All of my gluten-free, dairy free muffin recipes, up until now, have failed. They were either too salty, too hard, or too stodgy inside. That was until today! 🙂
When it comes to gluten-free baking I am convinced you can make the same cakes and goodies as those available to persons who do not choose gluten-free, dairy-free products.
But gluten-free baking is definitely a chore, when coupled with being dairy-free too!
I have never let this stop me experimenting, as failing at something gives you a huge chance to learn and grow. That is something I have definitely done since embarking on a gluten-free, dairy-free cook.
I never used to know how to cook – then when I started teaching myself it was when I became gluten and dairy free. So it was definitely more challenging but a challenge I accepted and I now see I have completed well every time the husband says I made a 10/10 meal or dessert.
As you can see from the above picture, this recipe turned out perfectly! The muffins had a lovely spongy consistency that springs back as you squidge it – which is what every muffin should do in my eyes, else it is not a muffin!
I also made sure I sampled them before writing this recipe and selling you down the river on a recipe that looks great but tastes awful. They past my taste test, but most importantly they past the husbands taste test. He is my best tester as he is very honest, and is always able to compare better than me to regular gluten containing products found on most supermarket shelves.
Obviously this recipe is better than commercial types of store bought muffins as it has very few ingredients, and it is made with all healthy ingredients. Plus these muffins are a great source of calcium due to the high sweet potato content!
I believe the secret to these turning out so well is definitely because I used an electric whisk – so unless you have one of those I really don’t think they will come out so well by just hand mixing sadly. But electric whisks are very cheap these days. I picked mine up for under fifteen pounds…
*** You Will Need ***
- 2 medium / large organic sweet potatoes
- 1/2 cup of organic olive oil
- 1/2 cup organic almond milk
- 1/2 cup organic date syrup
- 2 teaspoons of organic vanilla pod powder
- 2 cups organic gluten free rice flour
- 1 teaspoon xanthum gum
- 4 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
- 2 teaspoons organic cinnamon powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
*** How To Make *** makes 12 regular sized muffins
- Pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees centigrade.
- Prick your sweet potatoes several times with a sharp knife or fork.
- Bake for 1 hour, until the inside is completely soft. Test this by pushing a knife in and out and if it does not get stuck or need any force, then you know it is ready.
- Then, peel the skin of the potato and mash the flesh in a large mixing bowl with a fork.
- With an electric whisk, fold into the sweet potato flesh, the olive oil, almond milk, date syrup and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl mix the cinnamon, gluten free flour, baking powder, vanilla powder and xanthum gum.
- Next, add your dry ingredients bowl into the wet ingredients bowl, and whisk gently until everything is evenly mixed and the ingredients resemble a cake like mixture. Be sure to not over mix though.
- Line a 12 cup muffin tin with bio-degradable paper muffin cup liners, and then evenly distribute the muffin batter amongst the muffin cups.
- Optional: when the muffins have 5 minutes to go, you can glaze them with a little date syrup to get that lovely shiny/glazed look.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a blunt knife comes out clean. Let them cool before serving.
Yum, yum, yum!!! These sweet potato & vanilla-cinnamon spiced muffins truly are divine, and I am sure you will agree you would never know they are free of dairy and gluten!