you’re living your life thinking everything’s coming up Molly and WHAM you’re sideswiped by a big slap of reality. Thank you Bonzai Aphrodite (that’s a thing I say out loud all the time, sure) for bringing this to my attention. Apparently, if you refrigerate the flax/water mixture for about 15 minutes, it makes for an exponentially better binder. We’ll just refer to it as the Lisa Frank (Egg-less) Binder. Nice.

BANANA BREAD STUFFED BAKED APPLES

Makes 8 game-changers

ingredients:

8 apples (Braeburn apples work really well. Granny Smiths do not.)

1¾ cups spelt flour

¼ cup almond flour/meal

3 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon of salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) of vegan butter

12 packets of Truvia

1 tablespoon maple syrup

2 tablespoons of ground flax seed + 6 tablespoons of water (see below for tips on making your egg-less binder way better)

4 very ripe bananas, mashed

2 tablespoons almond milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons Splenda brown sugar blend

some people are calling it dynamite…

Prepare those apples! I used a melon baller because duh I own a melon baller. You can also use a knife. Or your special stabbin’ spoon. Either cut out or melon baller out (technical terms) the stem area. From there, carefully scoop out the insides of your apple. Keep no less than a 1/2″ inch thick wall inside your apple. Also, don’t break through the bottom. I’ve been trying for literally ones of minutes to think of a clearer way to scoop out the apples. I cannot. Godspeed.

Combine your dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Set aside. Whisk together your water and ground flax. Refrigerate it for at least 15 minutes. It should thicken and get stickier.

Cream your buttery sticks and Truvia with an electric mixer or your own brute strength. Add in the maple syrup. Mix. Add in that mindblowing new flaxseed/water mixture. Mix mix mix. Add in the mashed bananas and almond milk. Mix! Mix in the vanilla. Add the cinnamon and give your batter another go round in the mixer. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture at a low speed on your mixer. Try not to overbeat it. (There are so , so many jokes here.)

Fill your apple with around 70g of your mixture – for me that filled about 2/3 of an apple. Sprinkle 1/4 of a teaspoon of Splenda brown sugar blend on top of the batter in the filled apples. Sprinkle a little cinnamon on top of that.

Find a baking dish with corners and significant depth (cake pan, roasting dish, loaf pan, other things) and line it with some tin foil or parchment paper. You’re going to want to bake the apples no more than 4 at a time because you’re going to want to place an apple in each corner and I refuse to believe you have a octagonal baking pan.

Bake for 35 minutes or so. Let them cool a bit before diving it. Also, you probably want to cut them in half and eat a half because you’re a lady/will probably end up eating all the damn banana bread stuffed baked apples because daaaaaamn.

They’d also be good on top of vanilla ice cream. But so would my shoe.

NUTRITION (this one’s a doozy): 346 calories . 44g carbs . 15g fat . 6g protein . 8g fiber . 22g sugar

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