About a month ago, I expressed to Ryan that I wanted to try to reduce sugar and gluten in my diet along with some other dietary changes. He helped me in creating a meal plan to make up for the things I wanted to cut down on so I wouldn’t feel deprived.
One idea he had for a breakfast option was a homemade gluten-free muffin, and he wanted to try making them for me. This was especially surprising, since Ryan is a great cook but he usually doesn’t bake.
After a little research, he created his own recipe and cooked these lovely little treats for us. And that’s the thing, they feel like treats, but are made with natural and healthy ingredients. The flour is made from blended oats, and they’re sweetened with xylitol.
Ryan chose a traditional flavor combo of oats, apple and cinnamon, but he thought to add goji berries, since he knew I love them. They are also there add some extra nutrition, and because flavor wise it works well with the oat/apple/cinnamon. Sort of filling in for the more conventional raisin, ya know?
I ended up really loving them. We froze them, and I would thaw and toast them in the morning in our toaster oven, and had a little Earth Balance or Miyoko’s vegan butter.
Then I made them again weeks later, and found I was able to follow the recipe and make another batch just as good as the first one, but without goji berries in them, mainly because we were out. Ryan said they were even better than his, but we both did like the gojis in the previous batch.
Check out the pictures below where we didn’t use goji berries and they still look and taste great! But if you can get goji berries, definitely use them with this recipe!
This is the version without gojis. Still great! Personal preference I guess.
If you don’t know what goji berries are, then I really suggest you finding some at your local natural food store and getting them! These little red berries are packed with antioxidants, vitamins A and C, and basically it’s been proven they contain superpowers to make you more youthful and vibrant. And they taste amazing!
However if you want to make other types of muffins, this is a good base recipe to launch from. And instead of the apples & goji berries, there can be all sorts of different kinds. A few off the top of my head that I plan on trying:
• Blueberry Lemon • Chocolate Chip • Walnut • Cranberry • Pecan
With this second goji-free batch I also made mini-muffins, and for those I did not put the extra 1/2 cup of un-blended oats. Even though this was kinda by mistake to be honest, I think it was good because they’re so tiny and had plenty of texture for their size. It also made them slightly softer inside. But adding those extra oats for standard-sized muffins worked well for making them feel more hearty, so I kept them in the recipe.
But have fun, experiment, and show me your modifications if you make any! I plan on making them again but another flavor, so stay tuned for that.
Alright there ya go, let’s make ‘em now!
Oat Apple & Goji Berry Muffins
Ingredients
In order of appearance…
• 2 1/4 cup oat flour (blend oats to a fine consistency)
• 1/2 cup oats
• 2 tbs flax meal (ground flax seeds)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup xylitol
• Pinch of salt
• 2/4 cup grated apple
• 1/4 cup liquid coconut oil
• 1/4 cup almond milk (really any plant milk will do!)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup goji berries, nuts, etc
Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Place all dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk together: oat flour, oats, flax meal, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, xylitol, and salt
In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients: grated apple, liquid coconut oil, milk, vanilla extract
Pour liquids into the large bowl of dry ingredients
Mix until well incorporated
Fold in any nuts or dried fruit of choice
Oil your cupcake baking pan and fill each one half way with batter - top with fruit, nuts, or oats if you’d like.
Place in oven and bake for 7-9 minutes
Allow to cool before taking them out of the pan when done.
Enjoy!
Time
Pre-prep: 10-15 minutes
Cook time: 7-8 minutes
Total: 20-25 minutes or so
Results
We ate them all so fast. Even our little buddy Kai (age 7) who calls himself a “sugar-tarian” loved them. :)
The mini-muffins. :)
Final Spiel
If you have any comments or questions pertaining to this dish, please leave them below.
If you have any other queries that are more ‘off-topic’ hit us up via email at aloha@spacenlight.com
And definitely, if you make this dish, please let us know about it! Tag us @spacenlight on Instagram or Facebook or holler at us direct. We’d love to see what you’re doing.
Thanks for stopping by!
