GF Chocolate Chip Muffins

One of the first baking challenges I faced when Mr. GF gave up gluten was to develop a light and tasty gluten free muffin recipe.

The first few versions were sad, doughy little rocks studded with chocolate chips, but I eventually found the right blend of ingredients and came up with what is now our favorite muffin recipe.  (We make them almost every week!)

(makes 1 dozen standard sized muffins)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• 1/2 cup sorghum flour
• 1/4 cup potato starch (sometimes called potato starch flour)
• 2 teaspoon xanthan
• 2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 medium banana, mashed
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon natural applesauce
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400^o
2. Coat a muffin tin with cooking spray and set aside.
3. In a medium bowl mix first eight ingredients (brown rice flour through nutmeg) until well blended.
4. In separate bowl beat mashed banana with milk, oil and egg, add flour mixture and sugar, stir until well combined.
5. Stir in apple sauce and chocolate chips.  Stir until just combined.
6. Divide dough evenly into prepared muffin tin and bake 19 minutes at  400^o

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^{411 – A few misc. tips if you run out of ingredients}

The milk can be substituted with fruit juice, soy milk or pretty much any other liquid without too much difference in taste or texture.

Apple sauce makes a great 1:1 substitute for the cooking oil.

1 teaspoon of ground flax mixed with enough water to dissolve makes an easy substitute for the egg.

Fruit or nuts are a great substitute for chocolate chips.

To make your muffin a little healthier simply add 1 tablespoon of ground flax and another tablespoon of apple sauce.  (I find that the flax makes the muffins a little dry)

These muffins hold their freshness for about five days.  The sixth day is okay but they will be starting to get a little firm.  I haven’t tried freezing them, but they should be okay to freeze for a few months.