Consistency. It can be a good thing. It can also not be a good thing. My dad always used to call me (or rather, my actions) like a “bull at a gate”. If you can imagine a bull at a gate, charging, not using a lot of logic. Running, crashing, with no real thought of the consequences. Yep. I’m still like that today. Consistently rash. Like when I posted about a carrot, currant and coconut salad and some muffins that were okaay… just because I “had” to blog that day or bust. But really, it should be about the food, and the food should be worth sharing. Well, this time it is.
Having had carrot muffins on the brain for well over a week now, I really wanted to adapt them to be gluten and dairy free. The oil was already coconut, and all I needed was to replace the yoghurt with crushed pineapple. The wheat flour has been replaced with a tri-fold mix beginning with plain gluten-free flour that you can buy in a packet at most supermarkets these days. It comprises tapioca starch and rice flour, but not much more than that. To add some nutrition and texture, I’ve also used brown rice flour and a bit of almond meal.
The idea of combining gluten-free flours with nut meal really came thanks to the consistently delicious offerings on the London Bakes blog. So, a hat tip to Kathryn for the inspiration! The rest of the muffin recipe is fairly standard, with carrots and pineapple providing sweetness and texture, the oats for added fibre, and spices to round out and complement all those flavours. These muffins are sweet but not too-sweet, light and moist as a carrot cake should be, and the lemon glaze adds a zesty sweetness to an otherwise pretty healthy cake!
Lemon glazed Carrot and Pineapple Muffins {gluten and dairy-free}
Deliciously light and moist, these muffins are all the good things – fruit and vegetable, healthy oils and spice, oats and almonds… and to top it all off – a zesty lemon glaze!
Makes 12 muffins
Ingredients
Wet Mix
2 large eggs
½ cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled
½ cup crushed pineapple, drained well and then squeezed to remove excess liquid
1 cup (150g) grated carrot
Dry Mix
½ cup plain GF flour
1/3 cup brown rice flour
2 tablespoons almond meal
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ cup gluten-free quick oats, divided
Lemon glaze
½ cup pure icing sugar
4 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice
Method
Preheat oven to 210 degrees C/425degrees F. Grease muffins pans or line with muffin papers.
Sift or whisk together the dry ingredients (see note) minus the oats in a large mixing bowl. Beat together the eggs, sugar, and coconut oil. Add a handful of quick oats to the dry mix. And then fold the wet ingredients into the previously combined dry mix. Add the carrot and pineapple. Stir until flour is just combined, do not beat.
Place by spoonfuls into muffin pans, sprinkle with more oats and bake for 5 minutes at 210deg. Reduce oven temperature to 190deg and bake a further 15 minutes or until golden brown and firm to touch. Remove from oven and cool in tins for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Meanwhile, prepare the glaze. Whisk together icing sugar and lemon juice, one teaspoon at a time until it is the desired consistency. Drizzle on cooled muffins using a zip lock bag with the corner snipped off.
Store in an airtight container.
Note.
The GF flour, rice flour and almond meal should together make up to 1 cup exactly.
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