Triple Orange Muffins

It’s the little things in life that thrill me. OK, I’m easy that way.

Kitchen short-cuts learned over the past year or so fall into the “little things” category. I wasn’t much of a baker before going gluten-free so, I didn’t use the little baker’s tricks that ease the path to baking success. I’m learning as I go.

This is basic stuff for you seasoned bakers but I’m excited to share. Like I said…the little things thrill me.

1)   Store starches & gums in jars. Tapioca starch is explosive. Not combustible. More volatile, turbulent, rocketing. (Yes, I used the Thesaurus!) I’m pretty sure some type of starch—not flour—was used in I Love Lucy when Lucille Ball ends up wearing flour during a cooking episode gone awry. That’s how I look when I’m baking—tapioca starch everywhere! I used to keep starches in the bags in which they’re sold—rubber banded to keep from spilling—and then contained in a second zippered plastic bag for added protection. Well, starches have just graduated to quart-sized wide mouth mason jars. No more battling with the explosive white stuff.

2)   Crush nuts instead of chopping them. Chopping nuts was my job when my sister and I baked together as pre-teens. She was older, bossed me around, and got to do all the fun stuff. I got to chop nuts. Needless to say, I’m not a big fan of chopping nuts. Put the nuts in a zippered plastic bag, push the air out and seal it. Gently tap, tap, tap with a heavy spoon or similar object until the nuts are the right size. If there are still large pieces in the mix break them with your fingers. This works well with walnuts and pecans. Other types of nuts that are less fragile may take a heavier hand or you may have to revert to chopping.

3)   Coat nuts, dried fruits, and chocolate chips with a little flour so they don’t sink to the bottom of the muffin (or cake or brownie…you get it). Put the add-ins in a zippered plastic bag (gotta love those plastic bags) with a teaspoon or so of flour and shake until everything’s coated. Then add to the batter.

4)   Stir your batter with a curved silicone spatula instead of a spoon. It’s so much easier. This might not work with a really heavy batter so you may have to revert back to a heavy spoon for those.

5)   Use an ice cream scoop to fill muffin cups. Almost everyone knows about this technique but, I just started doing it and it makes a huge difference. Get an old-fashioned ice cream scoop, the one with the mechanism that releases the ice cream when you push the thumb handle, and use that to scoop muffins and cupcakes into the tins. The muffins come out uniform and have a very pretty domed top.  

Little things, folks, little things.

On to the muffins…

We got a tray of Honeybell Oranges from a friend. They beg to be eaten. Sweet. Juicy. A little bit of sunshine in a bright orange wrapper.

One or two could easily be sacrificed for a delightful breakfast food. No, not three…just one or two. The triple in Triple Orange Muffins is all about the flavor and color of orange. So, we’ve got orange juice, orange zest, and carrots making up our little orange triplet.

I’ve made these a few times and each time they’ve been tasty. Also, each time they’ve stuck to the muffin liners. So, if you have some tips on how to fix that please let me know.

Triple Orange Muffins

1/2 cup (one small container) coconut milk yogurt

1 cup orange juice, divided

1 teaspoon vanilla

¼ cup grapeseed or canola oil

2 flax eggs

2 carrots, coarsely grated

zest of one orange

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

3/4 cups sorghum flour

1/4 cup tapioca flour

1 cup rice flour blend*

1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup golden raisins

1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

1 tablespoon turbinado sugar, for decoration

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

Make the flax eggs by mixing 2 tablespoons flax with 6 tablespoons warm water.

In bowl combine (whisking them together) yogurt, ¾ cup of the orange juice, vanilla, and flax egg. Add the grated carrots and orange zest. Stir together.

In separate bowl whisk together sugars, flours, xanthan gum, baking powder, salt and baking soda until combined.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry a little at a time mixing gently by hand until the batter comes together. (Add remaining orange juice a tablespoon at a time if the batter seems too stiff.) Gently fold in walnuts and raisins. Spoon into muffin cups.

Sprinkle muffins with chopped walnuts and turbinado sugar.

Bake 20-25 minutes.

Makes about 10 large muffins.

*I used Authentic Foods Multi-Blend Flour which has xanthan gum as an ingredient. If you use another flour blend be sure it has xanthan gum in it or increase the xanthan gum in the recipe in proportion to the amount of flour you’re substituting (about 1/4 to 1/3 teaspoon xanthan per cup of flour).

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Chocolate Crumb Cake

Happy New Year (twelve days later)!

It was a gentle holiday this year…everyone was calm and happy. Time meandered. Things were simple. I did my best to coax that feeling well into the new year. Occasionally, a distant voice begged me to jump back into the speeding world. I ignored it.

Until now. We all know the real world can only be ignored for so long. Unless you move to some remote place. Alaska maybe. It’s a thought.

OK, get ready for a weird segue to six months ago when I abandoned the idea of Chocolate Crumb Cake. At that time I wondered if anyone had paired chocolate and crumb topping. I don’t know why I thought of it—probably just inspired by my love of all things chocolate. Unfortunately it didn’t go so well the first time. Or, the second. And, I became uninspired. Until Chocolate Crumb Cake came creeping back into consciousness sometime during my holiday hiatus from the real world.

Guess what? Third time=success! It’s rich. Really rich. And, really good. Sometimes you need to take a break from something only to come back and have it become better than you ever thought it could be.

Chocolate Crumb Cake

2 ½ cups GF flour

½ cup dutch processed cocoa

1 ¼ cup sugar

2 tablespoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1/3 cup canola or grapeseed oil

½ ripe banana, mashed

1 faux egg

1 6-ounce container (coconut milk) yogurt

½ cup prepared coffee (or water)

2 tablespoons vanilla

A few handfuls of chocolate chips (optional)

Double recipe Crumb Topping

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Line a small cookie sheet (mine is 9 ¼” by 13 ¼”) or similar sized baking pan with parchment.

Make the double recipe of Crumb Topping.

Make the faux egg by mixing 1 1/2 teaspoons EnerG Egg Replacer with 2 tablespoons warm water. Whisk together and set aside. (If you don’t have EnerG Egg Replacer a flax egg should do the trick.)

In a large mixing bowl whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder and salt. I used Authentic Foods Gluten-Free Multi Blend Flour. If you don’t have that brand on hand substitute your favorite GF flour blend or try Jeanne’s Gluten Free Flour Mix from my good friend Jeanne over at FourChickens.

In a separate bowl whisk together the wet ingredients (oil, egg replacer, well mashed banana*, yogurt, vanilla, coffee—or equivalent amount water if you want to omit the coffee) until they are fully mixed together.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix together with a sturdy spoon. This will take a little elbow grease but only mix until all ingredients are fully incorporated. The consistency will be more like a cookie dough—not a batter—and is quite stiff.

Smooth the dough out onto the lined cookie sheet and spread to the edges.

Sprinkle with a few handfuls of chocolate chips (double chocolate!). Sprinkle the top evenly with the crumb topping and gently press it down with your hands.

Place in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool thoroughly before cutting into squares. This freezes well.

*If the banana is not ripe enough microwave it in 30-second intervals until just soft enough to mash effectively with a big fork. A good substitute for banana is ¼ cup applesauce.

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