I have become obsessed with muffins in the last year. They are such an easy thing to whip up and put together, you can eat a few fresh out of the oven, then freeze the leftovers and have breakfasts for a week! What I love about muffins is that I can make a batch and freeze them all just before going on a road trip. I always pack a cooler and these take up little room and then eating both on the road and when we get to where we are going is so much easier for me. We leave bright and early tomorrow morning for Kentucky to see Mark’s family, so I thought making sure I have some healthy options while we were away was smart.

It’s wonderful how versatile this muffin recipe is, there are so many flavor combinations that you can play with. I have found that the almond flour yields the best results with gluten-free muffins. They are fluffy, light and aren’t dense as some gluten-free baked-goods tend to be. This time I decided to add in some flax-seeds for some fiber and other healthy goodies like Omega-3 fats. They gave these muffins a great crunch and brought a nice nutty flavor. If you are thinking you wouldn’t like the whole seeds, you could certainly grind them up first and add them in with the flours, ground up.

This is my first time baking with Sucanat and I am pretty happy with it. Sucanat is dried pure cane juice, it works great as a substitute for brown sugar in most recipes. Unlike refined processed white sugar, it retains it’s natural molasses content and is a true unprocessed sugar. It has a lower sucrose levels and it is believed that it is healthier than other sugars.

I always have dried unsweetened currants on hand, they are great in salads, with grains and in baked-goods. They currants pair very well with the spices in these muffins, they have so much flavor. If you wish to skip the eggs to make these muffins vegan, replace the egg whites with 1 tablespoon Ener-G Egg Replacer whisked with 1/4 cup warm water till frothy.

Currant Spiced Flax-Seed Muffins
makes 12 muffins

1 1/3 cups almond flour
1 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup potato starch or tapioca starch
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 cup organic sucanat (dried cane juice)
2 tablespoons light olive oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 organic free-range egg whites (depending on the size, you are looking to get 1/4 cup of liquid), beaten until frothy*
1/2 cup warm water, more as needed, up to 3/4 cup
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup organic flax seeds, (I used them whole, you could certainly grind them first)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/3 cup dried currants, no sugar added

Preheat oven to 375º F. Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners.

Whisk together the first 7 ingredients (up to and including the xanthan gum). Beat in the sugar, olive oil, vanilla, egg whites, warm water and lemon juice. Beat until it is smooth and like a thick cake batter.
Add in the flax seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and dried currants. Stir briefly, until thoroughly combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake in the center of a preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden and firm to the touch. A wooden pick inserted into the center should emerge clean.

Cool the muffin pan on a wire rack for five minutes. Gently pop the muffins out to continue cooling on the rack (don’t cool them longer than 5 minutes in the hot pan- they’ll definitely get soggy). Enjoy a muffin after they have cooled 10 minutes, you know you want to.

Freeze any leftover muffins in tightly sealed freezer bags and pop one out for a quick and easy breakfast.

*See above note about making these vegan.