The muffin craving has been hitting hard lately, and I think I know the culprit. You see, my boyfriend and I live less than five minutes away from a park in Canton that hosts a farmer's market every Wednesday evening. There are rows of booths that hold mouth-watering goodies: freshly baked bread, locally grown herbs, organic coffee, homemade treats...and we stumbled upon a gentleman that runs a small business making healthy muffins. He has every flavor you can think of, and we can't get enough.
Unfortunately for us, the owner will be relocating to California soon. In the midst of my disappointment, Anthony said, "Cassie, I bet you could make something like this."
Inspiration struck and I started researching and playing with recipes.
Granted, I know that I can't replicate the exact secret recipe, but I can at least make some sort of healthy alternative to a muffin. There are thousands of recipes online, so I started looking and tweaking.
The fantastic thing about the internet is how easy it is to find what you need; for me, my baking priorities are:
-dairy free
-refined-sugar free
-either grain free or low carb
DON'T STOP READING YET! I see your hand lingering on the computer mouse. Hold on and give me a chance to dive a little deeper.
For those of you that don't know, when I first embarked on my "weight loss" journey, I dabbled in the ketogenic diet. Before you roll your eyes, keep in mind that it didn't last; however, it did teach me about ingredients in foods, how different bodies thrive off of different macro-nutrient levels, how I can utilize carbohydrates for my training (for example, now I sometimes carb cycle for my training...should I do a post on this?). People are confused on the carbohydrate debate; carbs are not inherently bad! We need them. But I do my best to get my carbohydrates from natural vegetables rather than wheat/grain products; complex carbs are our friends! Hello, sweet potato, I'm looking at you.
Once I experimented with what my body likes, I transitioned into a fairly simple way of eating: stick to whole ingredients.
Thankfully, there are thousands of modified baking options that you can research! We don't have to cut out our favorite treats just because we want to be health-conscious.
I found this recipe on www.wholesomeyum.com and these muffins fit keto, paleo, AND gluten-free lifestyles. The author stuck to almond milk and coconut oil (rather than whole milk and butter; when recipes call for milk or butter, I automatically swap for dairy-free options, so she was reading my mind!). I tweaked a few small things when making my version, so I'll be sure to list the changes even though they're minimal; these muffins are already near perfect!
Ingredients
-2.5 cups almond flour
-half cup erythritol (I did not have this sweetener on hand, so I used a Swerve brown sugar substitute. It ended up pretty tasty! You can just pick the cheapest option at the grocery store if you prefer; another great and natural alternative is coconut sugar).
-1.5 teaspoon baking powder
-1/4 teaspoon sea salt (I used himilayan pink salt)
-1/3 cup coconut oil (measure in solid form, then melt)
-1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
-3 eggs
-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
-3/4 cup blueberries
Instructions
-preheat oven to 350 degrees (f)
-put all the dry ingredients in a bowl
-add wet ingredients to bowl and use an electric mixer to combine; you can also whisk by hand
-when the batter was ready, it was a thicker consistency than I expected. But this ended up being perfect.
-carefully add blueberries and fold them in to evenly distribute in the batter.
-put liners in your baking tin and scoop the batter into the individual cups (this recipe made me about 12 muffins).
-bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until a knife that you insert in a muffin comes out clean.
Each muffin has roughly: 200 calories, 6 grams of carbohydrates, and 2 grams of sugar.
I know that some people are concerned about calorie intake and think that 200 is high for one muffin. But these are ideal for me to grab before or after a workout. In my personal health life, calories are not important to me (in fact, I do need higher calories to keep up with my activity level). If you do track your calories for any reason, keep in mind that this snack is only filled with ingredients that help your body. Healthy fats, unrefined almond flower, fruit, and no dairy. These muffins will help fight inflammation in the body, keep you full, and help maintain a functioning digestion system.
While cooking brings me joy, baking has been my interest lately. If you have any requests or questions, let me know! And if you replicate the recipe for the Fourth of July, I'd love to see some pictures.
-c.j.d.
*all pictures shown are my own*