Sunday, May 24, 2009

Recipe: The Primal Muffins!


Ingredients:

1.5 cups ground almonds

2 T ground cacao beans

1/2 cup finely shredded dried coconut

1 t ground cinnamon

2 eggs

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 cup water

Substitutions: you can swap other nut meals for the ground almonds, or use a combination of a few types. Adding 1 T of baking powder will result in fluffier muffins. If you don't mind dairy, melted butter is a great substitute for the coconut oil. If you want to use a sweetener, try adding the equivalent of 1 T sugar or some fruit, then taste before adding more. Make sure you add any powdered sweetener before mixing wet with dry ingredients. I make mine to be more of a neutral (not sweet or savory) base so I can add fruit as a sweet treat, and to protect myself from potentially triggering cravings.

Note - this ingredient list has been updated to reflect the way I would approach making muffins now, i.e. no flax or psyllium, and more coconut. I would also probably add stevia as my sweetener of choice if I were making these for others.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (160 for fan-forced). Line or grease a muffin tray (12 medium muffins, 24 mini muffins).

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients well.

In a small bowl, combine wet ingredients and stir vigorously.

Combine wet with dry, and mix with a fork until completely combined.

Spoon into muffin tray, dividing the mixture evenly.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, until skewer comes out clean. Slightly under-bake for moister muffins.

These muffins freeze very well, and are delicious warm or cold. I heartily advocate serving them with some coconut cream (or whipped dairy cream) and raspberries!

4 comments:

Linda said...

Are ground cocoa beans the same as cocoa powder?

Jezwyn said...

It's easier to find and grind your own organic cacao beans than find organic cocoa powder, but if you're not worried about chemicals then generic cocoa powder will do the job as well.

Rita Marsh said...

Why do you add psyllium husks? Is it just for the fiber?

Jezwyn said...

That was part of the reason - the other reason was that I was trying to find foods that would stand-in for flour, and I knew psyllium became gel-like when exposed to moisture, and I figured that would help hold the muffins together. I wouldn't use it now, precisely because of the excessive fibrousness. I should update this recipe to reflect that...