Both of my children have gluten sensitivities, so I try to limit their exposure to gluten as much as possible. Now if you have gluten allergies you know that gluten-free products are always twice as expensive as the original product. The best way to save money when buying gluten-free items is simply to buy foods that are naturally gluten-free, like fruits, veggies, meats, and dairy products. However, sometimes its nice to have a “normal” kid type meal, so I try to make my kids special snacks that help them to feel normal. Gluten-free baking is definitely tricky! Between grainy and slimy textures in most of the finished “bread” items, I had almost given up hope, until I decided to try converting one of my kids favorite muffin recipes into a gluten-free version…..it actually worked!
Years ago, I was on a low sugar kick (I still am) and I found an interesting blueberry muffin recipe that used only apple juice concentrate as its sweetener. (My kids really enjoyed this recipe when I switched it to chocolate chips….surprise, surprise) It was my go-to muffin recipe for years, until my kids started to have reactions to gluten and they had to stop eating them. Fast forward to a few months later, my daughter started to mention how much she missed having those muffins for breakfast. So wanting to give her a little variety for breakfast, I decided to experiment with different flours and finally found a really great combination.
Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients:
1 can of defrosted apple juice concentrate
3 sticks of butter, melted (sometimes I use just two sticks and it has turned out just fine)
2 eggs
2 c. gluten-free flour (The best combination is 1/2 c. brown rice flour, 1/2 c. sweet white rice flour and 1 c. Pamela’s baking mix. I don’t always have Pamela’s flour mix on hand, so sometimes I just use 1 c. brown rice flour and 1 c. sweet white rice flour. It turns out fine, but maybe has a slightly more gritty texture but it isn’t terribly noticeable)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons of baking soda
4 teaspoons of vanilla
6 cups of quick cooking oats
2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips (or you can add less chocolate chips if you are trying to be good)
2 standard-size 12 ct. muffin tins
Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking soda together in a big bowl.
3. Add defrosted apple juice concentrate, eggs, and vanilla to the dry ingredients and mix well. (A whisk works the best)
4. Add in the melted butter and mix well again.
5. Finally, add in the oats and chocolate chips, mixing well until all the mixture looks combined
6. Fill the two muffin pans all the way to the top ( These muffins do not rise as much as regular muffins do, so don’t worry about filling them too full. I always just press the mixture down into each well, filling it to the top and it has never spilled over. You can decide if you like using paper liners or not. If you don’t use liners, just spray each tin and that works just as well. Silicon muffin tins also work really well with this muffin recipe.)
7. Bake for 20 minutes and then let cool.
These freeze beautifully, so if you are not planning on eating all 24 muffins within a few days, I would freeze them to keep them fresh. Simply pop two muffins into the microwave for 20 seconds and they are ready. **If you are heating up only one muffin, reduce the time to 15 seconds…trust me!
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family does!
Do you have any favorite gluten-free muffin recipes??
The Thrifty Educator 