GF Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Hannah and I have been doing the gluten free thing for exactly a month !!!  (for all those worriers out there, it's because she has been diagnosed with celiac disease, not because I was bored and needed a new challenge)
Last night, supper was just for the girls and I - we've had rice lately and Mexican too, and quite frankly, I didn't feel like experimenting with yet another so-so pasta - so pulled out an old favorite.  Muffins!!  I haven't attempted anything like since Hannah was diagnosed, but figured why not.  Started going through the cookbooks and liked this one the most.  I have to say, everything I've made from this particular cookbook is awesome!! "America's Test Kitchen: How can it be Gluten Free?"

Here's the recipe -- it starts with a flour mixtures, of which you use a little over half. That's the only issue with this cookbook, but I've started making up the flour mixture and having it ready, mostly because this IS the book I use most.

12oz white rice flour
3.75 oz brown rice flour
3.5 oz potato starch
1.5 oz tapioca starch
1 1/2 Tbsp milk powder

I know -- all white stuff, but I'm experimenting with ways to make it better, especially bread.

Okay, on to the recipe -- makes 12 normal to large size muffins

11 oz of the flour mixture
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of either xanthan or guar gum
3/4 c white sugar (next time I'm only using 1/2)
6 Tbsp butter, melted
1/2 c plain yogurt
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp. ground flax (not in the batch I made, but will add next time)
1 medium to large apple, diced into small pieces (approx. 1 - 1 1/2 cups)

Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, flax and gum of choice.
In a separate bowl combine sugar, butter, yogurt, eggs and vanilla.

Add to flour mixture and stir until well combined.  Fold in apples (or blueberries, or cranberries with orange zest, whatever suits your fancy) cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes -- this is the important part.  Once batter has rested, spoon into prepared muffin pan.

Heat oven to 375 and bake for 20 minutes.  They will brown a little on top, but not too much.

These would also be good to use lemon extract and add some zest and poppy seeds.  Just your basic muffin batter.

search for bread

Decided I wanted a healthier version of the bread I made earlier this week. It turned out super and was pretty straightforward, so I figured I couldn't mess it up too bad, so I made a few changes.
I left out a bit of the oat flour and replaced it with buckwheat.  I also replaced one of the eggs with ground flax seed, used honey instead of sugar, and finally replaced the butter with about 1/2 the amount of oil.
It turned out okay -- a little heavy maybe - I have a hard time baking for the full 1 1/2 hrs and then an even harder time letting it cool for over an hour. 
Here are a few pictures of the process.

 

this is what the flour mixture looked like after adding the buckwheat

 

The egg, honey, oil mixture

 



Beginning of mixing it all together -- kind of a goopy mess

 

Let it go for 6 minutes and you get a thick batter/dough consistency

 

It still isn't sturdy enough to not fall over the sides when it rises, so I fashioned a foil collar to help create a taller loaf

 

 

the glob waiting to rise

 

Final result - sorry I didn't get a picture of the fully risen loaf before it went into the oven.

 

a couple more tweaks over the wknd - going to add some whole grain cereal to one loaf and then make another with only partially ground flax seed, make it meal instead of powder and see if I like the way that turns out.  The flavor and texture of all have been good, I'm just trying to make it a little healthier.