Gluten Free, Sugar Free Muffins

Muffins are difficult.....not that they are difficult to make, they are in fact, rather easy to make and there are hundreds of recipes out there. What I mean by difficult is that they are difficult to resist....and once eaten, they are difficult to shift from the hips. So, in a huge attempt to eat as clean and healthy as possible, I have altered the recipe somewhat to make these little treats a little less difficult! I made these at 7:45 am today while the kids were eating breakfast and the smell in my kitchen was simply amazing. So much so that after their scrambled eggs, my little minions begged and begged for a taste of warm muffins fresh from the oven. Knowing that these are made with grass fed butter and a rice flour blend along with ground flaxseed made the handover easy and I was eager to see what my little food critics thought.
 The response was very positive...no words...just moans and
mumbles....always a very good sign in my house. Two elements I will mention about these little cases of bliss, is that depending on your tastebuds, you may prefer to substitute a tablespoon of xylitol for a tablespoon of honey. This always add a richness to the flavour of the vanilla muffins as I occasionally find xylitol even a little too sweet - but this is down to personal preference. So, without further waffling from me....Im sure you want the recipe. There are one or two steps here that are essential to keeping these muffins super light and fluffy - so do try to be precise with the technique!

Ingredients; 

-150 g Doves Farm Baking Flour Blend
(If you don't want GF, just use self raising flour)
-150g butter (If you even consider using margarine for these, I'll have to track you down and beat you with a block of kerrygold!)
-150g of xylitol OR (120g xylitol & tblsp honey)
- 3 tablespoons of linwoods milled flaxseed
- 3 eggs separated
- tsp of baking powder
- tsp of vanilla essence
- 60g of greek yoghurt
For the Chocolate Muffins-
3.5 tblsp of raw cacao (this is the healthy version - use regular cocoa if thats all you have)
2-3 tablespoons of coconut milk (again regular milk is fine as a substitute)

Instructions;

Before you do anything else, separate the eggs and whisk the whites until they form stiff peaks. Switch the oven on to 185 degrees and allow it to heat up while you throw the mix together.
Cream the butter and xylitol, then add the egg yolks one at a time and mix them through well. Sift in the flour and baking powder. Add in the flax and finally the greek yoghurt and vanilla. Now for the important step....With gluten free cooking, we try to keep as much air in the mix as possible so be careful not to mix these muffins to death.....fold in the egg whites and mix through. Fill 12 cases with half the mix, then add your cacao and fill another 12 cases. If you want all chocolate mix, use about 4 tblsp of cacao. Bake until golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Don't wait until these are cold....you just have got to try one of these luscious buns while still warm!

If you want to be really bold...(you didn't hear this from me), throw a handful of white chocolate buttons into the vanilla mix or some dark chocolate chopped up....whatever your preference is!

In the meantime, if you bake these babies, Please Please Please share a picture with me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/westcorkfit or on twitter @westcorkfit ....OR of course on Instagram @westcorkfit. Enjoy!!!