Sunday 12 August 2012

Muffin Mania



When I saw a dietician very early on this year I was expecting a lot from her, I will admit.  I expected customized meal plans and a plethora of recipes or book recommendations.  What I got was a couple of recipes and a pat on the back assuring me I lost too much weight too soon and to expect some of it to come back.  I did not gain weight back, in fact I lost 15 more pounds while on my diet.  But I did find one recipe helpful in adding baking back into my life.  I make these muffins once every couple weeks and they're a great treat or perfect roundabout to a snack or meal.  They're on the sweet side but not too sweet.  A little dense and gummy, but it's close enough for my liking!

Wheat, Egg, Dairy Free Rye Pumpkin Muffins
adapted from the Gluten Free Carrot Pumpkin Muffin recipe from Gluten-Free Diet-A Comprehensive Resource Guide (as my recipe is made with rye flour however, it does contain gluten!!  The original recipe uses the same amount of gluten free flour mix and 2 tsp xantham gum, as well as it also uses eggs and sugar).

makes about 18 normal-sized muffins
3/4 cup maple syrup
4 flax "eggs" (4 tbsp flax meal and 12 tbsp water blended into a thick and creamy concoction)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup pureed pumpkin
1 tbsp vanilla
1 1/3 cups cooked pureed carrots or 3/4 cup crushed pineapple (pineapple is of course my favourite, as I love anything that reminds me of Hawai'i)
3 cups rye flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking sode
2 tsp baking powder (I use my own special mix that's corn and potato free **see end of post)
1 tbsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven 350 degrees.

Whisk together maple syrup, flax eggs and oil in large bowl until well combined.  Add applesauce, pumpkin, vanilla and carrots/pineapple.  Sift dry ingredients together and slowly fold into the batter. Scoop into paper lined muffin pans (I used a 3tbsp scooper twice over in each muffin cup).  Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes in the pan and then place on cooling rack.

I use paper liners in the muffin tins, but they do tend to stick to the paper if not cooled completely.  Next time I will try to bake directly in a greased muffin tin and see what I end up with.  I always freeze them so that I don't polish them all off in one or two days.  They thaw very well.

There's also a variation in the original recipe that calls for eliminating the pumpkin and increasing the applesauce to 2 cups if you want to make a carrot cake, in case you were curious in trying that!

Makin' flax eggs...looks gross I know, but does the trick as a binder!

All the wet ingredients....

After folding in the dry ingredients....don't overmix!

Two scoops in each tin for regular looking muffins (always my aim).

The finished product: a moist and delicious muffin that's low in fat and low in allergens!

**all of the baking powders I could find contained corn or potato starch.  Thank you internet searches, which produced a recipe for corn-free baking powder at home that I make at relatively small batches at a time and use with success: http://www.grouprecipes.com/83473/corn-free-baking-powder.html





No comments:

Post a Comment

Bad Friends Make Good Pasta

I am such a bad friend. I shared a picture on my IG  of a superfast pasta dish and didn't share how I made it. It was late, I was starvi...