Buckwheat Muffins with Carrot and Pear (gluten and sugar free)

Remember me saying it's been muffin mania around here lately? It's true, and I'll prove it by providing yet another delicious muffin recipe with you. This round I chose to use buckwheat flour as my main ingredient. I was intrigued by Ali of the Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen's Buckwheat Muffin recipe; she claimed that due to the properties of this particular flour, it creates an almost "stringy goo" which holds all the ingredients together, therefore no xanthan gum is needed. Since I was currently out of xanthan gum, I thought I'd give this recipe a try.

Results? Wonderful and gobbled by my kiddos and husband alike. I did tweak Ali's recipe slightly by halving it, using grated pear in place of the applesauce, adding almond milk (I found the batter too dry without it), and using chocolate chips in place of the raisins (my husband is not a fan of raisins, can you believe that?!). The proportions turned out just right and the flavor was fantastic.

I commented on Ali's post that I would be making variations of the buckwheat muffin in the weeks to come. I'm envisioning a pumpkin version with cloves and nutmeg in addition to the ginger and cinnamon... stay tuned. In the meantime, try this dazzling recipe. Let me know how you like it!


Buckwheat Muffins with Carrot and Pear


Dry ingredients:
1 1/4 cups buckwheat flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour or arrowroot powder
1/ 4 cup coconut palm sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
pinch salt

Wet ingredients:
1 cup finely grated pear (or applesauce)
3/4 cup almond milk
2 tablespoons coconut oil, liquified
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup finely grated carrot
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips or raisins

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with silicone liners.

In a large bowl, mix together all dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix together pear through grated carrot and stir to combine. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir again to form the muffin batter. Add chocolate chips or raisins and stir once more to incorporate.

Evenly distribute muffin batter into prepared muffin tins, filling close to the tops. Bake for 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 5-10 minutes.