Sunday, August 21, 2011

Gluten Free Zucchini Muffins

Hi all!  How’s your day going?  We had a stormy night around here yesterday so I decided to try my hand at some gluten free baking.  The September issue of Chatelaine magazine couldn’t have landed in my mailbox at a better time because for the first time since I’ve been subscribing to this magazine…..and it’s been a few years….it was packed with gluten free recipes!  It also went into detail about which flours are gluten free and how to blend them together to get the best results.  With an abundance of zucchini coming from from garden I decided to try the recipe for “melt in your mouth carrot cupcakes”, but I subbed in zucchini!  IMG_6298 The recipe was followed almost exactly with the exception of a few subs I had to make using what I had in my pantry;
  • used a 1/3 cup of quinoa flour instead of teff flour
  • used 2 tbsp of corn starch in place of tapioca starch
  • used 1 tsp of guar guar in place of xanthan gum
  • and, of course, 1.5 cups of grated zucchini in place of carrots
IMG_6297
I won’t lie; I was pretty nervous that these would be a BIG fail!  I’m a spoon licker when I bake and the batter seemed “gritty” to me.  The mixture was also smoother than what I’m used to seeing in a muffin blend.  YIKES!!!IMG_6295
I let them cool for a good half hour before taste testing one.  The verdict?   AWESOME!  Jason and I both agreed that there really wasn’t much difference from a “regular” zucchini muffin that I would bake.  The 2 noticeable differences for me was that with 1 cup of sugar, they were much sweeter than I’m used to and because I used quinoa flour, the smell a bit like, well….quinoa!   IMG_6296 All in all, I’m quite pleased with my first gluten free baking adventure.  This recipe has given me the confidence I need to try another knowing that there’s nothing to fear in using ingredients that are unfamiliar to me!IMG_6298
Tell me; is there an ingredient or style of baking that has had you intimidated to use/try, but once you took the plunge became a fan?
Bye for now!!

9 comments:

  1. Mmmm!! Those look awesome, Krista! I don't bake GF for myself anymore, but I've had success in that area as well...

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  2. So glad these turned out so well!

    I'm pretty intimidated when it comes to baking in general as I don't like to follow recipes... :) But I have baked bread with success and plan on making more! :)

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  3. I love that muffin! I used to be afraid to bake with avocado, but I tried it (Chocolate Avocado Cupcakes) and they were really delicious!

    P.S. - I love Chatelaine magazine :)

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  4. Yum! Glad they turned out well. Yeast used to make me nervous!

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  5. The muffin looks good!

    I'm still intimidated by a lot of cooking. To date I have never used yeast to make anything.

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  6. These look delicious!! I'm still intimidated to try yeast by myself. My mom and I have used it before..but it's just too much for me!

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  7. these muffins look and sound so great! I'd love to try one!
    I used to get intimated with yeast, but once I figured out that the key is to keep the proportions right, I became a lover of bread making!

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  8. Do you have the Quinoa 365 cookbook? I would recommend picking it up - lots of great quinoa recipes, including baking, and many of them are gluten free. Since I know you enjoy quinoa, I thought it might be a great addition to help you out in your gluten free adventures :)

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  9. Zucchini muffins and quickbread is one of my favorite uses for all the delicious summer zucchini! I love the use of quinoa flour here, I would love to try that!

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