Gluten-Free Apple Oat Muffins

Something's been missing the past few years, but what is it... Muffins!

Yes, muffins; I haven't allowed myself to indulge in muffins since going gluten free. So, I went in search of a gluten-free muffin recipe. The criteria? It had to be quick, easy, moist and flavorful, and that I had all of the ingredients in my pantry and refrigerator. Voila! Love the Internet. I came across this recipe, contributed by Terri Gruss, MS on About.com, adapted from "Apple Oat-Bran Muffins" recipe in The Good Carb Cookbook by Sandra Woodruff, M.S., R.D.

This recipe is indeed quick, easy, and yields moist and flavorful muffins! And sweet, but not too sweet. Just right. I used Bob's Red Mill gluten-free steel cut oats. Grinding them in my Vita-Mix to a fine flour.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups freshly ground certified gluten-free, rolled oats
• 2 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup plain, gluten-free yogurt
• 1/2 cup good quality 100% apple juice
• 2 lightly beaten large eggs plus one egg white
• 4 tablespoons light olive oil or canola oil (I used peanut oil)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup shredded, unpeeled apple (equivalent of one large apple)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I used pecans)
• 1 tablespoon sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon to sprinkle on muffins (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°

1. Use a blender or coffee grinder to process the gluten-free oats into flour. Grind in batches if using a small coffee grinder.
2. Combine the oat flour, baking powder, baking soda, brown sugar and cinnamon in a mixing bowl. Whisk to blend.
3. In a smaller bowl, lightly beat eggs. Whisk in the yogurt, apple juice, oil and vanilla. Slowly pour this wet mixture into the bowl with dry ingredients. Stir with a fork to thoroughly blend.
4. Fold in the shredded apple (I used a hand-held cheese grater) and nuts. Stir until blended. Avoid overmixing.
5. Line muffin pan with paper liners, or lightly grease pan and fill each muffin cup 3/4 full.
6. Bake for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of muffin comes out clean (in my oven the muffins baked for 18 minutes).
7. While hot, sprinkle muffins with cinnamon sugar mixture and allow muffins to cool for about 10-15 minutes before serving, if you can.

Enjoy!

Angelina's - "Baking to the Rythm of Life"

This time, I was away for six days visiting my family in Central Oregon, including a one-day round trip to Portland with my daughter in a blizzard. Snow conditions on the passes hindered the return trip I had planned for earlier in the week, but by waiting a couple more days I was able to celebrate Mother's Day early with my mom (video) and oldest daughter, and enjoy a beautiful drive home with sunshine and blue sky all the way.

I arrived in Sisters before 2:00pm, and took the time to stop by Angelina's Bakery to pick up a couple of my favorite gluten-free baked goods and have a quick bite of lunch to fuel up for the two hour drive back to Eugene on Santiam Pass.

While the staff was reheating my slice of gluten-free Polenta Pizza layered with marinara sauce, a medley of vegetables and vegan cheese, and preparing my salad of fresh greens, feta and balsamic vinaigrette, I ordered gluten-free baked goods - a freshly-baked Marionberry Morning Muffin and a 2-pound loaf of Angelina's "Outrageous Orange Cinnamon Swirl Rice Bread for treating us to french toast on Sunday morning, which will be Mother's Day breakfast at our house. Now, that was a mouth full of healthy gluten-free goodiness. Yummers!

Angelina's Bakery, a local newspaper review rating it "a little slice of heaven", has been in business since 1997. For more information about their history, stories, staff, events, dedicated gluten-free bakery, menus and baked goods and bake-at-home products, visit Angelina's online.

Wishing mothers and grandmothers everywhere a very Happy Mother's Day!

Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Pumpkin Bread

Nikki Ostrower is the founder of NAO Nutrition. I took Nikki's challenge to make her 100% all-natural pumpkin bread. She claimed that it is “SO tasty you will not believe it's Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free and has NO added processed sugar!!!” She’s right. Well, with a few trials and errors, I came to like her recipe as much, if not more than any conventional recipes I’ve tried in the past. Although my loaves turned out looking rather homely, it's great to have some tasty gluten-free baked goods around this holiday that I can enjoy!

As I was adding the dry ingredients to the bowl for the first loaf, I discovered I was out of xanthan gum. Ugh. Far from the nearest store that sells such an ingredient, I pillaged my pantry for some  kind of an alternative. I settled on adding two packets of Knox gelatin to the dry mix. The texture was good; the consistency fine, except it was a little gummy on the bottom, though I baked it for an hour. 

The second loaf that included the xanthan gum, which baked for an hour and ten minutes, rose higher, grew wider, split in the middle and collapsed, had a similar texture and consistency, but more flavor, because I added one teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice to Nikki’s original recipe:

"Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8.5" loaf pan

Combine in a large bowl:

1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup organic canola oil
1 cup grade B maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs

Whisk together in a separate bowl:

1 1/2 cups gluten-free flour - I used Arrowhead Mills Gluten Free All purpose Baking Mix (you can always use just buckwheat flour, quinoa flour, brown rice flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Directions:

Add the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture and stir until smooth.
Place the batter into the greased pan and cook for 50 minutes to an hour.

Do the toothpick test to see if completely done.

Cool the loaf and ENJOY!!!"

Note: For me, I think a little more experimentation is in order with spices and trying other gluten-free, all-purpose baking mixes, and working with other individual flours.