Pumpkin-Coconut Muffins

Perhaps I’ve spent too many hours in the Caribbean sun, but I think pumpkins and coconuts should occupy a more prominent place on the American table.  They both have a smooth, silky flavor, are durable to ship and easy to grow, and are endlessly versatile in sweet and savory dishes.  There’s pumpkin bread, pumpkin-stuffed raviolis, pumpkin dip (especially terrific with apples and pears), and pumpkin soup…and equally-luscious coocnut smoothies, coconut fish curries, coconut macaroons, and coconut chicken.  (If you’re still not convinced, try to imagine the world without piña coladas.  Takes some of the fun out of it, doesn’t it?  And Thanksgiving would seem incomplete without pumpkin pie.)

Since I’m such a proponent of pumpkins and coconuts, I thought I’d create muffins with both.  (Coconut milk is also a great substitute for dairy milk, especially if you skip the “light” coconut milk and go straight for the much-better-tasting, much-more-nutritious whole milk.)  These muffins make a great breakfast or snack; you could also top them off with a scoop of high-quality ice cream and a splash of maple syrup for dessert.  And making the muffins is simple — all you need is two mixing bowls, a whisk, and a mixing spoon.

Pumpkin-Coconut Muffins*

*Note:  these are gluten-free muffins.  If you want to make them with standard wheat flour, use 2 cups of wheat flour in place of the brown rice and teff flours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare muffin tins by either greasing them well or filling them with paper muffin cups.

In a large bowl, whisk together:

1 cup brown rice flour
1 cup teff flour
1 T. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. sea salt

In a smaller bowl, whisk together:

1 cup pumpkin, either canned or freshly-roasted, peeled, and mashed
1/3 cup maple syrup, preferably Grade B
1 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 tsp. vanilla

Stir wet ingredients into dry ones until just blended. If you like, add a handful of dried berries (cranberries or cherries work best) and/or chopped nuts (walnuts and pecans are tasty options).

Spoon into muffin tins and bake for 22 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Also note: in addition to being gluten-free, these muffins just happen to be dairy-free, egg-free, and sugar-free — if you know someone with lots of food sensitivities, these might just be the muffins for them!

Pumpkin-Apple Spice Muffin with Milk

A lot of people are shocked when they hear that I don’t eat store-bought cereal for breakfast.  I used to, but no longer–today’s cereals are packed with sugar, refined grains, sugar, additives and chemicals, sugar, damaged fats, sugar…and sugar.  (On the more upscale cereal boxes, you may see words like “evaporated cane juice” or “fruit concentrate.”  To wax Shakespearean, sugar by any other name is still sugar.)  A sugar breakfast doesn’t exactly give you a good start to your day.  It’s also a great way to guarantee that you’ll be hungry again by 10:00 a.m…at which point you’ll probably reach for a breakfast/granola bar that’s loaded with sugar.  (I speak from experience:  I used to down two bowls of cereal and two granola bars in the course of a single morning.)

Nowadays, I have a lot of different things for breakfast:  I blend fresh fruit and whole milk/coconut milk for a satisfying smoothie, I poach or scramble an egg or two (fantastic with fresh salsa!), I make a batch of muffins that will serve as breakfasts for an entire week, I make my own granola, I enjoy whole grains I’ve soaked overnight (such as groats, quinoa, or bulgur), or I simply have whatever tasty leftovers are in my fridge.  All of these options are low in sugar, high in protein and healthy fats, and don’t make me reach for something else an hour later–in short, they’re a great way to start my morning.

One of the easiest things you can bake are muffins.  Enjoy them plain or with milk poured over the top, in your kitchen or on the road, sweet or savory…they’re endlessly adaptable.  Here’s a basic recipe I developed for a friend who’s making the transition from the American Standard Sugar Breakfast to a healthy one:

Basic Muffins

Dry ingredients:

2 cups flour (not white flour!)*

1 T. aluminum-free baking powder (i.e., Rumsford)

½ tsp. sea salt

Wet ingredients:

2 large eggs (organic and containing omega-3s; preferably from pastured hens)

1 cup organic, whole milk**

2/3 cup raw agave nectar or maple syrup (Grade B)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

(For savory muffins, decrease the sweetener by 1/3 cup and add additional 1/3 cup of milk.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 12-muffin tin or line each cup with paper liners.

Using a whisk (or fork), mix dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Use the same whisk to mix together wet ingredients in a bigger bowl, then pour in dry ingredients and use a mixing spoon to combine everything.

Spoon batter into muffin tin. (Using a large soup spoon is best.) Bake for 20 minutes, then pull out of the oven and stick a toothpick in one of the center muffins. If the toothpick comes out clean, muffins are done—if it doesn’t, bake for another 2 minutes and check again.

*Note:  you can substitute non-gluten flour for up to half of the amount of wheat flour.  Try cornmeal, coconut flour, bean flour, or ground nuts for new flavor combinations.  Gluten-free grains like teff and quinoa are also tasty options.

**Note:  you can substitute different flavors for up to half of the amount of the milk:  pumpkin, mashed banana, applesauce, Greek yogurt, grated zucchini (squeeze out the moisture first).  Or you can use coconut milk or non-dairy milks like almond and hazelnut for part or all of the dairy milk.  (If you do opt to try denser semi-liquids like pumpkin or banana, you may have to add 1 T. of so of additional liquid if the batter seems too thick and dry.)

Any dried fruit, chips, cheese chunks, etc. should be stirred in at the very end of the mixing process.

Enjoy your fresh new start!

Multiple Flours

…flour, that is!  Why just just one when you can mix and match to your heart’s desire?  Just be sure to remember a few rules when baking standard recipes (gluten-free is a different ball game):

• You can freely substitute gluten-containing flours for one another.  (Gluten is a protein found in some grains.)  These flours include:  wheat, kamut, spelt, rye, and barley.
• If you’d like to use some non-gluten-containing flours, you can substitute up to half of the gluten-containing-flours for ones that don’t.  Case in point:  if the recipe calls for one cup of wheat flour, you could use 1/2 cup wheat (or kamut, spelt, barley, or rye) and then 1/2 cup of anything else (nut flour, bean flour, grains-without-gluten flour).  Substituting for more than half will require additional tweaking so as not to affect the final texture of the dish.
• While wheat, spelt, and kamut have a fairly similar taste, rye and barley do not–rye is quite powerful and heavy, and barley falls somewhere between rye and the lighter, more-familiar taste of wheat.
• The more different flours you use, the better off you are–food sensitivities/allergies can stem from overeating too much of a single ingredient (i.e., wheat).  Besides, variety is good for the body and mind.

Lemon-Coconut Agave Muffins

I used the pictured combination of five flours (2 without gluten, 3 with) to make a batch of lemon-coconut muffins.  Try coming up with your own variations!

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare standard muffin tin by either greasing each cup or filling them with cupcake liners.

Whisk together in large bowl:
Total of 2 cups of flour (I used teff, brown rice, spelt, kamut, and wheat)
1 T. baking powder
1/2 tsp. sea salt

Whisk together in smaller bowl:
2 eggs
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 T. lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla

Stir liquid ingredients into dry ones until mixture is just moist. (Batter will still be a bit lumpy.) Spoon into muffin tray and bake for about 15 minutes. Do a toothpick test to see if the muffins are done–if they aren’t, bake for another 3 minutes and test again.

Enjoy!