Thursday, September 24, 2015

Pumpkin Orange Spice Mini-Muffins - NEW RECIPE (Sugar Free & Gluten Free)

To kick off fall in the most "fall-like" way that I know...translated into PUMPKIN. It's a recipe I debuted a couple of years ago for Pumpkin Orange Spice Mini-Muffins. These are moist little bite-sized gems packed with pumpkin and spice with some walnuts tossed in "just because" but I certainly wouldn't object if there were chocolate chips tossed in instead. These muffins are low carb, sugar free, and gluten free. I intentionally didn't make them too sweet, so if you prefer your muffins sweeter, feel free to bump up the sweetener a bit.

I tend to prefer my muffins naked as in, "not frosted"...but if you prefer yours drizzled, glazed or frosted, I have a yummy Orange Cream Cheese Frosting/Glaze that you will love. Simply add more liquid (cream) to it if you want a glaze that inches it's way over the top and then runs down the sides; or add less liquid if you prefer a thick and fluffy frosting that sits proudly on top of your muffins. When creating this recipe, one of my goals was that it must use the entire can of pumpkin. No more little portions of unused pumpkin taking up space in my fridge any more. Besides, more pumpkin equals a more pumpkiny flavor as well as a moister muffin (win/win). These little muffins seemed to get better with each passing day. I hope you enjoy these as much as my family and I do. I snapped some photos below and included the recipe. Enjoy!



Using a 1-tablespoon scoop makes filling the muffin cups a breeze and keeps it neat
Fresh from the oven





Pumpkin Orange Spice Mini-Muffins
Makes 5 dozen

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons coconut flour
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup Swerve Sweetener (or preferred granular sweetener)
3 large eggs
1/4 cup extra light olive oil or melted coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon orange extract
1 teaspoon black strap molasses, optional
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 (15-ounce) can pure pumpkin
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Oil to grease muffin tins

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease nonstick mini muffin pans with oil and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together almond flour, ground flax, coconut flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sweetener.

In a separate medium bowl, beat together eggs, oil, vanilla extract, orange extract, molasses, buttermilk and pumpkin. Add wet mixture to dry mixture and mix until combined. Fold in walnuts. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups using a 1-tablespoon sized scoop, filling almost to the top. Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let sit for about 5 minutes in pan, then remove and cool on wire rack. If desired, muffins can be frosted or drizzled with optional Orange Cream Cheese Glaze/Frosting.

*Notes:  1) If a sweeter muffin is desired, add additional sweetener (small amounts of liquid stevia can be added to the batter a little at a time, to fine tune sweetness); 2) If ground flax seeds are not available, whole flax seeds can easily be ground in a small food processor or coffee grinder (measure after grinding).

       

9 comments:

CyberSis said...

Hi GGC,

Love your brand new *PUMPKIN* recipe.
Now it's *officially* AUTUMN! :-)

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi CyberSis,

Thanks! Yes it certainly IS. Supposedly (I say with caution) our high is only supposed to be in the upper 60s on Saturday...but, I'll believe it when I "feel" it! ;-)

BarbP said...

Love the muffins!! They turned out just like your photos and they taste just like a bit of fall! Thank you again for sharing with us. It's enough to make me realize it's time to get going on my great grandmother's fruitcake again :) Last year I subbed in all almond flour for the wheat flour and it was a bit too crumbly. Would a dash of coconut flour added in firm it up at all? Or what Might you suggest?

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Barb,

So happy you enjoyed the muffins! Adding coconut flour would dry your dough/batter out more and maybe even make it more crumbly. When you get a moment, could you send me what the ingredients are of the regular batter (the dry ingredients and wet) and I'll see I can make some suggestions.

Last year one of my blog followers made her old family fruitcake that sit in I think brandy for a couple of months curing and I'll have to look back. I think she used the dough from my power bagel recipe but I'll try and go back to find out for sure. She said it turned out nicely. Send me the ingredients and amounts if you'd like me to take a look for suggestions.

BarbP said...

That was me!
I'll be in touch soon about it. Thank you! You are so generous to those of us who aren't quite so adept in our kitchens! I do make loads of great food, but I'm pretty good at finding good recipes :)

Sabine said...

Gotta say, my taste buds are usually a bit on the fence when it comes to cinnamon. So, when I tried your pumpkin spiced donuts and they turned out to be a big hit with everybody who tried them, even with me (!), I had to give these little guys a shot. Omg, they are so awesome. Hubby called them "cute little morsels" and another great addition to our recipe rotation. I brought some to work, and my coworkers inhaled them. It's great to have a little bit of Fall at least in our food, when the weather here in LA is still crazy hot and not Fall-like at all.

Sabine

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Sabine,

I'm so happy you, your hubby and coworkers enjoyed them. We have been spoiled by several days of cooler weather, only to be smacked by the heat and humidity again these last few days. It was back up in the 80s and the humidity oppressive today, not to mention we've been bombarded by lots of rain. You said it's hot in LA (I'm assuming Louisiana and not Los Angeles).

I hope we both get some nice cool fall weather soon! Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed the muffins! :-)

Sabine said...

LA as in Los Angeles :) the heat is not letting up and probably won't for another month.

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Sabine...

Thanks...so at least you don't have the awful humidity of the "other LA"...LOL. :-)