Thursday, September 30, 2010

Pumpkin Muffins

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Option: Make mini muffins like shown above using a mini muffin pan and baking for 20-30 minutes. 
I was asked to do a presentation at a large company in Stillwater, MN. The woman I am working with asked me to bring a few samples of foods from my cookbook. I thought "tis the season" with Pumpkin Muffins. There was just one problem...I needed 200 samples and every time I would frost one, it would disappear! They are very tasty!

1 ½ cups blanched almond flour
¼ tsp Celtic sea salt
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
2 TBS Butter or Coconut Oil
½ cup Swerve (OR 1/3 cup Erythritol and ½ tsp stevia glycerite)
3 large eggs
1 cup fresh OR canned pumpkin

In a mixing bowl combine almond flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Mix butter, sweetener, eggs and pumpkin until smooth. Stir wet ingredients into dry. Grease or place paper liners in muffin tins. Spoon batter into the pan. Bake at 325° for 30-40 minutes. Cool and top with cream cheese frosting! Makes 6 servings.

FROSTING:
4 oz cream cheese or coconut cream
2 TBS unsweetened almond milk
3 TBS Confectioners Swerve OR a touch of stevia glycerite (to taste)

Mix together and place a dollop on top of muffins.

NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON (per serving):
Traditional Pumpkin Muffin = 403 calories, 73 carbs, 2 fiber (71g effective carbs)
“Healthified” Muffins (4 mini muffins) = 318 calories, 10g carbs, 4.2g fiber (5.8g effective carbs)
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49 comments:

  1. yumm!!!!!!!!! im gonna make myself these for my birthday in november :)

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  2. you always make what I'm craving!! Definitely making these today or tomorrow.

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  3. Just made these...I can't believe how moist and full of flavor they are...and I haven't even added the frosting yet :)

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  4. Wow...these look super yummy! I love so many of your recipes!!
    I was wondering if you could recommend the next best sweetener to use....my husband had a heart transplant last year and his transplant team said he is not to consume truvia, stevia, the sugar alcohols...anything along those lines, they are afraid they could interfer with his anti-rejection meds.
    We have given up refined white sugar, I normally give his organic pure cane sugar....do you think this would be the next best kind of sweetner to use if making these for him?

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  5. You could try the chicory root for a sweetener.

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  7. My kids LOVE these muffinS! Thank you!

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  8. How many regular sized muffins does this recipe make??
    Thanks!

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  10. Hi Maria! These are next of my list from your SWLR cookbook. I noticed that the cookbook calls for 2 eggs, and the above recipe calls for 3. I am guessing that like any great chef you perfect & refine your recipes over time, so I am guessing I should go with 3 eggs, right?

    Also, I have that same darn xylitol question...how much should I use?

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  11. Yep, good call Molly! I added an egg after the book and they turned out great!:)

    Always use the same amount of xylitol as erythritol. In this case: 1/3 cup in the batter and 3 TBS in the frosting (you could also go by tasting and adding more if needed:)

    Happy Baking!:) and eating:)

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  12. Is it possible to make these without the eggs? I am allergic... is there a reasonable substitute?

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  13. Thanks for your interest! As for an egg substitute, I would try 1/2 cup whey and 1/2 cup water. Whey is a great low carb egg substitute.

    Or instead of water add more pumpkin or coconut milk! Yum!

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  14. Dangit, I'm allergic to whey, too. My list of allergies is pretty long... I'll see if I can come up with something else. Thanks for the reply!

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  15. Bummer Anne! How about freshly ground flax or chia seeds...

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  16. Let me know how the flax goes if you try it. I am going to make these this weekend, but I'm loving using flax in lots of stuff and would like to try it.

    I might just make myself a Flaxseed ("hot cereal") and pumpkin concoction for breakfast tomorrow.

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  17. These sound fantastic! Love pumpkin muffins! Thanks!

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  18. I just made these and they are super awesome...and I don't cook all that often! Bravo Maria!

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  19. I've made these twice now. They're soooo good! Only problem is I eat too many :) Maybe I should freeze half every time!

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  21. I'm with Sarah! I have made these a couple of times and I tend to keep eating them!! They are so cute and small that you do not realize how many you have eaten. That might be a good idea to freeze some of them...out of sight out of mind! :)

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  22. Hi Maria, just tried to make this recipe and my Truvia turned into rocks when I put it in the wet stuff. Had to throw it all out. I followed the recipe exactly. What should I do next time to not have that happen again? Thanks Staci

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  23. Really Staci? I've never heard of that happening. What do you mean by rocks? One hard clump? Or was it crystallized?

    Bummer, it works good when I make it with clients and we make these all the time...

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  24. Is there any way to use honey as the sweetner instead of the others?

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  25. The honey bear is the only animal found in nature with tooth-decay problems (honey decays teeth faster than table sugar). Honey = highest calorie content of all sugars with 65 calories/TBS, compared to the 48 calories/TBS found in table sugar.

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  26. Marie - thanks for the great recipes & your website! Like Kris, I'm staying off refined sugars of all kinds, and using raw honey as my sweetener. I'm not worried about the calories. I eat so little of it daily, my teeth will be fine... :)

    Agave nectar could also be something I try, but I heard the sugars might be bad for pre-diabetics like me.

    For substitutions, what ratio would you use?

    Thanks!
    Marissa

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  27. Agave Syrup is marketed as “low glycemic" and that is true, but let's look into why agave syrup is “low glycemic.” It is due to the shockingly high concentration of fructose. It is 90% fructose and 10% glucose. Sugar is about 50/50% fructose to glucose, honey is about 55% fructose, high fructose corn syrup can range from 55-65% fructose.

    Why FRUCTOSE is so harmful:
    1. Fructose can only be metabolized by the liver; glucose on the other hand can be metabolized by every cell in the body. Fructose raises triglycerides (blood fats) like no other food. Fructose bypasses the enzyme phosphofructokinase, which is the rate-limiting enzyme for glucose metabolism. Fructose is shunted past the sugar-regulating pathways and into the fat-formation pathway. The liver converts this fructose to fat, which, unfortunately, remains in the liver = FATTY LIVER DISEASE. Consuming fructose is essentially consuming fat! This is why I see so many children with fatty liver disease...they aren't drinking alcohol, they are drinking sodas, juices and consuming too much fructose!

    2. Fructose reduces the sensitivity of insulin receptors, which causes type II diabetes. Insulin receptors are the way glucose enters a cell to be metabolized. Our cells become resistant to the effects of insulin and as a result, the body needs to make more insulin to handle the same amount of glucose. We also start to produce insulin as a defense mechanism even if we don't eat and sugar or starch. YIKES! This is why we shouldn't allow our children to eat so much sugar and starch either...even though they are thin and active, you are setting them up for an adulthood where they can't enjoy a dessert without reaping the adverse effects. I grew up on Fruity Pebbles and skim milk for breakfast, Cocoa Pebbles for dinner, which is why I am so sensitive to glucose.

    3. Fructose is high in uric acid, which increases blood pressure and causes gout.

    4. Fructose increases lactic acid in the blood. High levels cause metabolic acidosis especially for those with conditions such as diabetes.

    5. Fructose accelerates oxidative damage and increases aging. Fructose changes the collagen of our skin making it prone to wrinkles.

    6. High consumption of fructose leads to mineral losses: iron, calcium magnesium and zinc, which can lead to low bone density (osteoporosis). It also interferes with copper metabolism. This causes collagen and elastin being unable to form, which are connective tissue that hold the body together. A deficiency in copper can also lead to infertility, bone loss, anemia, defects of the arteries, infertility, high cholesterol levels, heart attacks and inability to control blood sugar.

    7. Fructose has no effect on our hunger hormone ghrelin and interferes with brain’s communication with leptin, which is the hormone that tells us to stop eating and you CAN become leptin resistant! (please read the chapter on HORMONES in Secrets to a Healthy Metabolism for charts on FOODS to Eat and FOODS to NOT EAT to balance your hormones properly.)

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  28. Not necessarily the most 'summery recipe for me to make this morning here in warm NC, but I made these and they are great. I didn't have almond flour (have to order some), so I ground up some blanched ones in my food processor and couldn't get them that finely ground. I was disappointed and skeptical that they would work, but the texture is good! I'm sure a little chunkier than would be with a finer flour, but the pumpkin spices help it work together, I think. They are very tasty, didn't even make the frosting, I just like them plain. Thanks for the recipe! I think I'm starting to get the hang of this!! :-)

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    1. Sound great. Way to go! Once you get the hand of it, it gets easier and easier. :)

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  29. Hey I was planning to send my friend a batch of these in a carepackage, would these hold up well travelling 3-5 days/will lack of refridgeration sully them?

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    1. I would freeze them really good right before sending and they should be fine. Also, if you use coconut oil instead of butter they last longer outside the fridge as well. :)

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  30. These can't possibly be low-carb they are sooo good. I actually found them a tad too sweet. Maybe less swerve? Thanks!

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    1. Thank you! Everyone's taste for sweet is different to yes, you could add less Swerve. :)

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  31. These are amazing! I used my large muffin tins, and the batch made 6. This has been breakfast all week...no frosting, warmed in the micro with a tad of butter. And they freeze well too!

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  32. Can these be made using coconut flour instead of the almond? If you can what would be the correct amount...1/2 cup or 3/4 cup?

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    1. It's not a direct substitution. Typically it is 1/4 the amount for coconut flour and twice the eggs. Good luck! :)

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  33. I just made these for Breakfast, and they are sooo yummy! I had been missing my old Starbucks pumpkin cream cheese muffins, but I'm thankfully missing them no longer. I will definitely be adding this to my recipe repertoire! Thank you, kindly. :)

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  34. Those turned out heavenly. It was the first thing I’ve ever made with almond flour (though I used non-blanched), and I was surprised how amazing the flavor was. Organic pumpkin is a must in this recipe, I guess, makes it so naturally tasting. Thank you again! P.S. They were gone in 5 min, like you said :)

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  35. Absolutely amazing! These are so delicious, I could hardly keep my son from eating them all! Thank you for investing so much time, effort, and money into developing these recipes!

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  36. i am trying to figure out the cooking times for the mini vs the regular? the title of you post is 'mini' muffins, but the recipe states makes 6?? i filled a regular size muffin tin with 6 and i still seem to have more batter? I used a regualr sized ice cream scoop like i do for all my cupcakes, however im wondering if i should fill the cups fuller than 2/3 like regular muffins/cupcakes?? help please? im making thses for my 97 year olg grandma and want then just perfect :) Thanks!!

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    1. Sorry for the confusion. Yes the recipe is for regular muffins and the mini is an option. They won't rise as much as regular muffins so they can be a little fuller. The cooking time should be good for your full size muffins. :)

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  37. These are absolutely the best Paleo muffins I've had...by a landslide. I subbed coconut sugar and found that the cream cheese didn't need the almond milk or it was too runny...I ended up eating most of the muffins with none of the cream cheese. ;-)

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    1. Thank you very much! Just an FYI on coconut sugar, this audio has lots of great info. :)
      http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/atlcx-episode-18-the-truth-about-sweeteners-dr-david-getoff/14520

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  38. Maria :) hi!!!
    I made those, but since I'm now paying attention to the number of carbs I ingest, I was wondering if the nutritional value was with, or without, the frosting?

    I know I could enter it myself and figure it out but I thought you would know ;) (also I get frustrated at the amount of not-so-great entries on MFP!) :)

    Thanks!!! PS: I made them in donut shape, much tastier! LOL! (I know you always say that, you may be right!!)

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    1. Hi France, it looks like it was without. I updated it above to include the frosting. :)

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