Raspberry Yogurt Muffins

June seems to be flying by. Sometimes life picks up speed—days and weeks pass in fast motion.

It means, at least in my case, life is busy with work, family, and friends. That can be exciting but does make it difficult to keep the balance. I’m not built for a life of non-stop activities with intermittent sleep. As much as the events of the day are fulfilling and provide great opportunities for enjoyment I want—no, need—to have down time. To have quiet moments, chunks of time ahead of me where I can basically fill the void with whatever I want. (And, sometimes just to muse over life.)  I spent many years on the corporate treadmill and now looking back life was a blur of work, child rearing, socializing and exhaustion. I made a change to a better work-life balance a few years ago. It’s a good thing, as Martha Stewart says.

The past few weeks resemble my previous life and it leaves little time for me to indulge in one of my favorite pastimes—cooking and, now, blogging about cooking. Maybe this summer is just going to be that way. We’ll have to see.

Every now and then, even in a busy life, it’s important to take a break. To have a cup of tea and a scone, or biscotti, or in this case, a muffin. And, these Raspberry Yogurt Muffins are a really good choice. (Gotta run or I’ll be late for work! Ciao.)

Raspberry Yogurt Muffins

1/2 cup coconut yogurt, plain or vanilla
3/4 cup rice milk, or other dairy substitute
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
4 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
2 flax eggs
3/4 cups sorghum
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup sweet rice or coconut flour
1/2 cup oat flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup raspberries, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, optional
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar, for decoration

Heat oven to 400℉. Lightly grease and flour muffin cups or line with paper or foil liners.

In bowl combine (whisking them together) yogurt, milk, vanilla, sugars, melted coconut oil, and flax egg.

In separate bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet a little at a time mixing gently by hand until the batter comes together. Gently fold in walnuts and raspberries. Spoon into muffin cups.

Sprinkle muffins with turbinado sugar or your favorite streusel topping.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Makes about 12 to 15 muffins

Variation - substitute orange juice for half the milk and add 1 tablespoon orange zest.

Notes:

*Flax egg = 1 tablespoon ground flax + 2 tablespoons warm water. Mix and let stand for a few minutes. For this recipe double that to make 2 flax eggs.

I recently wanted to make these muffins but had no sweet rice or coconut flour in the pantry so used this flour mix: 1 cup sorghum flour, 1/4 cup tapioca and 1 cup gluten-free oat flour. Instead of coconut oil I used 4 tablespoons canola oil. I added 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and used sheep milk yogurt instead of coconut yogurt. The muffins came out perfect!

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Chocolate Ice Cream Sliders (GF, DairyFree & Vegan)

This coming weekend is Memorial Day. It’s the official beginning of Summer, right?

We’re having a bit of a cold snap here in the Northeast but the weather report promises each day will be warmer than the previous one. So fingers crossed Memorial Day will arrive in perfect picnic form.  Despite that optimism a woman I met at a flea market this weekend (as we braved the cold) told me Memorial Day is always colder than Halloween. Come to think of it she’s probaby right. But, many people think of this weekend as the gateway to summer and it’s probably because we’re ready for sun and warmth and…

…ice cream sandwiches. Little ice cream sandwiches—sliders, in fact.

It’s thrilling (yes, thrilling) to make ice cream sandwiches that are gluten-free, dairy-free, and egg-free. It’s thrilling because I can eat them and they taste good—and because I can share them with all of you! They’re so delicious everyone will love them. So you may have to hide them behind the frozen veggies and fruit toward the back of the freezer if you plan to get one for yourself. Or, just make a double batch. That’ll work, too.

The cool thing about this recipe is it makes a mean Dutch Chocolate Cookie. That’s how the recipe started. I wanted to make chocolate cookies and used a very old Hershey’s recipe as a basis for a GF, CF, and EF version. The taste was so similar to the classic ice cream sandwich I thought I might see if it would work. And, it did.

Ice Cream Sliders (& Dutch Chocolate Cookies)

1/2 cup Earth Balance
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon Ener-G egg replacer
2 tablespoons warm water
1½ tablespoons rice milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup sorghum flour
¼ cup sweet rice flour
¼ cup tapioca flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon xanthan
¼ teaspoon salt
1 pint Turtle Mountain Purely Decadent Coconut Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk together the egg replacer and 2 tablespoons warm water. Beat shortening, sugar, mixed egg replacer, milk, and vanilla in a stand mixer until creamy.

Mix flours, cocoa, xanthan, and salt in a separate medium sized bowl. Stir these together with a wire whisk until they are thoroughly incorporated and there are no lumps.

Put the mixer on low and slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Scrape the sides from time to time. Beat for a few minutes until all the ingredients are combined. The dough will be somewhat stiff.

Refrigerate the dough for about an hour.

Shape the dough into ¾-1 inch balls making sure they are uniform in size. Place onto a parchment lined cookie sheet about 1½ inches apart.

Cut a small piece of parchment—about 3 x 3 inches—and lay over one of the dough balls. With a large flat-bottomed glass or other object (I used a stainless steel measuring cup) firmly and evenly press down on the dough until it reaches about 3/16 inches in depth. Repeat with the remaining cookies.*

Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit for a minute or two. Using the same parchment square and flat-bottomed glass gently press the cookies one more time while they are warm. Remove to a wire rack and cool. Makes about 16-18 cookies.

Once the cookies are cool you can make the sliders or freeze the cookies for later use.

To assemble the sliders: place one cookie flat side up. Place a small scoop of the ice cream on top of it and then press the second cookie (flat side down) onto the ice cream until it resembles a small ice cream sandwich.

Wrap each slider in wax paper and store in the freezer in a plastic container.

*This recipe also makes very nice Dutch Chocolate Cookies. Just roll the dough balls in turbinado sugar and press each cookie lightly with the glass (using parchment) to squash them slightly. Bake a little longer—about 22 minutes total.

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