Gluten-Free Spanikopita Muffins

Until two weeks ago, I had absolutley never contemplated making savoury muffins; if I'm going to bake, I'm all about the sweet stuff.  That changed when I recently received a butternut squash muffin, complete with feta, sunflower seeds and a hint of spiciness from one of the girls at work.  They were delicious and my interest was piqued.

Around the same time, my Mom dropped off a book she'd picked up at the thrift store entitled,  Gloria's Glorious Muffins; over 200 pages of muffin recipes, including an entire chapter devoted to the elusive savory/dinner muffins. Many of the recipes intrigued me, but when I saw 'Spanikopita Muffins' I practically began to drool.  Since going gluten-free I've been able to recreate many dishes, but I had yet to attempt the spinach and feta deliciousness that is spanikopita.

Inspired by a recent gluten-free muffin success that yielded a fabulous texture, I decided to attempt to convert Gloria's spanikopita recipe.  The resulting recipe is gluten-free and soy-free but not dairy-free, which means the boy cannot enjoy them, but sometimes a Momma's just got to do something for herself right?

The results not only tasted amazing, the texture was perfect, remniscent of 'real' muffins.  I have been eating these savoury muffins for a week straight (I made two batches last week) and they are still a delight to eat. The only downfall is that they stick to the paper liners, so a little patience is required if you don't want to be eating the paper along with the muffins.  I like them warmed up just a tad in the microwave; seriously they are so good, I ate two (I just couldn't seem to stop at one) at coffee bread every morning last week.

Since this recipe was originally gluten-full feel free to replace the various flours with 1.5 cups of whole wheat and 1.5 cups of white flour and omit the xantham; I'm certain they'll be delicious.

Gluten-Free Spanikopita Muffins

(adapted from Gloria's Glorious Muffins)

Dry ingredients:

• 1 cup Sorghum Flour
• 1 cup Brown Rice Flour
• 1 cup Tapioca Starch
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp xantham gum

Wet Ingredients

• 1.5 cups of vegetable or chicken stock 
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 egg

Add-In Ingredients

• ½ cup cottage cheese
• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1 cup chopped fresh spinach *
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp honey

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F and prepare muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Whisk dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.
3. In a separate bowl blend together the wet ingredients.
4. Mix the ‘add-ins’ into the wet ingredients.
5. Add dry ingredients into the wet and mix until just blended.  The batter will be thick.
6. Spoon into prepared muffin tins, they will be slightly fuller than the muffin cups.
7. Bake for 30 minutes, rotating once half way, until browned and firm to the touch.
8. Allow to sit in the muffin tins 10 minutes before removing to a rack to cool.
9. Brush tops with olive oil (don’t worry if they look greasy, the oil will absorb quickly and keep the tops from getting crumbly).
10. Enjoy the yummy deliciousness!

Yield: 12 muffins

* The original recipe called for 1/2 cup of either fresh or frozen chopped spinach, but I found that wasn't enough with fresh.  If using frozen, make sure you wring out as much mouisture as possible and would recommend using only 1/2 cup.