This weekend I was in the mood for Fall. On Saturday we went to the Great America Haunt and not only did the Halloween decorations make me feel like it was Fall, but the chill in the air and the almost full moon made me want to curl up at home in front of the fire with a hot beverage and some delicious spicy-sweet dessert. That weekend, thanks to our Yahoo SillyYaks support group, I happened across a (gluten) recipe for ginger-molasses muffins from the New York Times that I found intriguing. It had crystallized ginger and fresh ginger for lots of kick, and didn’t call for any dairy at all, leaving the question of dairy or dairy-free milk entirely out of the equation. It was also naturally free of soy. I appreciated its usage of blackstrap molasses as one of the main sweeteners- with its high iron and calcium content, it is a great alternative to less nutritious mainstream sweeteners. When I decided to invite a friend over with multiple allergies, including an allergy to tapioca starch, I thought this recipe might be just perfect to share with a little tweaking. I came up with a flour blend without tapioca starch using potato starch instead, and used brown rice flour and teff for more whole-grain nutrition and flavor. The recipe was a hit with the DH as well as our guests, although DH’s first inclination was to whip up a batch of cream cheese frosting to slather on the muffins like cupcakes. Actually, that’s not a bad idea- I was just trying to be calorie conscious. However you frost or don’t frost them, these muffins are sweet and hearty, perfect for a cool fall night or a cool, sunny morning breakfast. They’re especially pretty baked in mini bundt cake tins, but would be great (and easier to remove) from muffin tins. Hope you enjoy!
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Gluten-Free Ginger Molasses Muffin Recipe
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Ingredients
Canola oil for greasing muffin tins
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda 1/2 cup blackstrap molasses 1/2 cup canola oil 2 eggs, beaten 1 1/2 tsp. grated fresh ginger 1/2 cup white rice flour 1/2 cup brown rice flour 1/3 + 1/6 cup potato starch 1/6 cup whole grain GF flour- teff, quinoa, or buckwheat 1/2 cup raw sugar 3/4 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. high quality ground cinnamon pinch of ground cloves 4 tbsp. crystallized ginger, minced 1/4 cup chopped raisins 1/4 cup walnuts for serving, toasted (optional)
Directions
Grease a muffin tin with oil (or use paper liners) and preheat oven to 350 F.
Bring 1/2 cup water to boil (in microwave, in electric kettle, or on stove). Add to a medium bowl and whisk in the baking soda. Next, add your molasses and oil and combine thoroughly. add eggs and ginger. In a large bowl, whisk your flours, sugar and dried spices (reserving the ginger) until ingredients are evenly distributed. Fold your wet ingredients into the dry ingredients without over-mixing. Stir in the crystallized ginger and raisins. Pour evenly into your muffin tin and bake for 30 or 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry. Cool in pan for five or ten minutes and then put on wire rack to cool. Sprinkle and serve with toasted walnuts if you like. |
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