Honey Spice Muffins

Hubby and I were eating at Jason's Deli one day, and someone walked by with a small plate of the lovely gingerbread muffins they have out on the salad bar for everyone to enjoy.  We hadn't eaten there since he went gluten free, and he turned pleading eyes to me and said, "I forgot this was the place with those muffins!  They are gluten free, right???"  "No," I had to tell him, "they aren't.  But I'll make you some."

So I went to Ali's blog Nourishing Meals, certain that she would have a wonderful gingerbread muffin recipe, and sure enough, she did!  I made it and it was pretty good, but not spicy enough, so I traded the maple syrup for more molasses and increased the spices and we both decided that they were just as good as the ones at Jason's Deli!

I was glancing over the recipe again the other day, and noticed that except for the teff flour and the molasses, they are completely ED friendly!  I did the substitutions and made them today and they are fantastic!  So much better than the muffins in the ED book....  I will post an update on how they age, the only problem with the gingerbread is that they were dryer than I'd prefer.  I traded 1/4 cup applesauce for 1/4 cup coconut oil when I made these to try and keep them moister than the gingerbread was.

Honey Spice Muffins, adapted from Gingerbread Muffins by Ali at Nourishing Meals

Dry Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups (215g) superfine sprouted brown rice flour
1/4 cup (30g) tapioca flour or arrowroot
2 teaspoon baking powder (Bakewell Cream link)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Wet Ingredients:
1 cup (170g) prunes
1 cup very hot water
2 tablespoons ground chia seeds
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
1/2 cup honey
2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

Place the prunes, hot water, and ground chia into a blender and let soak for 10 to 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, in a large bow,l whisk together the dry ingredients.  Measure remaining wet ingredients into a bowl to make adding them to the blender easier.  After the soaking time is done, puree the stuff in the blender, then add the rest of the wet ingredients. Puree again until very smooth. Pour into dry ingredients and stir together until combined. Spoon batter into muffin pan. Bake for approximately 30 minutes. They will still be heavy and feel dense after baking, so don't over bake them because you think they aren't done.

Yield: 12 regular muffins or around 30 mini muffins

Update 1/27: They still had an odd, dryish texture the next day and I'm not sure what is causing it.  It was easily solved when I put on in the microwave on high for about 20 seconds though!