Sunday, October 2, 2011

Spiced Almond-Flour Pumpkin Muffins

Fall is officially here, and I am excited about cooking and baking with pumpkins, and squash, and apples!  We had family come to visit this weekend, and my sister is intolerant to wheat and dairy, so I made these pumpkin muffins just for her.  Well, I made them for the rest of us, too.  And we had maple cream cheese frosting on ours.  (Sorry, Sis.)  They were a hit with the gluten-eating crowd as well.  I ended up making a second batch!



Spiced Almond-Flour Pumpkin Muffins
Dry:
2 1/2 c. almond flour
2 Tb. coconut flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
pinch of ground cloves
1 Tb. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 c. stevia in the raw
2 Tb. ground flax seed

Wet:
3 eggs (or 3 flax eggs, in which case I'd omit the 2 Tb. flax above)
1 c. canned organic pumpkin
2 Tb. coconut oil, melted
12 drops vanilla stevia
1 Tb. agave
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Place the dry ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until powdery.  (This helps especially if using a grainier almond flour.  I have skipped this step before, but the texture of the muffins is a bit more like corn bread.)

In a separate bowl, beat eggs.  Then add the rest of the "wet" ingredients and mix.

Combine the wet ingredients with dry ingredients.

Scoop batter into 12 muffin liners.  (Optional: sprinkle muffin tops with mini chocolate chips.)  Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.


Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz. cream cheese
4 Tb. unsalted butter
1 tsp. maple extract
2/3 c. stevia in the raw
1 Tb. agave

Allow butter and cream cheese to soften at room temperature.  When soft, mix the two together using a hand mixer or stand mixer.  Then, add maple extract, stevia, and agave.  You can change out the sweetener to use what you prefer.  I've made it without agave at all, just stevia, and it was fine for me but those not used to stevia might not care for it.

Allow muffins to cool completely before frosting.  I usually keep frosting in the fridge and muffins in Tupperware on the counter, then frost right before eating it.


I am submitting this recipe to Wellness Weekend.  Check out the link to find healthful, delicious recipes!