What do you think of during the fall season? For me, the sweet, spicy smell of cinnamon and the warm, scrumptious bite of pumpkin pie takes me into a fall fantasy. However, during the holiday season, dense, calorie-laden sweet treats are everywhere. What’s worse is that they are made with processed, refined ingredients such as butter which have little nutritional value. This autumn, opt for this pumpkin-cranberry muffin that is gluten-free and made with all natural ingredients.
Dry Ingredients
1 Cup Almond Meal
½ Cup Coconut Flour
2 Tsp. Baking Powder
2 Tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 Tsp. Salt
1 Cup Dried Cranberries
¾ Cup Roasted Sunflower Seeds
Wet Ingredients
½ Cup Raw Agave Nectar (or Raw Honey)
4 Eggs
1 Tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract
½ Cup Organic Pumpkin Puree
⅓ Cup Melted Coconut Oil
⅓ Cup Milk (or Dairy Free Milk)
This recipe yields 12 muffins.
Start with assembling your dry ingredients and wet ingredients in two separate bowls. Leave the dried cranberries and roasted sunflower seeds out for now. In the first bowl, measure in 1 cup of almond flour, ½ cup of coconut flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of salt and 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice. As a side note, you can also make your own pumpkin pie spice by combining 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon of cloves and ½ teaspoon of ginger. Mix the dry ingredients together.
In the other bowl, mix together the wet ingredients until smooth. Crack in 4 eggs, drizzle in ½ cup of agave nectar, add in ½ cup of pumpkin puree, pour in ⅓ cup of melted coconut oil and ⅓ cup of milk. Now, you should have a thick, smooth consistency in the second bowl.
Grab a spoon and add a quarter of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Slowly fold in the dry ingredients until incorporated. Then, add in another quarter; you will be repeating this process until you run out of the dry ingredients. By now, your batter should be slightly moist and not runny in a single bowl. Taste the batter and adjust the sweetness to your liking.
Lastly, take your 1 cup of dried cranberries and ¾ cup of roasted sunflower seeds and dump them into the batter. Use a spoon and gently fold in the two ingredients. Do not overmix the batter, because it will become tough. You,want to fold in the ingredients in a gentle motion so a few times will do.
Set your batter aside and preheat your oven for five minutes in 350°F. Grab your muffin tin and line it with
cupcake liners or spray it with non-stick cooking spray. Fill in your muffin tin full with the batter and now you are ready to bake them. Stick them in the oven for 30 minutes in 350°F and they will be ready when a fork or toothpick goes through the muffins and comes out clean. Once they are done, allow them to cool down for at least 15 minutes on a wire rack or plate.
These muffins are great for breakfast and snack time. Coconut flour is full of fiber, almond meal is packed with protein and pumpkin puree gives a moist texture. Forget the buttery, sugary cake, and make some of these nutritious, gluten-free muffins and enjoy it with a mug of coffee or spiced tea.