I made a new friend, hooray! I know it sounds silly, but being an extrovert by practice only, I find it rather difficult to come out of my shell and reach out, really reach out, to people. I'm so glad that I did, she is such a sweet new mama (and the fact that her five month old grins like crazy at me is a double bonus!), and we have lots to offer each other.
When I found out that she had Celiac's disease, I was glad that I knew about it, and had a few recipes up my sleeve to be able to make for get togethers. Then new friend let me know that oats weren't acceptable unless certified gluten free. Gulp! There goes my little arsenal of recipes. Challenge accepted.
From past failures I knew that the two biggest challenges to gluten free baking was rising/lightness of crumb, and binding. My poor kids have been subjected to some less than stellar muffins, more crumbly than delectable crumb. I've found that substituting baking soda for salt helps with the rising factor, and now I tend to do that for all baked goods, gluten free or not. I was banking on the fact that eggs are good binders to make a yummy oat free muffin, and thankfully it paid off!
When the muffins were done, I opened the door and was greeted with tall fall smelling muffins. First hurdle jumped. After letting them cool for a few minutes, little hands started popping them out. The mmm's weren't too far behind. I looked at the table expecting to see lots of crumbs, and was delighted that there weren't any! Now for the final test, how do I like them? Excellent, even Phil thought so.
After delightful taste testing, I thought it might be prudent to double check with new friend to make sure that everything I used was kosher for her. Sadly, I learned that while my ingredients themselves were gluten free, two of them didn't come from a dedicated factory, so she wouldn't be able to eat them. However, these little gems are just too yummy to not share. And on the off chance that you have a friend whose gluten free needs aren't quite as strict as mine, or you want to change up your own muffin menu, here you go!
Adapted from The Best Pumpkin Muffins in Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz
1/3c + 1/4c corn meal
1/3c + 1/4c corn flour
1/3c + 1/4c corn starch
1c sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp cloves
1 cup pumpkin
1/2c milk
1/2c olive oil
3 eggs
2 tbsp molasses or sorghum syrup
mix dry ingredients together. In separate bowl, combine wet. Mix wet and dry together well. Bake in well greased muffin tin at 400 degrees until done. Isa's recipe says it takes 18-20 minutes. I don't know if my oven runs hot, or it's the nature of gluten free goodies, but it only takes 10 minutes for mini and 13-15 minutes for regular sized muffins.
Enjoy!
