Yummy gluten-free chocolate muffins and friends are two awesome things.
Over the years I’ve become friends with various women around the world via the internet. It’s a great way to find like-minded people when you struggle with finding them in your local community. Enter: The Nourished Village.
The Nourished Village was created by my sweet friend, Joanna, to bring (and support) like-minded moms together in a virtual community. It’s just lovely. It’s filled with friendly people, recipes, empowering ideas, and caring support as we mamas navigate parenthood (asking questions in the Facebook Group like… Are you getting dental X-rays on your little one? What supplements do you give your kids? What are the best foods for growing bodies? How can we mom’s deal with motherhood in style and with grace? What schools are you thinking about for your child? That’s also where I heard about this Chocolate Gluten-free Muffin recipe.)
Joanna has told me too many times that her chocolate gluten-free muffins were really good. I had my doubts though. I was fed up with eating gluten-free baked goods that required a drink to choke them down, dry as they usually are. She assured me I would like these.
I browsed the recipe and figured, what the hell, I’ll try them. They looked easy.
Of course, I had to change the recipe to complicate it more, but only because I wanted to lower the sugar and amp up the nutrition.
So, that said, Joanna’s recipe, I’m sure tastes better than what I offer below. :) However, my family has gone through three batches in one week because the way I make them are really good, too. AND, since I really cut the sugar, I can feel good about pounding a couple of these a day.
They’re great for a dessert (in spite of not being loaded with sugar… they do have chocolate chips in them after all), and they’re great for breakfast and snacking. To get Joanna’s recipe, join The Nourished Village.
Here’s my version. Or should I say here are my versions? I’ve made them many different ways as I altered the sugar and add other fun things.
For example:
- Joanna uses 1/2 cup of maple syrup and I swap that out with full-fat coconut milk. (I’ve also made it without coconut milk but instead of 1/2 cup maple syrup I used 1/4 cup maple syrup plus 1/4 cup USA birch xylitol.) Usually, though, I omit the syrup and xylitol and use quality stevia drops plus the coconut milk. That’s not to say I always like having stevia in my diet, so yes, there are times I’ll go more traditional with the maple syrup/xylitol combo and no coconut milk. I hope that all makes sense. Just want you to know my thinking – I vary it because variety is usually a good thing.
- Joanna uses coconut oil which I swap for (grass-fed) high vitamin butter oil (or ghee) to amp up the fat soluble vitamins.
- Joanna uses baking soda, but I leave it out.
Then, I add things like:
- collagen (for extra protein)
- slippery elm bark powder (adds nutrition and it’s good for tummies, plus adds a bit of sweetness… but I don’t use it every time)
- instant medicinal mushrooms (these muffins are a great way to hide the mushrooms so my daughter benefits – read my big post on them here)
- cinnamon (yum)
- chopped pecans or sunflower seeds (they add extra texture and I prefer the sunflower seeds for the added vitamin e nutrition). My favorite sunflower seeds are from Longevity Warehouse. They’re really the best.
- two times I’ve added fresh organic strawberries (chopped)
- I’ve added raisins and that’s pretty good but not noticeably awesome enough to justify the sugar they add
This batch pictured above was slightly different. Instead of using maple syrup or xylitol or coconut milk… I took half of a banana with 1/4 cup of water and added those to the blender instead of the aforementioned ingredients. Then, when I folded in the chocolate chips, I also added mulberries and diced the other half of the banana. It’s fun to get creative with all of the options we have.
I might have put Justin’s dark chocolate peanut butter cups in a batch. I might have.
These dense muffins are satisfying.
- 5 pasture-raised eggs, room temperature
- 1/3 cup grass-fed HVBO or ghee
- 1/2 cup full-fat coconut milk
- 15 to 25 drops stevia, to taste
- 4 tablespoons grass-fed collagen
- 1 to 2 tablespoons slimmery elm bark powder (optional)
- 1 Four Sigma Foods Chaga Instant Mushroom packet (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon Upgraded vanilla powder
- Few shakes ceylon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 cup Pernigotti cacao powder (<- best ever)
- scant 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1/2 cup dark, fair-trade chocolate chips
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped pecans or sunflower seeds
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Put all of the ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, nuts / seeds, into a blender, and blend until smooth. Transfer the mixture to a bowl.
- Fold in the chocolate chips and nuts/seeds by hand.
- Pour into muffins cups – I use this Hartstone beauty.
- Bake 25-35 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean (mine usually take 25).
- Cool 10 minutes before taking out of the muffin pan.
April 14, 2015 UPDATE: I made another batch and this time used 6 eggs and 4 tablespoons high vitamin butter oil. I also amped up the tonic mushrooms, using Four Sigma Foods Lions Mane, Chaga, and 2 of their XOCO chaga chocolate. I think I’m inclined to follow this ratio more often with the extra egg and less oil