Pumpkin Mini-Muffin Recipe | gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free

I adore the smell of pumpkin cooking, so when fall comes around, I start itching for pumpkin loaf, pumpkin muffins or even pumpkin butter.  Up until recently I hadn't found a recipe that I was in love with so I decided to adapt my childhood favourite, my Mom's Weight Watchers Pumpkin mini-muffins.

The results are phenomenal, moist but light, flavourful and sweet, seriously mmm, mmm, good and kid-approved.  On top of all this tasty (and nutritional) goodness, these bad boys are super easy to make and would be totally do-able with a toddler in tow.

As you may know, I generally shy away from gluten-free flour mixes, but I recently tried one for a waffle recipe in my Living Without magazine and was left with about 5 cups for random baking.  Much to my surprise,  I was consistently impressed with the results; it still needed something, in my opinion, so I added a bit of sorghum flour to add a bit more texture, minimize the chewiness of the final products and boost the protein.  Before I knew it, I had a flour mix that I trusted.

Since this recipe uses a very small amount of gluten-free flour, and I have a lot less time for baking now that I'm a mom to two, I opted to use the flour mixture here, I'm fairly certain most gluten-free flour mixtures would work, or even all purpose flour for those of you that aren't gluten-free.  The gluten-free flour mix recipe is included after the mini-muffin recipe.

For those of you into 'clean eating' I'm also going to try substituting the sugar for some agave or honey, if you try this I would recommend adding another 1-2 Tbsp of the gluten-free flour mix to balance out the wetness of the sweetner.  Please let me know how it works out.

Pumpkin Mini Muffins
(gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp gluten-free flour mix
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp xantham gum
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 1 tsp maple or vanilla extract
• 4 Tbsp raisins
• 1/2 cup grated carrot

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and lightly oil mini-muffin tins.
2. Whisk together gluten-free flour, sugar, baking soda, xantham gum, cream of tartar and spices in a medium bowl.
3. Blend together the eggs, pumpkin, coconut milk and extract.
4. Mix the raisins and carrot into the wet mixture.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir well to combine; batter will be quite thin.
6. Spoon batter evenly into mini muffin tins and bake for 20-25minutes until the tops are lightly firm and bounce back when you touch them.
7. Leave muffins in the pan and cool on a rack before unmolding.
8. Enjoy.

yield: 24 mini muffins

Gluten-Free Flour Mix
(adapted from Living Without's 'Mary's All Purpose Gluten-Free Flour Blend')

Ingredients:

• 2 cups brown rice flour
• 2 cups white rice flour
• 1-1/3 cups potato starch
• 1 cup sorghum flour
• 2/3 cup tapioca starch

Directions:

1. Combine all of the ingredients and mix well.
2. Store in a sealed container or mix right into a large Ziploc bag and use as needed for gluten-free baking.

yield: 7 cups