Yes folks, I'm so excited I've come over all acronymous or acronymic, or rather a couple of acronyms sprang to mind and mouth - and that's a couple more than I'd normally use, being a fan of sensual descriptions and respect for the fullness of our beautiful language. But when I peeked in the oven and saw the height on these flourless, grainless, PNB rich babies I just thought OMG! I drew them out of the oven like a brain surgeon, half expecting that as the warmed air left them they would collapse like souffles. I returned to them several times over the next ten minutes, each time perceiving that they were still holding that lovely risen shape and thinking 'hee hee!' and then 'ho ho!' and then 'ha!' as I peeled off a wrapper and found that the interior was moist, firm and bread like.
I guess I should make these an homage to the effervescent Peanut Butter Boy as they get most of their flavour and a big hand on the texture front, from our humble and yet versatile friend Peanut Butter. I think they would be great split or even sliced into two dinky round sandwiches and smeared with some great fruity jam (or Jelly), but I just sliced off a nice piece of butter and drizzled a tiny bit of honey over and enjoyed the time honoured partnership of PB and honey (at least it's time honoured for all hippy kids, that and Tahini and honey).
These are really very breadlike, not sweet really, so they benefit from something extra to be added to them. The texture is great and I think it would bake into a small loaf for slicing - the muffins certainly slice beautifully. Please let me know if anyone tries this. For any Americans, dessertspoons are the ones you use to eat pudding with.
I guess I should make these an homage to the effervescent Peanut Butter Boy as they get most of their flavour and a big hand on the texture front, from our humble and yet versatile friend Peanut Butter. I think they would be great split or even sliced into two dinky round sandwiches and smeared with some great fruity jam (or Jelly), but I just sliced off a nice piece of butter and drizzled a tiny bit of honey over and enjoyed the time honoured partnership of PB and honey (at least it's time honoured for all hippy kids, that and Tahini and honey).
These are really very breadlike, not sweet really, so they benefit from something extra to be added to them. The texture is great and I think it would bake into a small loaf for slicing - the muffins certainly slice beautifully. Please let me know if anyone tries this. For any Americans, dessertspoons are the ones you use to eat pudding with.
PB and Coconut Breakfast Muffins
4oz Coconut flour (or ground dessicated coconut)
4oz Ground almonds
4oz Soft salted butter
2 Dessertspoons runny honey
4 Heaped dessertspoons smooth unsalted peanut butter
4 Large organic eggs
1/2 tsp Agar flakes (leave out if you follow SCD)
1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp Cream of tartar (1 1/2 tsp vinegar for SCD)
Good squeeze of lemon juice
Preheat the oven to 170C and fill a muffin tray with 8 cases. Fill the spare holes with water.
In a blender beat together butter, Peanut butter and honey until light and creamy. Separate eggs and add the yolks one at a time, beating between each addition. Blend in the coconut and almond meal in three lots, adding bicarb with the last lot.
In a clean bowl whisk the egg whites with agar flakes and cream of tartar (or leave out agar and use vinegar for SCD legal muffins) until stiff peaks form.
Scrape the butter mix into the bowl with your egg whites and squeeze in the lemon juice. Fold until no whites are visible and fill muffin cases.
Bake for 20-25 mins until well risen, golden brown and firm to the touch.
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26 comments:
These look simply fabulous. I'll have to try this one out...so many healthy foods in them.
Sheltie Girl @ Gluten A Go Go
those looks DELICIOUS Naomi!!! Yum!! I've been using a lot more ground proteins instead of carb flours too! I can't wait to try these muffins!!
OMG, this is too funny. You will have to look at my latest post. I think we are on the same wave lenght!
Excellent combination. Many of my british friends find peanut butter in baked goods a real turn-off, but I'm a sucker for it. PB and coconut...Mmmm....
OMG, these certainly look outstanding =). I love your awesome and unique combinations of ingredients...I don't get how you manage to get these recipes to work so well! What exactly are agar flakes and what do they do? For some reason, all I can think of is that they are like fish food....but I'm not sure why. Oh and I've got my coconut flour! I need to try these because I made a different coconut flour recipe that wasn't the best, but I think a loaf of this sounds might nice. Did you try toasting them after they were sliced?
I'm one of those Americans you speak of, but I do know what a dessert spoon is. I imagine it's around 1 tsp?
- The Peanut Butter Boy
By the way Naomi, I think you'd enjoy the post by Carol over at Simply..Gluten Free. She too made a gluten/grain-free peanut butter muffin! Haha, I just realized that she also happened to "credit" me for the inspiration. Yay! My peanut butter addiction is also a highly contagious virus!
- The Peanut Butter Boy
Well, I take my hat off to you. Soon we'll all be wondering why we ever bothered with grains at all... ;)
I made these yesterday afternoon and ate them for breakfast this morning. They were delicious! I dont have a muffin pan (I just used muffin paper cups) so mine look more like spaceships than muffin but it was still good. Maybe Ill invest in a muffin pan when I get a bigger kitchen!
Natalie, so glad you like them - they taste even better the next day contrary to most gluten free baked goods.
Carrie, I'll be over soon to check out what you are doing with your high protein flours. So nice to see you!
Carol, I'll be over just as soon as I've finished this comment - you know we do both seem to be working the same groove, and I like it (you're my hero).
Annemarie, Yes most brits haven't been inducted in the worship of PB like many Americans. But what do they know eh?
Nick, agar flakes are used like gelatine to provide a little help in creating structure in baked goods - or jelly! They are made from sea weed, so I guess the fish connection isn't that far fetched. You could use gelatine in their place. I didn;t try toasting it but I think it would be great, the crust had a lovely flavour - or french toast style with peanut butter sauce? BTW (all about the anachronims) a dessert spoon is about 3 teaspoons - didn't realise you were so dainty with pudding? I think it's about the same as an American tablespoon.
Forkful, Bless you, what a great thing to say!
Malillies, it's not always a beauty contest with muffins, just make smaller ones in dainty fairy cake cases and eat twice as many! Delighted to hear that you tried the recipe.
x x x
Naomi--curious curious indeed. I'm off to find out if my local suppliers carry exciting things like agar flakes. I finally hunted down and "borrowed" (permanently) some xanthan gum to work with from a neighboring lab. Hooray!
A quick question for you--(and yes, it's the scientist coming out of the woodworks) when you say sugar free, do you just mean sucrose free? Are you trying to avoid glucose, too?
On another note, I know I've talked up xylitol before, but just in case you're still a bit iffy about it see here.
These look delicious - what a great sucess. I would eat mine warm with nutella :)
Hi Naomi,
I have awarded you an 'E for Excellence' Award. You can go to my blog to get the logo.
I have also tagged you for a Six Word Memoir. Go here for more info: http://appleandspice.blogspot.com/2008/04/award-and-six-word-memoir.html
Thanks :)
My dear chou, so nice to see you again! I'm sure you'll be able to hunt down agar flakes somewhere - they are used in japanese cooking. I use them because they provide structure without complex carbohydrate.
The sugar thing is interesting - I can give you all the science you want honey, I love that sort of thing! As I am following SCD, or specific carbohydrate diet only monosaccharides are allowed, because they can be fully digested by a damaged gut, leaving no carb waste behind for those nasty microbes to feast on.
So sucrose is out because it is a disaccharide and most other sugars, sugar alcohols and substitutes are out too, for being too complex. Fructose, in its natural form in fruit is ok, being mono and honey is fine too.
Zylitol, whilst fantastic, low GI and tooth protecting for those without damaged guts - is still a complex carbohydrate and therefore not appropriate for me at the moment. I have used it though.
I guess I'm mostly trying to re-educate my taste buds to appreciate the sweetness of fruit and rely less on sweetening foods to satisfy my sweet tooth. It seems to be working. Phew - long reply. x x x
Katie, nutella would be fantastic with these - or you could even make your own slightly less sugary version by melting some high quality chocolate and stirring it into some hazelnut butter. Yum!
x x x
these are so adorable!
I CAN ONLY IMAGINE THE SMELL COMING OUT OF YOUR OVEN... !!!
Celine,
Thankyou!
Cook Eat Fret,
Yup, even if I say so myself - toasty coconut, PB and butter in the morning makes for an olfactory party in my kitchen.
x x x
Thanks for the reply--I've been really intrigued by what I'm learning from you. Glad to be back!
those look amazing!!
Dear Naomi, I'm so happy I stumbled upon your fantabulous blog today. I can tolerate gluten in food but I have quite a few friends who can't so now, thanks to your tried-and-tested recipes, I'll have a whole new repertoire of things to feed them with when they come over. x
Gliding calm and likkle girl,
thanks for visiting - glad you like the recipes.
x x x
Im new to SCD, but I thought agar was not allowable?
Fiona,
You're right - I didn't realise that at the time as I was just starting out myself. If you want to make these then just substitute gelatine for the agar as this is allowed. However, if you are new to SCD I would suggest you stick to the nut muffins and leave coconut for a while - it's pretty tough to digest and can make you very windy.
x x x
Are these better with the coco flour or the dessicated coconut, Naomi? I've worked with coconut flour and it seems to make everything so heavy and dense, perhaps because it is defatted and sucks out all moisture? Have both on hand at the moment, so write back soon. :) This is the recipe of yours I've been eyeing the most because of the low carb content and fab flavor combo!
Once again Naomi, you have created a heavenly delight. I made these this morning and they are absolutely divine. I too was pleasantly surprised to see the tops so tall and round. What a treat. Thanks again for so freely sharing your talents and creativity with the rest of us. I always look forward to your next blog entry full of beautiful words and delightful recipes.
Lauren,
sorry about the delay in replying - old post you see, plain forgot it was there!
My preference is to grind up desiccated coconut and use that - if you find that your coconut flour is really dry and heavy then maybe add a spoonful of coconut oil into the mix too? These muffins are best on the day you make them, the next day slice and toast them or make french toast.
Shannon, thank you for your generous words and support - glad you enjoyed the muffins!
x x x
Hi Naomi,
I tried the loaf - it worked quite well, although I used coconut flour which indeed made the whole thing very dense and a bit crumbly. Should have used one more egg, perhaps. It sat in the oven for about 1 hour and 15 minutes and rose beautifully. I sliced it in the morning, toasted it and had it with some very dark Portuguese honey ...mmh!
Thanks, you really enlighten my SCD life :-)
Mia
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