Gluten/Dairy Free Carrot and Zucchini Muffins

Yay for amazing days! 

This morning the girls slept in so I called Ellie's daycare and told them today was a home day. with BEAUTIFUL weather it was meant to be.

Out we go!

But before we go I wanted to try making up my first muffin recipe.
I know what needs to be in a cupcake/muffin recipe in general as I have made so many in my days, but I have never made a Gluten/dairy/fat free one!?!? I have read many suggestions on Pinterest about each area (gluten, dairy, vegan, fat free) but never combined them all into one muffin before. so this is a total experiment and I am currently waiting for them to come out of the oven..... 

 

...........And the result is in...... quite AMAZING!!! I can hardly believe it! Super moist, soft and bouncy, sweet but not tooo sweet and with a nice kick of cinnamon. The fact that the kids had one at the park and have been beeeeeeeeegging me for more is good enough of a review for me! Plus my neighbor stopped by and I stuffed one down her throat as well, And she approved big time!!!  

These shall be made again... probably often! And at 0.5 g of saturated fat per muffin I'd say that's a winner! I did decrease the oil I normally would have intended on using, by replacing half of it with Applesauce, and it worked a treat! As you will see later on in the recipe I used a sugar replacer called Eritrytol which can be found in all swedish Health food shops and now also in our grocery shops. It's the natural sugar that comes from pears, melons and mushrooms. And what is so amazing about it is that it doesn't affect your blood sugar at all.  So Yeah, give it a whirl. Here it's called "Sukrin".

Muffins at the play park!!!

Gluten/Dairy free Carrot and Zucchini Muffins

- 3 dl Gluten Free flour of choice (could use a combination of flours)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla powder
- 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

- 1 egg (can be replaced with 2 egg whites for less saturated fat)
- 1 egg white
- 1 dl sugar of choice (I used half stevia/eritrytol sugar and half brown sugar)
- 1/2 dl unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 dl extra virgin olive oil

- 1 dl finely grated carrots (slightly heaped)
- 2 dl finely grated zucchini (slightly heaped)


Turn on the oven to 175 Celcius. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and sift back and forth to another bowl a couple of times to make sure they are all properly incorporated. 

Grate the Carrots and Zucchini finely. I used one small to medium carrot and about a third of  a zucchini to make heaped dl measures of both. 

 
Mix egg whites/egg with the sugar for a long time in a separate bowl till quite fluffy. Add the applesauce, EVOO and sift in half of the dry ingredients. Mix on very slow until it's all just incorprated. Then fold in the carrots and zucchini and the rest of the dry mix. Do not over mix as you want as much of the air in there as possible. 

 

Spoon into the muffin cases and bake for 15-20 min in the oven. Keep an eye though as all ovens work different! I checked with a toothpick after a while. This will make just about 12, but I would recommend making a double batch as they are delicious and the whole family will eat them, not just you. I guarantee it!!!  

 

UPDATE!
So for all of you who are in Sweden probably can't get a hold of Xanthan Gum (I bought mine in the UK) So I would recommend using psyllium fiber instead. I have tried this recipe again and used 1/2 tsp instead of 1/4 tsp of XG.

The other thing I tried is using just egg whites instead of the egg, and if anything it was better! Soooo high and fluffy. Loved it! And with less saturated fat, that's nothing but win's all round! So in total I ha 3 egg whites instead of 1 egg and 1 egg white.

Good Luck!!!
-Josefine