Muffins and Cupcakes

Recently, I have been going to a lot of parties - specifically, brunch parties.  Now, most brunch foods aren't especially portable to begin with (pancakes, French toast and waffles all tend to go soggy), and those that are (e.g. quiche, cinnamon buns) don't tend to work very well with a gluten-free, dairy-free, low-egg diet.  So, I decided it was time to start experimenting with muffins. And once I pulled out the muffin tin (and my mini muffin tin, i.e. my newest kitchen baby), well, there was no stopping me.

The beauty of muffins and cupcakes are that they are portable. The beauty of a mini-muffin tin is the ability to make party-sized muffins (there are lots to go around). And because muffins and cupcakes are baked in the same tins, there is a nice continuum between "healthy muffins" and "totally decadent cupcakes" (banana cupcakes fall somewhere in the middle of this spectrum).

So I thought I would share two of my new favourite recipes. One is a hearty muffin recipe, perfect for breakfast or brunch; the other is a luscious mocha cupcake recipe, perfect for dessert for all parties. Both have the added benefit of being gluten-free and vegan!

Apple Spice Cupcakes

This recipe was originally taken from Gluten-Free Goddess.  However, I like to refer to these as my "comedy of errors" muffins, because I ran out of, or substituted, almost every ingredient in the recipe. Luckily they turned out.  They have a very struesel-like top, even though there is no struesel layer - it's a nice (and delicious) bonus of the recipe.

I made a 1.5 recipe, which made 12 very large muffins and 10 mini-muffins.  A regular batch would likely yield 10-12 smaller muffins (or a lot of mini-muffins; I was pressed for time, so using larger muffins meant for fewer batches). The original recipe proportions are listed, with my 1.5 recipe amounts in brackets.

1 (1 1/2) cup sorghum flour
1/2 (3/4) cup millet flour [or brown rice flour, according to the original recipe]
1/2 (3/4) cup potato starch 
1 1/2 (2 1/4) teaspoons baking powder
1/2 (3/4) teaspoon baking soda
1 (1 1/2) teaspoon xanthan gum [I only had 1 tsp left, but the muffins still held together well]
1/2 (3/4) teaspoon sea salt
2 (3) teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 (1/2) teaspoon nutmeg [I like a lot of nutmeg]
3/4 (1 cup)cup light brown sugar
2 (3) tbsp ground flax seed + 9 tbsp warm water (or use 2 (3) eggs, if not trying for vegan)
1/2 (3/4) cup organic canola oil [I used half olive oil, half melted Earth Balance, because I ran out of oil]
1/2 (3/4) cup almond, rice, or coconut milk (the tetrapack kind)
1 (1 1/2) tablespoon bourbon vanilla extract
1 (1 1/2) heaping cup diced peeled apple [three medium-small apples gave me almost 2 cups, which I used for the 1.5 recipe]

Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Line a twelve cup muffin tin and/or grease a mini muffin tin.

In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. Add flax eggs and oil and beat into the dry ingredients.  Add rice milk and vanilla and beat until combined. Fold in apples.

Spoon the batter into the muffin tins.

Bake for ~12-15 minutes (mini muffins) or 20 minutes (regular muffins), depending on your oven. The toothpick test works well.

Cool briefly, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. I found these muffins were at their best about 12 hours after baking - the topping went delicious and streusel-like, and reminded me a lot of non-gf muffins (my highest praise, as a total muffin addict).

Mocha Cupcakes

This is another recipe from the Gluten-Free Goddess (I love her recipes, although she owns more kinds of flour than I can possibly fathom - I'm already at 8 or 9, and I have to say stop somewhere!) While technically these cupcakes are "mocha", the coffee flavour is very mild and is mostly there to give depth of flavour to the chocolate. You can up the coffee flavour by making coffee icing (which is in the original recipe post), but these cupcakes are so incredibly moist that I usually don't bother to ice them.  They are also absolutely perfect in mini cupcake form, and have made it into many a care package. (Two bites of decadent chocolate goodness.)

3/4 cup sorghum flour

3/4 cup potato or tapioca starch [I've used both and they both work fine; the original recipe also says cornstarch is a possibility, but I have friends allergic to corn so I rarely keep it in my kitchen]

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup sugar [I generally use light brown sugar for all my recipes, because I can't be bothered to stock more than one kind]

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1 cup warm coffee [not boiling hot - it will affect the starch and change the batter consistency]*

1 tablespoon Ener-G Egg Replacer beaten with 1/4 cup warm water

3 tablespoons light olive oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon light rice vinegar

*I almost always use instant coffee for recipes, because I can make the coffee super-concentrated. Mixing up the instant coffee with half boiling water, half cold water, usually achieves the required "warm" temperature without needing to refrigerate in advance. If you are making coffee in a coffee maker, you can stick the mug in the freezer for quick cooling. I also generally use decaf, because I am super caffeine sensitive, but in these quantities it probably doesn't matter.

I usually make this recipe in the food processor. Add all dry ingredients and pulse to combine. Then add the wet ingredients, and blend until smooth.  Spoon into lined or greased muffin or mini-muffin tins, and smooth out the tops (fair warning: these cupcakes often bake with very conical tops, which can make them harder to ice). Bake at 350°F for ~20 minutes (full cupcakes), or 10-12 minutes (mini cupcakes). These cupcakes are incredibly moist if not overbaked, so it's worth checking them early. The toothpick test works perfectly.

If you don't have a food processor, then mix the dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients and beat until very smooth and well mixed. Bake as above.

Take the cupcakes out of the muffin tins fairly soon after they come out of the oven and cool on a wire rack.