The Nourishment Nook
by Nicole Magryta RD, MBA
My household has now entered the world of gluten-free/wheat-free eating. It's a world that has produced great results, but takes many adjustments in your food planning and pocket book. The below recipe is actually the first gluten free recipe that I ever tried and boy was I excited.
I served these muffins one morning along side another batch of regular wheat muffins to a group of 15 people. Surprisingly, everyone preferred the gluten-free version.
GLUTEN-FREE WHOLE GRAIN MUFFINS, adapted from Gluten-Free Girl, Shauna James Ahern
One of the reasons I love this muffin recipe is that it is endlessly adaptable. As long as you bake by weight (dust off that kitchen scale), you can replace any of the following with your favorite new ingredient of the moment: the flours, the sweetener, the milk, the oil, and the figs and walnuts. I've made these muffins with a slightly different multi-grain flour blend each time. As you replace the flours, you will quickly notice a slightly different flavor combination, which makes eating whole-grain muffins interesting. If you are dairy free, try soy milk and rice milk instead of the buttermilk. If you are egg free as well, substitute chia seeds in place of the egg (1 teaspoon of ground chia seeds and 3 tablespoons of hot water for every 1 egg). You can also eliminate the dried figs and walnuts altogether or replace them with apricots, raisins, apple chunks, pecans, pine nuts, or pistachios.
350 grams whole-grain flour mix (see below)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
180 grams deark brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 eggs
300 grams buttermilk
100 grams grapeseed oil
handful dried figs
handful walnuts
Preheat the oven to 350*. Grease a large muffin tin thoroughly.
Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk them together to combine and aerate.
Whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, and grapeseed oil until they are combined well. Add them to the dry ingredients. Use a rubber spatula until the batter is almost fully combined. Throw in the figs and walnuts and continue stirring until all trace of flour is gone.
