Okay, let’s skip the talk about the tribulations of gluten free baking as well as any hyperbolic descriptions of the recipe results. Short story: I like this muffin, I think it has something to offer the gluten free (dairy free, soy free, egg free) world and I want to share.

This muffin has become my elimination diet breakfast staple. The apple version or the zucchini version. With pumpkin or apple butter. It’s not much like a wheat-flour based muffin at all, but that’s why I like it. I feel like most gluten-free baking focuses a lot on holding things together, often resulting in a gluey texture that I can’t stand. I’d rather have my muffin fall apart but have some texture. These muffins err on the side of texture. You might want to bake them in paper cups.

Gluten Free Apple Pecan Muffins (makes 12)

1 cup almond flour *
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 tsp ground sea salt
1 tsp gluten free baking powder **
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup honey (or 1/4 cup agave syrup)
2 tbsp ground flax seed mixed with 6 tbsp hot water (let this sit for a minute until it gels)

1/2 cup apple, peeled, cored and grated (I’ve been using macintosh and gala apples but I think I prefer the macintosh)
1/2 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup crushed pecans

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 12 muffin cups. Boil some water and pour out 6 tbsp of it into a tiny bowl, mix in your flax seed. Let this sit while you combine the rest of your ingredients (if you want, you can wisk your flax egg replacer vigourously for a bit more lift right before you add it to the wet ingredients later).

In a medium bowl combine flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.

In a separate med/large bowl whisk  oil, honey and flax. Add dry ingredients, mixing just until combined. Add carrot, apple and pecans.

Fill muffin cups 1/2 full. Bake aproximately 17 minutes (15-ish if using agave). Cool a couple of minutes before removing from pan and transferring to a wire rack.

Zucchini Muffins

Substitute 1/2 cup peeled, grated zucchini for the apple

* Almond Flour. You can make your own by pulsing some blanched almonds in a blender (which is an obnoxious extra step some days, but far cheaper than buying almond flour). To get a finer almond flour without risking turning it all into almond butter by overprocessing, keep a bowl and a mesh strainer at hand. Blend your almonds in many small batches, then use the mesh strainer to sift the flour into the bowl and return the larger chunks back to the blender with the next batch.

** Baking Powder. Oy. Learn from my mistake and check that you have gluten free – ideally allergen free – baking powder. I discovered after a number of batches of these muffins that my baking powder contains wheat and corn starch. And many of the ones that don’t have those have potato starch, which is also out of my elimination diet. Furthermore, many of them (but definitely not all of them) use cream of tartar – which is a byproduct of wine-making and so may contain sulfites.