Gluten Free Muffins

I have been searching.

I have been turning over rocks in the farthest corners of the Internet, searching, hoping, waiting to find one thing and one thing alone: A gluten free muffin recipe that didn't turn out like this....or this (which isn't even slightly gluten free). Neither of these attempts were consumed by my kids. These muffins were so bad I think they were laughing at me when I turned my back...

I do not have Celiac Disease. I don't technically have a gluten intolerance. I say technically because I am noticing that I don't feel good when I eat 3 or more servings of gluten in a day. Which means I really can't have pasta on the same day that I have a sandwich or else I feel gross, strung out, overly tired, and kind of empty feeling even when I am full of food. I believe that this is my body telling me to stop eating wheat. And since my kids are often cranky, they eat alot of wheat and they are cut from my cloth, it only makes sense that they might have a sensitivity to wheat as well. So I have been looking for some gluten free baking options to diversify their diet. But I didn't care for that particular recipe. Instead I found a different one.

This time I made it right the first time and then altered it the second time! Who out there is proud of me??!

Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins
Servings: 12 muffins
Preparation time: 10 minutes
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon allspice/nutmeg
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
6 eggs (or 4 whole eggs and 2 whites...a good way to use up your egg whites)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
3/8 cup maple syrup (about 3 1/2 oz)
pinch salt
1/4 cup chopped walnut pieces

Preheat oven to 400F. Grease a muffin pan or line with paper liners.
Sift together coconut flour and spices together.
Whisk remaining ingredients together (except walnuts) in a separate bowl until well mixed.
With a wooden spoon or whisk stir the flour mixture gradually into the pumpkin mixture so that no lumps remain.
Divide batter between 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle with walnuts.
Bake for 12 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Do not over bake as the flour can burn easily.

Okay, I made a couple of substitutions..err..changes. I left out the walnuts, substituted honey for the maple syrup (cause that's what I had), eliminated the cloves and only made a half recipe. But other than that I SWEAR I made it exactly how it was supposed to be made, except that I baked them for 16 or so minutes because they were totally raw at 12 minutes. And do you know what? The kids LOVED them. They ate them up! The recipe made 6 regular muffins and one teeny tiny one, and there was only one muffin left at the end of the day (I ate some too...). So I would say they were a resounding success. I think that the recipe works for two reasons. First off, the inclusion of some vegetable puree. I think the coconut flour sucks up any moisture it comes in contact with, so any muffin recipe has to have a good amount of wet ingredients to turn out a normal consistency batter. Coconut flour is NOTHING like wheat flour. Also I used jumbo sized eggs, because the folks at the farmer's market run out when you show up at 1pm. I had jumbo on hand, so that's what I used. I usually use large eggs, and I don't think that added enough wet ingredients to stand up to the coconut flour. This recipe is really good and it really works.

Two days later Thing One was so excited to have the muffins again he asked if he could stay up late and "help me make them", which is really just three year old code for "play with the faucet in the kitchen sink while Mommy cooks something, anything". My boy is going to be in Sales. I just know it. Just before he went to bed, he turned on the oven light and said "Goodnight Chocolate Muffins".

Here is my ever-so-slightly-altered-recipe:

Gluten Free Chocolate Beet Muffins
1/4 cup Coconut Flour
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cocoa powder
3 jumbo eggs (Or 4 medium/ large)
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 tbsp rapadura or rapunzel sugar (whole, unrefined cane sugar)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup of pureed beets

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix all the dry ingredients together, except the sugar. Set aside. In a separate bowl mix all the wet ingredients together with the sugar. Add the wet to the dry and mix until smooth-ish, you aren't gonna get rid of all the lumps. Pour into prepared muffins cups or a prepared muffin tin and bake for 15-18 minutes.

Yeah. Beets. You are shocked that I found a way to finally eat beets. I got more from the CSA in my winter share. I have been staring them down for a month while they sat in my fridge. I was hoping they would have gotten the picture and walked into someone else's kitchen by now. And just look, now I have a recipe in which you can hardly taste them. This is bliss, I conquer Gluten Free Muffins in the same post that I conquer Beets. I didn't see that one coming!