Confession:  I love buying fun, random, new-to-me ingredients and I often end up hoarding them in my cupboards.

As you can see below, I have quite the collection of gluten-free flours that I still need to use.

This weekend, I decided to make a dent in my flour collection and cook up some tasty gluten-free muffins that Brian and I could have on hand for a healthy snack option or to go with breakfast.

Pumpkin muffins sounded tasty, but I wanted something with more “stuff” in it so I decided to kick just a plain pumpkin muffin up a notch with tons of mix-ins like apples, shredded carrot, pepitas, and almonds. The end result of the experimental gluten-free muffin was a soft, dense (but not TOO dense), slightly sweet muffin with lots of different textures thanks to all the fun mix-ins.

Gluten-Free Fall Medley Muffins

Bake Time: 20-25 minutes

Yields:  12 Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup brown rice flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 2 eggs
• 2 ripe, mashed bananas
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 Tbsp coconut oil
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 cup pumpkin
• 1/2 cup shredded carrot
• 1/2 cup chopped apple
• 1/4 chopped nuts (I used pepitas and almonds)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Line muffin pan with liners or grease muffin pan.
3. In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, cloves) and set aside.
4. In a separate large bowl, combine eggs, bananas, honey, coconut oil, vanilla, and pumpkin.  Mix with mixer until thoroughly combined.
5. In three batches, combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients until mixed thoroughly.
6. Mix in the carrot, apple, and nuts.
7. Fill 12 muffin tins with muffin batter, and bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
8. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.
9. Enjoy!!

*If you are living a gluten-free lifestyle because of a gluten sensitivity or allergy please make sure all ingredients are certified gluten-free.  

Question of the Day:

• Do you experiment in the kitchen with new-to-you ingredients?  
• What is a favorite kitchen experiment gone right?!