All week I have been craving gingerbread. It must be the time of year, all those posters for gingerbread lattes. I had a hunt around for some healthy/gluten-free gingerbread muffin recipes but nothing looked too exciting, or healthy, so I made this up as I went along. Not to be too smug or anything, but these are INCREDIBLE!! The whole house smelt amazing and so festive whilst I was baking them, too. These little beauties are free from gluten, grains, dairy and refined sugar, and full of nourishment and protein. Which mean you can eat all 6, obvs.
These muffins are really light and fluffy and not at all dense like a lot of paleo or gluten free cakes. The molasses/treacle also makes them gloriously sticky and sweet. I have tried baking with coconut flour before but had some serious disasters. Less is definitely more as it’s quite binding. Secondly, the whisked egg whites make all the difference to the texture. I try to avoid recipes which require whisking egg whites separately as I’m essentially far too lazy, but I’ve begrudgingly come to the conclusion it is more than worth the effort and the extra washing up. Don’t hold back on the spices when you make these, you want them to be full of flavour.
RECIPE (makes 6 muffins)
2 large eggs
2 1/2 tbsps coconut flour
1/2 cup (50g) ground almonds
2 tsps ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsps coconut oil
2 tbsps dark treacle/molasses
2 tbsps maple syrup
METHOD
1. Preheat oven to 160C fan and line a muffin tray with cases. Melt coconut oil, treacle and maple syrup gently over a low heat until combined and syrupy.
2. Separate eggs. In a spotlessly clean bowl, whisk the whites until soft peaks form.
3. In a second large bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Add egg yolks, vanilla essence and slightly cooled oil/syrup mixture. It smells amazing when you mix it all together.
4. Stir through 1 tbsp egg white to loosen the mixture, and then fold through the remaining egg white.
5. Divide between cases and bake in middle of oven for approx 20 minutes until they feel lovely and springy and a skewer comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool in tin for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
These will keep for several days in an airtight tin. But they probably won’t last that long.
The Intolerant Mum 