In my circle of family and friends, there are many different food palates: meat-lovers, vegetarians, vegans, gluten-free, sugar-free, and any combination of anything else you've ever heard. Your family and friends might be the same way, leaving you to wonder how to accommodate legitimate dietary restrictions, picky eaters, and people who are just plain wacko about food. My solution has been to try and find a way to make some of the more restrictive recipes taste good.
This is very difficult to do if you are trying to go gluten-free without sugar. Gluten-free flours have an awful lingering sub-taste, one that is masked in commercial GF products by an abundance of sugar. But what if you need to avoid added sugar? I've tried numerous recipes and my own creations over the years and I think that I finally found a winner. It looks like a "real" muffin with the proper amount of rise and the right color. Best part? It's delicious and nutritious!
Blueberry-Coconut Muffins
2 c. gluten-free all purpose flour (I use Bob's Red Mill)
1 tsp. (heaping) baking powder
1/2 tsp. (heaping) baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1.25 c. mashed bananas (I used three bananas and had just over this amount of mashed -- extra is okay!)
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c. non-dairy milk (I used almond milk because I was out of coconut milk)
2 c. shredded coconut (we use frozen young coconut because there are no preservatives or added sugar)
1 c. frozen blueberries
opt: stevia -- if you don't mind the GF taste, you can omit. I used five packets of Stevia in the Raw. (Note: I would advise against other non-sugar sweeteners, like Splenda, because they're basically poison for your body. If you can eat sugar, use 1/2 c. brown sugar in this recipe.)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a small bowl, mix dry ingredients together.
In a large bowl, mix bananas, egg, vanilla, and non-dairy milk. Add dry ingredients and mix vigorously for two minutes (this is important with GF flours). Fold in coconut and blueberries.
Pour batter into greased muffin tins. You want to fill the tins to just below the top -- this batter will rise, but not by much, so filling the tins helps the end result look more muffin-like.
Bake 18-21 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out almost clean. Remove the tin from the oven and let muffins cool in the tin for five minutes -- this will finish the cooking process.
Makes 12-14 muffins.
These may not be the best muffins you've had in your life -- trust me, those contain lots of sugar, butter, and "real" flour -- but they're pretty good. How do I, on an ever-expanding quest for healthy food, know that these muffins actually taste good? Honey had one and said "These are gluten-free?!" In this house, that's a ringing endorsement.
Happy eating!
This is very difficult to do if you are trying to go gluten-free without sugar. Gluten-free flours have an awful lingering sub-taste, one that is masked in commercial GF products by an abundance of sugar. But what if you need to avoid added sugar? I've tried numerous recipes and my own creations over the years and I think that I finally found a winner. It looks like a "real" muffin with the proper amount of rise and the right color. Best part? It's delicious and nutritious!
Blueberry-Coconut Muffins
2 c. gluten-free all purpose flour (I use Bob's Red Mill)
1 tsp. (heaping) baking powder
1/2 tsp. (heaping) baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1.25 c. mashed bananas (I used three bananas and had just over this amount of mashed -- extra is okay!)
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c. non-dairy milk (I used almond milk because I was out of coconut milk)
2 c. shredded coconut (we use frozen young coconut because there are no preservatives or added sugar)
1 c. frozen blueberries
opt: stevia -- if you don't mind the GF taste, you can omit. I used five packets of Stevia in the Raw. (Note: I would advise against other non-sugar sweeteners, like Splenda, because they're basically poison for your body. If you can eat sugar, use 1/2 c. brown sugar in this recipe.)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a small bowl, mix dry ingredients together.
In a large bowl, mix bananas, egg, vanilla, and non-dairy milk. Add dry ingredients and mix vigorously for two minutes (this is important with GF flours). Fold in coconut and blueberries.
Pour batter into greased muffin tins. You want to fill the tins to just below the top -- this batter will rise, but not by much, so filling the tins helps the end result look more muffin-like.
Bake 18-21 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out almost clean. Remove the tin from the oven and let muffins cool in the tin for five minutes -- this will finish the cooking process.
Makes 12-14 muffins.
These may not be the best muffins you've had in your life -- trust me, those contain lots of sugar, butter, and "real" flour -- but they're pretty good. How do I, on an ever-expanding quest for healthy food, know that these muffins actually taste good? Honey had one and said "These are gluten-free?!" In this house, that's a ringing endorsement.
Happy eating!
One of my friends from high school keeps a GF recipe blog. I'm going to share a link to your post with her if you don't mind.
ReplyDeletehttp://thespruetamer.blogspot.com/