Paleo Muffins

I came across this recipe for Paleo morning glory muffins last fall and tried it for the first time in November. I prefer weighing my dry ingredients, especially when it comes to gluten-free flours, so I looked at the nutrition label on the bag of almond flour to figure out what that would be. It said that 1 tablespoon of almond flour weighs 15 grams, which means that ¾ cup would be 180 grams. I proceeded with that amount, using slivered almonds instead of walnuts and topping up the raisins with dried cherries when I didn’t have enough of the former; I baked them 25 minutes, a bit less than required. 

While the results were encouraging, I thought it was clear that the muffins had way too much almond flour. When I looked it up online, I found another source that said the weight of almond flour should be half that (much closer to the weight of all-purpose wheat per cup). So I decided to make them again to take with us on the plane in December, this time tailoring the ingredients to suit my kids: mini chocolate chips instead of the dried fruit, no nuts and (sadly) no shredded coconut, but a whole shredded carrot to compensate. And I used 90 grams of almond flour. I found these too soft and think they would have needed more flour (*facepalm*). However, on the plane, the Fox said these were the best! At this point, I was also questioning whether the baking powder was even doing anything, and I’ve since established that it does not. 

So I made them a third time, eliminating the baking powder and reducing the cinnamon, and can no longer call them morning glory muffins because I’ve changed too many things. Here’s my recipe – it makes 8 muffins, and you can double it. 

1 cup (135 g) almond flour 

(½ cup shredded coconut, if you or your kids would like) 

½ cup mashed sweet potato 

½ cup mini chocolate chips 

¼ cup honey 

1 shredded carrot (about ½ cup) 

2 eggs

½ tsp. cinnamon 

1 tsp. vanilla extract 

Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Grease a muffin pan or use paper liners (I tried with a greased silicone pan and with paper liners in a metal pan; both work). 

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well (I used a whisk). 

Portion the dough into the prepared muffin pan and bake 25-28 minutes. Allow to cool completely and enjoy.