Popped Amaranth Muffin Tops

Last year when we were experimenting with gluten free foods for Ben, I bought a can of amaranth to try. It seemed more nutritious than so many of the gluten free flours found in the recipes I had, so I ground some up and used it in his breads. But, the days of gluten free are over for us, so now I'm left with quite a bit of amaranth. And seriously, who's even heard of it, let alone created recipes for it? Yay Google!!! I did some searching and came across this recipe. As is typical for me, I couldn't just leave the recipe alone, so here's my version:

This was supposed to be a cookie recipe, but due to the changes I made, mine came out with more of a sweet bread consistency that reminded me of my favorite part of a muffin. Thus the name.

Popped Amaranth Muffin Tops

1/2 c pure maple syrup
1/4 c softened butter
1 mashed banana
1 egg
1 T vanilla
1 c whole wheat flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 1/2 c popped amaranth
1/4 c finely chopped walnuts

First, heat a heavy bottomed pan until hot. Then drop in just enough amaranth to make a single layer on the bottom of the pan. (amount varies by the size of the pan). Place the lid on and shake the pan over the heat until the popping has almost stopped. Remove from heat and keep shaking until all the popping stops. Pour popped amaranth into a bowl and repeat until you have about 1 1/2 cups popped (about 6 tablespoons unpopped amaranth) It's better to have a little unpopped amaranth in with the popped then to scorch it, so be careful. :)

Next, cream butter, maple syrup, banana, egg, and vanilla together until well blended. Add in the baking powder and soda and mix again. Mix in the flour and continue beating on low. Finally, add in the popped amaranth and the chopped walnuts and beat until well combined. Use a large cookie scoop or ice cream scoop to scoop dough out onto greased cookie sheets. Dough will be fairly wet, but will hold together without flattening. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Makes about 8 large muffin tops.

We had kind of a mixture of breakfast and lunch at lunch time today and had eggs with tons of veggies, salads, and these cookies. My husband and son both agreed that they needed to be made again in the near future.