I’ve tried so many paleo/gluten free muffin recipes that haven’t stacked up against their traditional counterparts but after much trial and error, I’ve come up with a recipe that I think works well. I tested it out recently by taking a batch to a bake sale and they sold out with people coming back for seconds.
I like to include sultanas/raisins as I find they really balance out the dense nuttiness of the muffins, however they can be excluded if you’re trying to minimise sugar in your diet (in which case definitely choose the rice malt syrup sweetener option provided).
Ingredients
- 5 medium carrots, grated
- 3 eggs
- 80g/3oz or around 3/4 cup almond meal (I make my own by placing activated or raw almonds in the food processor – either works fine in this recipe)
- 80g/3oz or around 3/4 cup coconut flour
- 1 small teaspoon bicarbonate soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon of natural vanilla essence
- 1/2 cup of rice malt syrup (if you’re paleo, substitute with coconut nectar, honey or maple syrup – you’ll only need a third of a cup as these are all sweeter than rice malt syrup)
- ¼ cup coconut milk (you can use either traditional tinned/canned coconut milk or the type that is sold as drinking coconut milk)
- 1 ripe banana, mashed
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
- 1/2 cup of sultanas/raisins (optional)
Method
If using sultanas/raisins, soak them in a cup of hot water (just off boiling) while preparing the muffins. This makes them super moist.
Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius/350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Grease your muffin tins (you will need enough to cook 12 muffins), alternatively you can use greaseproof paper muffin cups.
Combine the coconut flour, almond meal, cinnamon and bicarbonate of soda and set aside.
Separately, beat the eggs, coconut milk, rice malt syrup (or substitute), vanilla essence and coconut oil (it should be runny not set). I use a hand held electric blender for this exercise. Add the mashed banana and blend again until well mixed.
Drain the sultanas/raisins (if using them).
Combine the wet and dry mixtures, then fold through the grated carrots, walnuts and sultanas/raisins (again, if you’re using them).
Divide into 12 muffins and bake for 30 minutes, or until you can put a skewer in and it returns dry.
Note
A word of warning, this recipe does take a bit of time to prepare – somewhere around 40 minutes. Add cooking and cleaning time and it’s probably more of a weekend project for me. However these muffins do stay nice and moist for up to 5 days and can be kept in the freezer for up to 3 months, so you can make batches in advance and keep them for the weeks ahead (if they last that long).
