A few Spiced Breakfast Muffins

As Julie Powell baked her way through Julia Child's cookbook, I would love to (someday!) bake my way through the Gluten Free Gourmet's Bread cookbook by Bette Hagman. I highly recommend this cookbook; it is by far one of the best GF bread cookbooks I have experimented with yet!  The GF baker I was able to work with at CSU this summer recommended Bette's cookbooks to me.  They are super easy to make ingredient substitutions, and give a good basis to start a recipe.  I have altered these two muffin recipes out of her book, and came up with the following:
I love these two muffin recipes for a few reasons; They both are super moist, gluten & dairy free, and low in fat & sugar.  These both use some of my favorite winter veggies; butternut squash, sweet potatoes and pumpkin.  These ingredients all serve as a fat substitute (for a large part of the fat) and aid in keeping the muffin extra moist and flavorful. 
I may just have a slight obsession with winter squash, thus I always have some on hand, leading me to use it as a substitute in many of my baked recipes.  For the first muffin recipe...

 Date-Walnut Muffins

Serve these healthy muffins for brunches, teas, or as a breakfast muffins.

Yields: 8-10

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup Sorghum flour

1/4 cup Brown or White rice flour

1/4 cup Potato starch

1/4 cup Tapioca starch

1/4 tsp Xanthan gum

1 tsp Baking powder

1/4 tsp Baking soda

1 tsp Allspice

1.5 T Agave Nectar

1/4 tsp Salt

1/3 cup Pitted dates, chopped

1/3 cup Chopped walnuts

4 T applesauce

6 T Butternut squash, cooked and mashed (or canned)

1/4 cup-1 T Rice or almond milk

1 T Lemon juice

1 Egg, slightly beaten

1.5 T Molasses

1/2 tsp Vanilla

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400.  Spray muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray. 

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flours & starches, xanthan gum, powder, soda, spices and salt.  Add the chopped dates and walnuts, and tumble to cover them with flour.

In a medium bowl, blend together the applesauce, squash, milk + lemon juice, egg, molasses, and vanilla.  Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the liquids, stirring until just combined.  Spoon the batter into prepared cups and bake ~18-20 minutes.  Serve warm, with a cup of Joe:-)

 

Substitution: You may substitute any winter squash, including pumpkin for the butternut squash as you wish.

    Sweet Potato Cranberry Muffins

Yields: 6

These muffins have a tart, sweet taste and a wonderful texture.

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup Brown rice flour

1/4 cup White rice flour

1/4 cup Potato Starch

1/2 tsp Xanthan gum

1/4 cup Agave Nectar

1 tsp Flaxseed meal

1 tsp Baking powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 Egg

1/4 cup rice or almond milk

1/4 cup cold mashed sweet potatoes (or canned puree)

2 T pumpkin puree (optional, will increase moistness)

2 T canola oil

1/2 cup Cranberries, frozen, chopped

1/4 cup walnuts, chopped and toasted (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375.  Spray muffin tins with non stick cooking spray.

In a mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients.  In a smaller bowl, combine the egg, milk, sweet potato, pumpkin, and canola oil.  Beat with a fork or spoon until well blended and smooth.  Stir into dry ingredients until just moistened.  Stir in the cranberries & walnuts.

Fill the muffins cups 2/3 full and bake for 18-20 minutes.

Serve warm
&
Bon Appetit!

 TIP: I have found with all gluten free bread products, it is best to slightly underbake them; If baked to the total time suggested, products will turn out dry and the life of the product is decreased tremendously.

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A nutrition bit...

Using molasses in muffin/bread recipes adds a

great deal of the recommended daily intake of Iron. (Molasses

is a simple sugar (primarily sucrose), so use sparingly) 

With homemade GF products, I try to increase the nutritional

value of the product in every way possible by choosing

nutrient dense ingredients

to ensure the product is not simply a starchy bread with no

nutritional value. (As a large amount of GF

products on the market are-lacking nutritional value)

Warning: All molasses is not equal in value; pay close attention

when choosing which molasses brand to buy.

Molasses is the by-product of the juice of sugar cane or beets.

Based on the type of molasses you use, will determine the nutrition value of the molasses. This is all based on whether the molasses comes from the first, second or third boiling of the molasses.

Depending on the number of times it is boiled, the color of the molasses will vary. Blackstrap molasses provides 20% of the daily value of calcium, 9% DV of potassium, and 25% DV of Iron per 1 Tablespoon.

When purchasing, look for "Blackstrap Molasses" on the label; this

will ensure you are choosing the highest iron-containing type of molasses.

                                                             

Golden Barrel contains 25% DV of Iron, as compared to

Grandma's, which only contains 8% DV of Iron.

To convert the above recipes using regular, all purpose flour:

Substitute all starches and flours (first 3-4 ingredients) with all purpose flour with a  1:1 ratio.  Ex: Subsitute 3/4 cup all-purpose flour for the rice flour and potato starch in the above recipe.  Omit xanthan gum.  That easy. You have a non-gluten free recipe!

And lastly,

GO BRONCOS!!!
Picture from delectablyfree.com