Gluten Free Low Carb Savory Almond Flour Muffins

I had a special request for low carb muffins for a prediabetic guest who had been told by her doctor to avoid "bread", but, she didn't want to miss out on my baking.  Since we had one morning of her visit that there were no other guests, I decided to try a new recipe just for her (and her hubby).  My absolute favorite gluten free muffin with rice flour is a cheese muffin.  So, I decided to try a savory option with almond flour to keep the carbs to a minimum.

It is a very simple recipe that comes together quickly.  Just put all the ingredients together in one bowl, stir, scoop into a muffin tin and bake for 20 minutes.  The result is a muffin reminscent of a whole wheat muffin with only 3 grams of carbs per muffin!  The recipe makes 8 muffins.  Kim's suggestion to maximize enjoyment is to place the muffins back in the oven for a couple of minutes right before you eat them - the crust crisps up and makes them extra tasty.   If you look closely, you can see the bits of sun-dried tomato, oregano, basil and parsley.

So, give the recipe a try and let me know what you think.

Gluten Free Almond Flour Cheese Muffins

Yield: 8 muffins - 3 grams of carbs per muffin

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon vinegar

1 cup almond flour

2  large eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup  heavy cream

1 Tablespoon olive oil

¼ cup of shredded Parmesan cheese

oregano, to taste

basil, to taste

cayenne pepper, to taste

parsley, to taste

sun-dried tomato, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray 8 muffin cups with PAM.  (Fill remaining muffin cups 1/2 way with water to avoid hot spots.)
2. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Evenly divide batter into prepared muffin cups.
4. Bake for 20 minutes.

Gluten Free Oatmeal Banana Muffins (wheat free, flour free) Recipe

Today, there are so many people on gluten free diets.  For those who can enjoy oats, here is a recipe that uses exclusively oats.  No wheat, corn, rice or other flour is used.  The recipe makes 8 muffins and can be doubled.  Here are the ingredients you'll need (the chocolate chips are optional).  I did not have "gluten free" oats, but, no one had Celiac disease when I experimented and regular oats were okay to use. 

You could simply put all the ingredients into the food processor and blend at one time.  But, I chose to use my immersion blender and the chopping attachment for this small batch recipe.  I measured the oats into the chopping cup.

Added the sugar.

Baking powder was next.

Baking soda.

Cinnamon was last.

All the dry ingredients are in the chopping container. 

I blended until it looked about right.

This looked perfect, to me.

Now for the wet ingredients.  I broke a banana into pieces into the immersion blender cup along with one egg.

Added Greek yogurt

and some vanilla extract.

Everything is ready to be blended.

Immersion blender was perfect for this task.

Looks perfectly blended.

The oven was preheated to 400 degrees.

Combine the dry ingredients with the wet.

Blend with the immersion blender.

Here is the volume of batter once everything is mixed together.

This recipe makes 8 muffins.  I've made it twice.  You can either use foil liners or you can spray the muffin tins with non-stick spray.  However, if you use the chocolate chips for garnish, as I did, if you do not use the foil liners, the chips sink into the batter.  They stayed on top using the liners.

1/4 cup of batter per muffin.

I carefully placed 6 chocolate chips on top of each muffin and filled the empty muffin cups 1/4 full of water.

The timer was set for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, they were not quite done.  I gave them another 3 minutes,

Looks like 8 beautiful muffins to me.

A closer look

I allowed them to cool for about 10 minutes before serving them.  Everyone liked them!

Gluten Free Oatmeal Banana Muffins (wheat free, flour free)

1 ¼ cups old fashioned oats (gluten free, if needed)

1/3 cup granulated sugar

¾ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 large egg

1 large ripe banana

½ cup plain Greek yogurt

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

48 chocolate chips (optional)

1.      Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2.      Line 8 muffin cups with foil liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray.

3.      Measure dry ingredients into food processor or chopping bowl of food processor.  Blend or chop until oats are finely ground.

4.      Blend egg, banana, Greek yogurt and vanilla extract together with immersion blender.

5.      Add dry ingredients to banana mixture and blend until smooth.  

6.      Divide batter into prepared muffin cups.  Garnish with chocolate chips, if using.

7.      Bake at 400°F for 15 - 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

NOTE:  You can simply put all ingredients (not the chocolate chips) into a food processor to blend.  I was experimenting and wanted to how the ingredients looked at each step.

Thanks for visiting the Americus Garden Inn blog.  Let me know if you what you think of this recipe.  Hope you and your family enjoy it as much as we do.  

Love,

Susan

Orange Praline Muffins Recipe

Orange Praline Muffins

The flavors of orange and pecan go so well together.  I've had the original recipe for Orange Praline Bread for quite some time.  It was on the Land O Lakes website.  I decided to try the recipe for muffins instead and, of course, I had to add whole wheat.  The orange flavor was predominant as the recipe calls for quite a bit of orange zest.  I also made a little more glaze than the original recipe as I wanted to make sure each muffin had enough of "the good stuff".  Kim, as the official taste-tester, said he would prefer these as muffintops as the best part is the praline topping.  I'll have to try that next time.  Or, if you try it, let me know how it turns out for you.

Orange Praline Muffins

Muffins

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 large egg

1/2 Tablespoon orange zest

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Glaze

1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup butter

3 Tablespoons finely chopped pecans

• Preheat oven to 350°F.  Spray 10 muffin cups with nonstick spray.
• In a small bowl, whisk flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
• In a large bowl, mix sour cream, melted butter, egg, orange zest, vanilla and sugar until combined.
• Add dry ingredients mixing just until moistened.
• Stir in 1/2 cup pecans.
• Spoon batter evenly into 10 muffin cups.
• Bake for 18 - 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
• Cool 5 minutes and remove from pans to a cooling rack covered with a piece of waxed paper.
• In a small saucepan, mix brown sugar and 1/4 cup butter, stirring until well combined.
• Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil (3 to 4 minutes).
• Spoon glaze mixture over warm muffins (or dip muffin tops in glaze) and immediately sprinkle with remaining pecans.
• Allow “praline” to set and ENJOY!

Click her for the Original recipe 

Nut Muffins - gluten free, soy free, egg free, dairy free

I've noticed that a lot of you are like me - we need recipes that are gluten free, soy free and egg free, either for health reasons or by choice. This recipe is for you. It only makes 2 muffins. Perfect for when you need a muffin fix, but, don't want to make more than you need right now. I've made them twice - once with pecans and once with almonds. I used apple puree the first time and pear puree the second. Both came out delicious. They did brown very quickly, so watch the oven. 

Nut Muffins
Yield: 2 muffins
3/4 cup nuts
1/4 cup fruit puree
1 TBS honey
1/8 tsp baking soda
Pinch salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place 2 foil muffin cups on a baking sheet.
2. In a small food processor, grind the nuts to the consistency of flour (not to butter).
3. Add remaining ingredients and combine.
4. Scoop into foil muffin cups.
5. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 325 and bake an additional 5 – 10 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

  (May take a little longer depending on the puree.)

Thanks for visiting the Americus Garden Inn Bed & Breakfast.  Hope you'll come back soon.

Love,

Susan

Peanut Butter & Jelly Mini Muffins

Peanut Butter and Jelly Mini Muffins

Sometimes, you don't want a big muffin.  You just want a little one with big flavor.  So, how about peanut butter and jelly mini muffins?  This recipe makes 30 - 32 mini muffins, or if you prefer the regular size, it makes 10 regular muffins.   The recipe can be halved to make just 5 regular muffins or 15 minis.   I like to add a little more jelly on top after they come out of the oven.

Peanut Butter 'n' Jelly Mini Muffins
Yield: 30 mini muffins

½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons canola oil
3 tablespoons grape jelly

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray mini muffin pan with PAM.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, yogurt, peanut butter and oil until smooth.
4. Combine wet with dry ingredients just until moistened.
5. Scoop batter equally into 30 mini muffin cups. They will be about ½ full.
6. Top each with 1/4 teaspoon jelly.
7. Bake at 400° for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks

Thanks for visiting the Americus Garden Inn.  Hope you'll come again, soon.
Love,
Susan

Gluten Free Banana Nut Muffin Recipe

Gluten Free Banana Nut Muffins

Gluten free recipes very often do not taste very good.  Let's be honest.  Many recipes are absolutely horrible.  This one, however, is so good that everyone likes them.  And, it only makes 8 muffins.  Of course, you could double the recipe if you wanted to make more!  Hope you enjoy this recipe.

GLUTEN FREE BANANA NUT MUFFINS RECIPE
1 large very ripe banana, mashed
3/8 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/8 cup oil (I used canola)
5/8 cup rice flour (I used organic white)
2 TBS chopped walnuts + 1 TBS for garnish
3/8 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp xanthan gum (optional)


1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 8 muffin cups with liners or spray with PAM.
2.In a medium bowl, combine the banana, sugar, vanilla, egg and oil until very well mixed.
3.In another medium bowl, combine all dry ingredients, including 2 TBS nuts.
4.Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients until all is well incorporated.
5.Scoop evenly into 8 muffin cups and sprinkle tops with reserved nuts.
6.Bake at 350 for approximately 30 minutes.
7.Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan.
8.Enjoy!

 

Thanks for visiting the Americus Garden Inn.  We hope you'll come see us again, soon.

Love,

Susan

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

The request came during a conversation about healthy eating.  Could I make a whole grain muffin that was not too sweet, moist, but with lots of fiber.  Oh, and no nuts, seeds or chocolate.  Here is a photo of Kim as he was preparing for his role as official taste-tester of the new recipe.

Looking through the pantry, I found oatmeal, whole wheat, bananas...

 I lined 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

 Measured the ingredients that I like to sift together, starting with equal amounts of whole wheat and all purpose flour.

 some sugar

 baking powder

 baking soda

 salt

 cinnamon with oats is always good

 time to sift it all together

 a quick whisk to combine

 added the old fashioned oats

 a quick whisk to combine

 I mashed the 3 bananas with a fork

 I decided to go for a softer mash

 cracked one egg into a bowl

 measured the canola oil

poured the oil over the egg

 quickly whisked to combine

 added the mashed bananas

 whisked to combine

 I made a well in the dry ingredients

 poured the banana mixture into the well

 mixed with a rubber spatula just enough to combine thoroughly

 scooped the batter evenly into the 12 muffin cups

 baked about 23 minutes at 375.  I did the toothpick test for doneness.

 After cooling in the pan for a few minutes, I removed them to the cooling rack.

Here's one for you with a cup of Americus Garden Inn Signature blend coffee.

 I'll bet these will taste even better tomorrow.  Most banana muffins do, don't they?  Our guests loved the muffins.  They said they were hearty, moist, banana-y, not too sweet and, most importantly, delicious.  They would probably be good with nuts, raisins, cranberries, chocolate chips, maybe a center of peanut butter...  Thanks for visiting the Americus Garden Inn Bed and Breakfast blog.  Let me know if you try the recipe.  Love,

Susan

BANANA OAT MUFFINS

1 ¼ cups old fashioned oats

½ cup whole wheat flour

½ cup all-purpose flour

2/3 cup granulated sugar

½ TBS baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 large egg

3 large ripe bananas, mashed

1/3 cup canola oil

1.      Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2.      Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray.

3.      Combine dry ingredients in large bowl.

4.      Beat egg, oil and mashed banana together in small bowl until smooth.

5.      Add banana mixture to dry ingredients.

6.      Stir just until moistened.

7.      Divide batter into prepared muffin cups.

8.      Bake at 375°F for 20-25 minutes, or until top springs back when lightly touched.