Grain Free Apple Walnut Muffins – version 2, with coconut flour
I liked the cashew based apple walnut muffins I made the other week, but I had a feeling that coconut flour might work better for this combo. I also wanted to experiment with cooking flat cakes in the frying pan (for you again @jedau). So my experimenting hat went on again…
First step was to have a look at the Apple Walnut coconut flour muffin in Bruce Fife’s book “Cooking With Coconut Flour” then make some substitutions. My swaps:
• Replaced half of the coconut flour with carob, and because coconut flour is so absorbent I used twice as much carob
• Left out the cinnamon, because, well, carob…
• Replaced the honey sweetener with dates
• Replaced the butter with coconut oil
• Doubled the amount of apple
Being a bit of a lazy cook, I usually like to fling everything in the food processor and hope for the best. But today I wanted to be low tech, for those of you who don’t have a lot of kitchen equipment.
First I prepped the muffin pans. I usually use paper cups, but coconut flour sticks too much. Baking paper works better. So I greased the pans with lots of coconut oil, then cut squares of baking paper and pushed them into the pans. Then set the oven to preheat to 190C (375F).
Then I sifted together in a small bowl:
• ¼ cup / 36ish grams coconut flour
• ½ cup / 50 gm carob powder
• ½ tsp baking soda (1 tsp baking powder would probably work too)
In a large bowl, I whisked together:
• 6 free range eggs
• 6 Tablespoons / 60 gms melted coconut oil (but butter would be just fine)
• ½ tsp sea salt
• ½ tsp vanilla powder (or vanilla essence or extract)
I chopped up with a large knife:
• ½ cup / 60gm walnuts
• 3 fresh medjool dates, but I might for go for 4 or 5 next time (if using dried dates, maybe go for 4 to 8)
Finally I peeled and grated:
• 2 medium apples (came to about 1 cup)
They all got mixed together and left to sit for a few minutes. Although the second photo is shockingly blurred, you can still see how much the texture has thickened up, once the coconut flour has absorbed the liquid.
I saved a little mixture to make flat cakes for @jedau, and spooned mixture into 10 of the muffin tins. Into the oven they went for 15 minutes at 190C (375F). Except I misremembered the starting time and left them in for 20. They were fine after 20, but start checking at 15 – they could have been slightly moister with less cooking. But they still look pretty good, don’t they?
While they were cooking I melted some coconut oil in the frying pan and panfried some of the mixture like pikelets. I used a lowish heat and cooked them for 2-3 minutes each side. Here’s how they looked.
Here’s a pic of the two types together, so you can see that the texture is fairly similar with both methods of cooking.
What’s the verdict?
Both types (muffin and flat cake) were good. They held together better than the cashew based ones. They were very nice with a dollop of fermented cream or coconut yoghurt (see top pic). Or feel free to mix up some frosting to go on top.
The only things I would do differently another time is:
• Add an extra date or two, and mash them more, rather than just chopping, as the sweetness wasn't very well distributed.
• Remember to start checking at 15 minutes
• And I probably will go back to mixing everything except the apples and walnuts in the food processor
One last thing to remember – as I said last time, don’t expect these to taste like chocolate. Unless of course, you replace the carob with cocoa and add a bunch more sweetener!
Thanks for reading and enjoy!
Photos by me.
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Those do look good. I've never tried using coconut flour, my 'exotic' flour so far is rice flour for things like waffles. Maybe I can get my daughter to try this recipe, she made some banana nut muffins the other day.
Coconut flour is lighter than nut flour, but you need the eggs. I think it's nice to have a variety of different flours to work with, so I hope she likes them.
A few weeks ago my daughter bought a new muffin pan, but when she got it home it was too big to fit in my little toaster oven-- she hadn't thought of that part. I sawed the muffin pan in half with a hack saw, and both halves fit perfectly! She had a batch baking while she prepped the other.
Every home should have a hacksaw. The essential piece of kitchen equipment most people don't think of. One time @sift666 used one to cut up a dog bone to make soup, (Never again though, it was quite a mission)
Now around here we don't eat dogs, but I guess when times get hard we have to do drastic things. Or wait, you are talking about a bone that might've gone to the dog, but went into the soup-- it was cut because it was too long for the pot. I'm all caught up! ;)
Hmmm, thanks for the timely lesson in expressing myself more clearly ;-)
Maybe I should have included a pic
can't believe I missed out on this one
that looks yum!
more sooo walnut!!!!
You'll probably have even more ideas on how to improve them. Let me know if you tweak them.
i wouldn't change a thing though 1 ingredient is an alien to me
Nice of you to say that. Though I know that with cooks like you and me, something always changes, because that's our nature ;-)
Couldn't agree more...I rarely use coconut flour as my only grain-free alternative when baking. It loves liquid so you need to use way more "wet" ingredients to balance out the finished goods otherwise a dry choke ensues. (Speaking from my experience. LOL)
I've had that choking experience too! Some people don't seem to find CF dry but I don't think I go well on too high fibre.
I don't know how they couldn't find it dry...I almost killed my husband once on a CF muffin because it was so dry...lol! It's funny now, but not at the time. Eyes watering and followed by coughing up a lung. :D
Yup, been there, done that, after eating a CF meat muffin made to Bruce Fife's recipe...
Very nice recipe. I just got my first almond flour and am thinking of trying your carrot almond bread. It's an interesting world when you venture into the different types of flours available. Coconut flour takes so many eggs! Now if I can figure out how to make my own pasta with coconut or almond flour life would be perfect.
Yes, coconut flour does need a huge amount of eggs. Although nut flours need a lot too, the ratio isn't quite so great. It is interesting indeed.
Pasta with non grain flours would be a challenge indeed. I don't think it can be done. The other thing that would be tricky but oh so yum is croissants.
Oh my God, yum!! I keep telling people that I'm seriously miffed that they haven't come up with Wonka Vision yet, I need you to pass those to me through the screen!
Another part of the challenge is answering every comment on your posts...slacker, lol
I know - I'm two days behind. Going to the blockchain thing last night cut into my answering comments time. And the post today took ages, finding new kiwis. I'm on the clock now to answer as many as possible while the dinner is cooking.
@kiwideb thanks for sharing this, looks vergy good.
Enjoy! Let us know if you make them.
welcome
Upvoted & RESTEEMED!
Thanks for the resteem and for stopping by :-)
Awww that's so nice of you, my friend :') Thanks for detailing the alternative. That's the great thing about cooking, there's always a lot of different ways to go about it. How did the muffins fluff up though? Was it the baking powder?
I just finished this, without the walnuts and dates, and with a little help from my sister. Okay, okay, a lot of help. It turned out well! I was surprised that the apples really made a difference. I'm having trouble uploading the pics because of internet woes, but yeah, this is a testament to your instructions! I could've used honey, but instead I used cocoa instead of carob (because, well, we don't have carob haha!) and it tasted well. Turned out like a chocolate dutch pancake. I can't believe it worked!! :D
Yay, so glad it worked for you! So with the cocoa it was sweet enough just from the apple? Or did you add another sweetener. Good to know what other changes work.
The baking soda or powder help them puff up, but the eggs do too.
It was a great recipe! :D I used the bitter cocoa variety, so I guess the sweetness of the apple balanced it out. It wasn't that sweet, but it meshed well. Would've probably tasted even better if I added honey haha!
Can't go wrong with a little honey :-)
Oh, the flat cakes kind of look like pancakes. These muffins look rich, moist and delicious! I think the apple and dates would be the perfect amount of sweetness for this. I bet it goes great with a morning cup of coffee!
Yes, they are a pancake really. Just a pancake made with unusual ingredients. That would be a nice breakfast, having coffee with them.
@kiwideb thanks for sharing the recipe! I am trying to avoid gluten and lactose so I will definitely try your Muffins :)
I’ve created new recipe of beetroot soup which I think may be interesting to you. It’s the best dish in the summertime! Kindly take a look :) Cheers!
That does look like a lovely summer dish. It's winter here and we're having a storm, so now I'm thinking of hot beetroot soup. Except that would man going to the supermarket, so I'll make do with pumpkin!
Most of my recipes would be suitable for you, so I hope you find other things you like.
The photo of the finished muffins look fabulous! How is the consistency? . . are they fluffy like cake? or dense like a scone? . . or chewy?
No, not chewy. With the coconut flour, they are quite similar to a muffin texture. Not as dense as a scone. But because of the high proportion of egg, they're not really fluffy either. Using just coconut flour, things can be a little dry, as it's high fibre, but the carob offsets that quite well.
The recipe looks great!
I love baking with coconut flour the most being GF.
Yes, coconut flour is a nice way to get away from all the other high starch flours for GF baking. I often combine it with ground almonds, or almonds and some arrowroot. They give a nice texture all together.