Guilt free muffins [+RECIPE]

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While I take food allergies seriously, there seems to be a trend of going gluten free, whether you are indeed intollerant to it or not. Is it all a marketing scam to sell you oats at £8 a kilogram as opposed to the ‘normal’ ones costing only £1? Which is why I myself am rather skeptic to the ‘free from’ foods. But not when I make them at home! Then it’s not about gluten, but mostly about carbs, sugar, saturated fats etc. Which is basically what cake is made of, I know. But alas, I have finally found a recipe which is has no gluten, is low carb, has no sugar or butter, and actually tastes like baked goods! It also passed the toddler test when fellow blogger Polly Mixtures came over with Mini Mixtures- who, at the age of 1 and a bit, was absolutely ecstatic about those muffins. Calories – 0, Nadia – 1! Here the recipe, which I found on this blog and pimped by using my own home-made apple sauce and by adding roasted hazelnuts (I also had to bake for longer but I just blame my oven for this). It didn’t say how many muffins the recipe yields but I doubled it and ended up with 18.

Apple, cinammon and hazelnut muffins
(makes 9)

Ingredients:
5 large, free range eggs1 cup apple sauce
½ cup coconut flour
2-3 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla (optional)
¼ cup coconut oil
1 cup of roasted chopped hazelnuts
Extra stevia if you prefer the muffins sweeter, mine actually tasted inbetween sweet and savoury, just how I like them

Method:
Preheat the oven to about 200 degrees Celsius. Line a muffin tin (I always sprinkle some rice under the cases so air can go under and they don’t go soggy. Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl using a whisk. Let it sit for about 5 minutes. Pour into cases using an ice cream scoop or a spoon or a measuring cup until 3/4 full. Bake for about 20 minutes or until they are nice and golden and a toothpick comes out clean. You can glaze with honey or jam if you are not too fussed about the sugar in it (unles you get a sugar free one). Let cool and enjoy completely guilt free!

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Before the oven – kind of looks like baby food!

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That’s more like it!

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Sugar free apple sauce [+RECIPE]

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Season 6 of the Great British Bake Off started last night and I was suddenly itching to bake again (even though on Friday I was throwing plenty of ‘No more baking for at least 2 weeks’ around). But this time I wanted to eat it too and I am trying to eat healthy so I stay away from grains, sugar, butter – basically almost everything which cake contains. But I still have some coconut flour left so decided to explore the healthy baking road again.

The recipe I eventually chose called for apple sauce. Now, I have always been an ambassador for easy and have so far used store bought apple sauce. But since I am trying to avoid sugar, and since there was plenty of apples about to go bad in the fridge, I decided to finally succumb to making everything from scratch. Happy to report this time it was a success! This apple sauce can be used not only for baking but also to accompany roast pork etc. It is also easily customizable so you decide how much cinnamon you can add, how sweet to make it, how thick, etc. Here the recipe:

Home made sugar free apple sauce (also gluten free)
(makes a few cups)

Ingredients:
6 apples (any you like or have at hand)A pinch of cinnamon (optional)
A cup of water
1 tbsp stevia (optional), see picture below

Method:
Peel and chop apples. The smaller the pieces, the quicker it will cook. Add to a pot together with water, cinnamon and stevia. You don’t need to add sweetener if you don’t want the sauce to be too sweet but since I am using the sauce as a substitute to sugar, I added some stevia for extra sweetness. Let simmer over medium – high heat for approximately 20 mins, stirring occasionally. If you want a thicker sauce, use less water but stir more often to avoid sticking to the pan.
Once the mixture has been cooked and apples are nice and soft, puree with a hand held blender. Let cool and enjoy!

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The stevia I use for baking

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The finished apple sauce

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Sugar free coconut flour muffins [+RECIPE]

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So I have another confession to make. I very very rarely eat what I bake. Believe me, it isn’t the easiest task to bake loads and maintain a low-carb diet. So sometimes I get inspired and bake for myself too.

I had been looking at coconut flour and coconut oil recipes for a while as a healthier substitute to good old flour and butte but wasn’t able to get my hands on coconut flour around here. And while I was in Vienna last week I had no chance to visit any awesome bakeries but brought back a whole kilo of coconut flour – happy days!

I chose an easy recipe for sugar free muffins which involved coconut flour and made a test batch last night. Kitchen smelled fab but… They looked nothing like the ones on the picture… See here for yourselves and compare to mine:

My sugar free, coconut oil, coconut flour and fresh cherry muffin

My sugar free, coconut oil, coconut flour and fresh cherry muffin

They did taste nice, but didn’t rise as much as expected and they were a tad too sweet for me. This could be because I changed a few things from the original recipe: I didn’t wait for the eggs to warm up completely; I used powdered Stevia (maybe the liquid sweetener works better for consistency); I replaced the melted butter for coconut oil – also not sure if this affected its fluffiness. And also I used cherries which probably have a higher water content than raspberries and blueberries. My experiments with coconut flour continue till I find the perfect recipes!

You can find the recipe I used on the link above but I will type it out for you here too with the changes I made. Please do shar your results if you decide to make it!

Sugar free, coconut oil, coconut flour and fresh cherry muffins
(makes 6)

Ingredients

  • 3 eggs (room temperature – important)
  • 1/3 cup coconut flour
  • ¼ cup coconut oil
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ cup powdered Stevia (or a little less if you like me don’t like overly sweet cakes)
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 2-5 Tablespoons water (see below)
  • ½ cup pitted and chopped cherries

 

Preparation

Heat oven to 180° C. Line a muffin tin with 6 muffin cases – before that add a sprinkle of rice under the cases  in the tin (this will ensure that the cases don’t get too wet/soggy as it allows for air under).

1) Whisk the eggs until whites and yolks are well-mixed. Add in the coconut oil little by little while continuing to whisk. Add salt and vanilla and mix until combined. .

2) Mix the remaining dry ingredients — coconut flour, baking powder, and sweetener.

3) Mix the dry and wet ingredients together. Now whisk in water, one tablespoon at a time. The coconut flour will absorb the liquid from the wet ingredients like crazy. You want to get it to a consistency that will hold up the cherries, but not be too thick.

4) Mix the cherries with a spoon of the flour so they don’t fall to the bottom. Gently add them to the batter and divide among 6 muffin cases. Bake for about 15 to 18 minutes, or until just turning golden on top. I had to bake mine for about 22 mins as the cherries added extra moisture.

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