Cranberry Coconut Muffins (Gluten-Free)

This blog is quickly turning into a muffin blog, it seems. Every morning when we get up, Monkey asks to make muffins even though he rarely eats any of them. He just really likes to help bake, and who am I to turn down a child's desire to bake muffins that I then get to hoard mostly to myself? :P

• 1/2 cup coconut milk (the canned kind, not the dairy substitute kind)
• 1/2 cup agave nectar
• 1/4 cup coconut oil (always use cold-pressed, unrefined coconut oil)
• 1 egg
• 1 cup flour (we use Bob's Red Mill gluten-free baking flour)
• 1/3 cup shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup cane sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp xanthan gum (omit if using regular flour)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups cranberries

Whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk egg and add coconut milk, agave nectar and coconut oil, mix well. Add wet to the dry bowl, combine. Add cranberries, stir to distribute. Divide into 12 paper lined muffin cups. Bake at 350° for 24 minutes. SO GOOD.

Maple Sweet Potato Muffins (Gluten-Free)

November seems like a perfect time of year to bake with sweet potato! This recipe is rich and moist and delicious to eat still warm from the oven. (That's why there's only 11 in the photo! I couldn't wait to taste one.)

• 1/2 can sweet potato purée (or a cup of so of freshly baked sweet potato, puréed in a food processor)
• 2 ounces butter, gently melted (don't burn!)
• 2 eggs
• 3/8 cup real maple syrup, not the fake "breakfast syrup" crap
• 6 ounce container vanilla yogurt, made with whole milk. Don't ruin this recipe with skim or low fat! Boooooo low fat yogurt.
• 1 cup flour (we use Bob's Red Mill gluten-free baking flour)
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp xanthan gum (omit if using regular flour)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp fine salt
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients. Add to dry bowl. Combine. Divide into 12 paper lined muffin cups. Bake at 350° for 22 minutes. Enjoy!

(Disclaimer: this photo was totally posed. Monkey wanted nothing to do with these muffins, although he did help to make them!)

Apple Muffins (Gluten-Free)

Monkey and I are on an experimental gluten-free diet but I'm unwilling to give up delicious baked goods, so I've been dabbling in gluten-free baking. It's surprisingly awesome! Several times a week, I try a different recipe that I make up or modify from a previous experiment, and about half the time they're decent. Monkey, though, never ate my most common concoctions -banana breads or muffins. Humph. Yesterday, I ran out of bananas so I decided to try apple instead and for once, he ate some! Woohoo! Unicorn loves them too. She saw them on the table while breastfeeding and immediately rejected me for the muffins. Sheesh.

Today's recipe:

• 2 apples, cored, peeled, shredded
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 c agave nectar
• 1/4 c ghee
• 1/4 c heavy cream
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 c Bob's Red Mill gluten-free baking flour
• 1 tsp xanthan gum
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt

Mix wet ingredients and the shredded apple in one bowl, dry ingredients in another. Combine, mix until blended. Divide into 12 paper lined muffin cups. Bake at 350̊ for 22 minutes.

This recipe turned out great, very moist but not dense. I tend to prefer less sweetness in my muffins (cupcakes are another story!) so these have a subtle sweetness from the agave and apple. To make it not gluten-free, just use regular wheat flour and omit the xanthan gum. And, I haven't tried it, but I'm guessing that substituting softened butter for the ghee would work about the same. Next time, I'll add 1/4 c applesauce for extra moisture. I meant to, but we were out. Dang.