Gluten Free & Vegan Pumpkin Muffins

Bake 350 Degress

15-18 mins

---------------------------

1 ¾ cup GF flour

¼ tsp double-acting baking powder .

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice

1 1/3 c sugar

1/3 c veg. oil

2 flax eggs

1 c canned pumpkin

1/3 c almond milk

1 tsp vanilla

If you told me a year ago that I would be making gluten free / dairy free pumpkin muffins, I would have laughed. Growing up, butter, heavy cream, and all other yummy fats were part of our diet. We NEVER heard the words “gluten free”, we were Italian and pasta poured out of our veins! As the saying goes, "all good things must come to an end". We traded our high fat diet for the healthier option, when possible. This doesn’t mean that we don’t like our desserts or goodies now and then, we do.

It became apparent that I needed to learn to cook gluten free when my daughter became gluten sensitive. After sampling the “cardboard-tasting-options” that were gluten free, I decided that I was up for a challenge. I was going to convert my recipes to gluten free and adjust them accordingly. To my surprised it worked.

My goal is to share my recipe with you along with pictures and step by step directions. Once you make this recipe it will be a staple in your house. The house smells great with the warm pumpkin spice filling the kitchen.

Gather all the ingredient you’ll need ahead of time and have everything ready to go. You’ll need to prep your “flax egg” at least 20 mins before you’re ready to make the batter.

FLAX EGG:

1 tbsp of ground flax seeds

3 tbsp of cold water

(This makes 1 egg equivalent )

Combine the two ingredients and let it sit out room temp. This looks like it will do nothing but trust me, within 20 mins it will start to thicken and look like almost a gel. This mixture will replace the egg in the recipe.

DRY INGREDIENTS:

1 ¾ c Gluten Free Flour (I like Bob’s Red Mill)

¼ tsp double-acting baking power

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice

I put all my dry ingredient in a strainer to “sift” into a bowl. Especially with gluten free flour, you’ll need to put air into the flour, it tends to be dense. If you want to get fancy, by all means please use a flour sifter that they sell in the expensive kitchen stores, but this girl is cheap and likes to do things as simple as possible. With that said, put the dry ingredients off to the side.

WET INGREIDENTS:

1/3 cup vegetable oil (or any oil that has no flavor)

1 1/3 cup sugar

2 flax eggs (recipe above)

1 tsp vanilla

In a large bowl, mix until light and fluffy. Add:

1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix – pure pumpkin puree)

Now you should have two bowls in front of you, one has dry ingredients (bottom of picture) and one has the wet mixture (top of picture).

Time to add the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet, alternating with 1/3 cup of almond milk (you can use cashew milk also). Combine just until the batter comes together or your muffins will be heavy and chewy. The batter will be lighter in color and smell wonderful. (yes you can eat the batter raw since there are no eggs but YUCK)

It’s important to put the same amount of batter into each muffin tin so they cook evenly. Try using an ice cream scoop or a larger spoon.

Bake the muffins in a 350 degree oven for 15-18 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted (no batter should remain on the toothpick).

NOTE: If you want, before you scoop your batter out you can add raisins, nuts, pumpkin seeds (shelled) or currants.

Tastes delicious, no? My goal was to make this recipe easy to follow and hope pictures were helpful. Since I'm new at blogging, please leave me feedback and let me know how I did.

**Mangia**