I never hated Christmas before now. Don’t get me wrong; I love celebrating Christmas, but the rush and bustle of pre-Christmas activities caught me in its grip like never before this year, and I’m exhausted. Perhaps it was because the gifts weren’t sorted until two days prior, perhaps because I was baking right up to the knocker! I hope that won’t happen again. It’s up to me to make smarter choices so that it doesn’t. How about you? Did you enjoy Advent this year?

Now that Christmas is over, it’s all about relaxing and enjoying each other (and all the new gifts). During this lull, I also want to start recipe testing for next Christmas already, so that it doesn’t take me by surprise next December! One recipe I tested and shared with family this year was a great success, and received many compliments. It was a fruit mince hand pie, with a short, buttery pastry and a ‘no sugar added’ fruit mince. It will definitely be going on the blog.

There was a little fruit mince left over, so I decided to mix it into muffins for a post-Christmassy snack. I was using a grain-free recipe adapted from Detoxinista, and it occurred to me I could have added anything to it and it would have worked. This is brilliant, because if you make as many muffins as I do, you really want a go-to recipe that you can use as a base for various flavours and add-ins. This is that. Make it up as you go. I’ve included a few ideas below.

My current fave is the Choco-Raspberry (it reminds me of a brownie)! What’s your favourite flavor?

Paleo Muffin Master Mix {grain-free, gf/df}
A muffin master mix recipe that you can use to make all your favourite muffins – I’ve included seven different flavour options below!

Makes 12

Ingredients
2 cups almond meal
¼ cup tapioca flour (starch)
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
¼ cup coconut oil, melted
¼ cup honey or maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Topping:
1 tablespoon coconut sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Optional flavours/add-ins:
Banana: 2 very ripe bananas, mashed + 2 tablespoons coconut flour
Apple: 1 cup grated apple + 10g freeze dried strawberries
Chocolate: ¼ cup cacao to replace tapioca, + ½ cup choc chips
Zucchini: 1 cup grated zucchini + ½ cup chopped walnuts
Raspberry: 1 cup raspberries + ½ cup choc chips
Blueberry: 1 cup blueberries + zest of 1 lemon
Choco-Raspberry: Replace tapioca with cacao, + 1 cup raspberries + ½ cup choc chips

Method
Preheat oven to 180C/350F and line a regular muffin tin with 12 paper liners.

Whisk the almond meal, starch, leavening agents and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, sweetener of choice, vanilla extract and vinegar. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until the batter is a uniform consistency. Gently fold in your add-ins, until they are spread throughout the batter.

Divide batter evenly between lined muffin tins, filling to ¾ capacity. Combine coconut sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle on top of muffins and then bake for 18 to 20 minutes. The cooked muffins should be golden brown around the edges and firm to touch. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes
Adapted from Detoxinista

Did you make this recipe?

Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and share a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #redhotcentre!

7 thoughts on “Paleo Muffin Master Mix”

  1. Finally got time to make these…did a sweet and a savoury batch. LOVED the savoury!! Added zucchini and replaced 1/2 cup of the almond meal witH dukkah… Great flavour! I also dropped the sweetener to 1tablespoon and increased the oil(I actually used butter, not oil) to 1/3 cup. Haha…I can never follow a recipe exactly! They are still great a couple days later too.

    1. Hi Silke! You can just leave it out and the texture will be a little more dense, but just fine. For chocolate muffins, replace tapioca with cacao. 😉

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