Mixed Muffins

It's been a long time since I made muffins. Hard to believe that I used to make muffins as a business when I was young and foolish. Of course those muffins were rich with butter and milk and no one even knew about gluten intolerance then, except for a few doctors. The muffins a made yesterday were made with my current restrictions in mind, but they were decadent anyway. Instead of all one kind, I decided to make two kinds...but then found that I didn't have very many raspberries left. Still, I was able to make a couple of raspberry ones since I had gotten the yen for those. The rest were apple date pecan muffins. A nice mix of flavors all around.

These were delicious when warm, but also good once they cooled off. The crumb was open but delicate and moist. I really enjoyed the dates when they were warm and I could taste the apple more when they had cooled. The raspberry muffin was eaten while still a little warm and it was outstanding! The muffin itself doesn't have much sugar, so the berry flavor really dominated.

I used yogurt instead of sour cream. Yogurt seems to be the only dairy my bod likes. For additional liquid I used almond milk and a little olive oil. Although I'll bet these could have been made just with gluten free flour mix, I decided to use half GF (Bob's Red Mill) and half all-purpose. The best part was creating the mix-ins. I used diced apple, chopped dates, and chopped pecans for 10 muffins and some fresh raspberries for two. Sounds difficult? Not if you put the raspberries in the bottom of the greased muffin tins, then add the batter 3/4 of the way up the pan. The apple/date/nut mixture was then quickly blended into the batter and the rest of the tin filled up with that.

If you need to make these gluten free, just use your favorite gluten free flour mixture for all the flour and add a teaspoon of xanthan gum for stability. Enjoy with a cup of coffee or tea, and you have a great mid-morning or afternoon snack.

Mixed Muffins

a variation on Sour Cream Muffins in Joy of Cooking

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1 cup GF flour mix - Bob's Red Mill & 3/4 cup all-purpose flour)
1 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup almond milk (add a little more if yogurt isn't wet enough)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 medium to large apple, chopped
1/4 cup dates, chopped
1/4 cup pecans, chopped or broken up

optional- fresh raspberries for some of the muffins

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Grease a 12-cup muffin pan or spray with cooking spray.

In a large bowl sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar.

In a medium bowl whisk together the egg, yogurt, almond milk and vanilla. Gently and quickly, with as few strokes as possible, mix the wet mixture into the dry mixture. At this point, if you are doing both apple and raspberry muffins, place about 5 raspberries in the bottom of a couple of muffin cups, then add batter to fill cup 3/4 of the way to the top.

With remaining batter, fold in gently and quickly, with as few strokes as possible the apple, dates and pecans. Put batter in prepared muffin cups, filling 3/4 of the way to the top.

Immediately put the muffin pan into the preheated oven and bake for about 20 minutes. Check at 15 minutes and turn pan around 180 degrees if needed for even baking. Muffin is done when a light poke in the middle springs back.

Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes on a rack. Remove from the muffin cups and serve or serve at room temperature.

Makes 1 dozen large muffins.

Oh Baby!

Last time I was at the library they had three new cookbooks displayed that looked good to me. To start with I chose two recipes from Eating Up the West Coast, by Sunset magazine folks and combined them. The first was from the far northern California section, and it was for pancakes made with almond milk and almond flour and just a little all-purpose flour. There was no oil and they looked delicious. The second recipe was from the Washington state section, Port Townsend, Owl Spirit Cafe and it was for a blueberry Dutch baby topped with lemon curd.

Since Sweetie has been very successful with his recent diet, I decided that tempting him with lemon curd would be cruel, but that a low-cal Dutch baby with fresh raspberries would be just fine.

I decreased the almond flour from the pancake recipe because I wanted to make sure that the baby rose in the pan and I used the three eggs from the baby recipe, plus the tablespoon of sugar. I added a grating of lemon zest because I think that citrus zing brings out the best in raspberries (and no lemon curd :( ). The pancake rose up beautifully and the berries cooked and released a little juice. The texture was puffy and the flavor was extraordinary!

 It takes a bit of pre-planning to make this Dutch Baby because you need to make the batter ahead and let it sit an hour, plus the oven needs to be preheated to 450 degrees, which can take a bit of time in a cool kitchen like mine is in the morning.

To serve I went with a locally produced raspberry syrup...just a small puddle...and we didn't really need anything else.

Raspberry Baby

3 eggs
3/4 cup almond milk (I used vanilla flavored, but plain would work)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup almond flour (finely ground almonds)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon neutral flavored oil or melted butter
1 cup raspberries, rinsed and drained on paper towel


Whisk together the eggs, almond milk, vanilla and sugar.

In a large bowl or pitcher sift together the flour, almond flour and salt. Add the zest and whisk briefly to mix. Whisk the egg mixture into the dry ingredients until smooth. Set aside at room temperature for 1 hour.

About 20 minutes before the end of the batter resting hour, pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees F. Once the oven has reached 450, put a 9" or 10"cast iron skillet into the oven to heat for 10 minutes.

At the end of the 10 minutes, carefully, with oven mitts on, remove the skillet from the oven. Add the oil to the skillet and swirl to coat the bottom and up the sides a bit. Then pour in the batter and scatter the raspberries over the batter. Carefully return the hot skillet to the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Batter will puff up and the top at the edges will be golden brown when done.

Carefully remove the pan from the oven and cut into servings. Serve at once with a sprinkle of confectioners sugar, your favorite syrup, or (decadent!) lemon curd.