Monday, November 7, 2011

gluten free lemon muffins

lemons | photo: Fir0002/Flagstaffotos
I needed to make something to bring to an event that I was attending recently.  Knowing that the hostess was sensitive to gluten and dairy I wanted to make sure that I made something that fit her nutritional plan.  Casting around for ideas I spied a pile of fresh lemons that I had recently purchased (they were on sale) in the fruit bowl.

I love lemon muffins, they are so tasty and yet,  I'm not sure why,  they don't often make an appearance.  I wanted my muffins to have a little crunch to them so I decided to add some millet which would give a slight pop when eaten.  I started with coconut oil and sucanat (no dairy means no butter), added a couple of eggs and the zest of one lemon.  While I was at it I juiced the lemon, strained the juice, put it in a measuring cup and then added almond milk (again no dairy) so that it would curdle and thicken a little.  I then began to add the dry ingredients.  After adding the curdled milk I tasted the mixture and decided it needed just a pinch more sweetener.

I made this in mini-muffin tins and got three dozen.  They were well received at the event, all of them were eaten and I even got requests for the recipe.

I often play with a recipe multiple times before it's ready for prime time, but this one seemed to come together really well so I'm sharing it as is.  Enjoy.

Lemon Millet Muffins

1/2 cup coconut oil
1 cup sucanat
1/2 cup evaporated cane juice crystals
1 lemon
2 eggs
1/2 cup almond milk, approximately
1 cup gluten free flour mix (I used oat, rice, buckwheat, tapioca)
1/4 cup fresh ground flax seeds
1/4 cup (heaping) millet seeds
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Preheat oven to 350 F
Grease three mini-muffin pans (or one regular muffin pan)
Zest the lemon
Juice the lemon and put juice into a measuring cup
Add almond milk until there is 2/3 cup liquid
Beat together coconut oil and sugars until fully combined
Add eggs, one at a time until well mixed
Add lemon zest, baking soda, and the salt
Alternate adding flour and curdled milk, making sure they are well mixed
Spoon by tablespoonfuls into muffin cups
Bake 15 minutes
Let cool 2 minutes in the pan
Finish cooling on a wire rack

3 comments:

  1. This sounds so good. I've never had a lemon muffin. I'm going to try this recipe and tweak it with soft white whole grain since I'm not gluten sensitive. I hope it turns out as well as yours.

    ReplyDelete
  2. do you think it would well just to use milk and butter instead? My mother-in-law is gluten tolerant but not lactose sensitive.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The substitution of milk is fine, the butter may need to be adjusted a bit as it will change the texture. Try it as a full substitution, see what you think, and make adjustments to the butter if you think you need it. Would love to hear how it goes.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.