Here to announce the almost everything free muffin.

Well, things are looking up.

At least I think they are. If any of you have done what i have and gone from being a regular drinker of good quality coffee, to being a non-coffee drinker you may know this problem. Your standards drop. You loose your palate and while you can still tell a bad coffee you loose your instinct and the line between pretty decent and great gets blurry. You can tell this has happened because you don't mind the taste of decaf where once you spat it out.

So, I baked these (almost) everything free muffins and I don't mind them. I'd probably make a few changes next time but in all they go down pretty well with a cup of tea. In fact probably a little too well. I ate 12. But they were mini muffins, not the whole big teacup sized ones........ just pop-in-your-mouth sized ones. Still. 12. And I'm left wondering if they actually taste OK or if a month of not eating muffins has made me think they taste OK. The test will be when I hand them to friends (if there is any left).

I've discovered a happy coincidence - gluten free flour likes more liquid than regular flour. This means that replacing sugar with fruit works quite well as there is a lot of extra moisture. Which works well if you're going sugar free too, which I am. So it's working well.

Here's how it worked well today.


I made my sugar substitute by poaching up two apples and a pear in a small amount of water and then mashing it up.

I then got to work on the other ingredients.

Separate the eggs and beat the whites.

Beat the yolks and melted butter together. Add milk and fruit then stir in dry ingredients.

Fold the egg whites and raspberries through

Bake.

Here are the mini-muffins

And I made a loaf out of the rest of the mix.

I was quite pleased with the texture. It had enough moistness and wasn't too heavy - thanks to separating the eggs first. With the loaf, I sprinkled rice crumbs on top of the oil when I greased the pan. This gave a nice texture to the edge. It really could use just a little bit of sugar and I will probably do this next time or else add a natural sugar substitute such as xylitol (yes, I have some on order - just waiting for the mail to arrive). Next time I will also sprinkle some cinnamon or grated nutmeg on top.


Recipe - Apple, Pear and Raspberry muffins.

2 sweet apples
1 pear
1/2 cup raspberries
3 eggs - separated and beaten
1ooml goats milk
100gms butter
100gm almond meal
100gm buckwheat flour
50gm gluten free Easy Bake flour
pinch salt
1 tsp baking powder.
Oil for greasing pan
Rice crumbs for dusting pan

Peel and chop the fruit, then poach in a small amount of water until soft. Mash.

Separate the eggs and beat the whites to firm peaks. Then melt butter and beat butter and milk into the yolk mixture. Add the other dry ingredients and fruit (about 1 cup). When mixed well, fold the beaten egg whites through and then add 1/2 cup raspberries (or more if you like it fruity).

Spoon into your desired container (pre greased and dusted with rice crumbs) and bake at 180 C until done.

Now here's a question for you? Does the absence of sugar and flour mean that it will not be as golden when it is done? I noticed the mini-muffins looked a little anemic although they had risen and cracked on top and acted done (didn't shrink when I took it out). They loaf was a nice golden colour on top but was in a lot longer due to being in a large container.

Also, does adding baking powder do anything to gluten free flour? (I just did it because I can't imagine baking without it). Is it the reason for the largish holes in the baked muffin or was that from the egg whites stirred through?

Also, I pretty much pulled this recipe out of my back pocket. While that is quite fun, it didn't make the perfect amount for filling up 12 muffin tins, like other muffin recipes do, so when I've got the amounts adjusted I'll let you know.

Any insights on how to improve this recipe or answers to the above question would be greatly appreciated.

Happy baking.