GF/DF/SF Quinoa Zucchini Mini Muffins

I like to think that even if we could eat store bought, processed foods (which we can't) that I would still take the time to make our baked goods at home, at least most of the time.  First off, I love to bake, I always have.  Second, if I make it, I know whats in it.  There's nothing worse than reading a list of ingredients and not being entirely sure what the purpose of each strange sounding thing on the list is.  Finally, I love that in making my own goodies, I can adapt the flavours to my own tastes, or as is the case as of late, the boys' tastes.

The boy doesn't care all that much for sweet things, in fact I made chocolate chip banana bread (gluten and dairy free of course) and he touched it to his mouth ever so briefly before refusing it.  Baked goods with quinoa on the other hand?  He loves them.  Strange kid, I know, he loves healthy snacks so long as they are flavourful.

I've been making him mini muffins of various varieties for quite some time now and as you can see from his picture, I think I finally found just the right combination to appease his taste buds.  These Quinoa zucchini muffins are gluten-free, dairy-free and soy-free and I'm pretty sure that with the use of a flax gel, they could easily be egg-free too. 

 

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Soy-Free
Quinoa Zucchini Mini Muffins

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Sorghum flour

1/2 cup Sweet Rice flour

1/2 cup Quinoa flakes

1/4 cup potato starch
1/4 cup tapioca starch

1/2 cup brown sugar*

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp xantham gum
1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 egg

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup rice milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 medium zucchini, grated (about 1 generous cup)

1/3 cup cranberries

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 400F and prepare your mini muffin tin (I use the mini muffin liners)
• In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients by hand.  (A whisk will mix the ingredients and add air to your flour mixture)
• Blend together your egg, oil and rice milk.  Stir in the vanilla.
• Add the zucchini and cranberries to the wet mixture and mix until combined.
• Mix the dry ingredients into the wet (its ok to blend this more than traditional muffin recipes).
• Drop by large tablespoons into the mini muffin tin.
• Bake for approximately 18-20 minutes until firm to touch, lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean.
• Cool and enjoy.

 Yield 2 dozen mini muffins.

*I used brown sugar and sweetened craisins, since that was what I had on hand, and actually found these a little bit sweet.  I might try substituting agave next time, or reducing the sugar to 1/3 cup.