Month: June 2015

Gluten Free Lemon Poppy Seed Pumpkin Muffins

Hi Your Fit Day Friends!

Well, spring is here in the Bay Area and the days are getting warmer and longer.

And with more warm weather comes sunshine. And as always, that means more lemons from my friend’s lemon tree. Actually, here in California we are blessed with lemons hanging all year round.

I love lemon-y anything!

So when life hands you lemons, what do you make?

Cakes, cookies, muffins and pies. That’s what!

And what goes with lemon? Poppies Poppy seeds, that’s what. And I love poppy seeds.

Those little crunchy poppy seeds with their bursts of nuttiness. There’s nothing like a sweet pastry, cake, cookie or dough laced and filled with poppies… I mean poppy seeds!

I first developed this muffin a couple years ago, after my shoulder surgery, when I started using the Carnbite® Solution Plan, which I stayed on for about 1 1/2 years ( A little too long, but that’s another blog I’ll be following up with).

So it was during this time I was inspired to start baking more gluten free deserts for both me and my clients.

And I had a real yen for lemon poppy seed bread.

After many failed attempts, and a bunch of bricks, I finally came up with my own gluten free version for lemon poppy seed muffins, which are also delicious baked as small tea cakes.

I use Kabocha squash, also known as Japanese pumpkin, because of it’s rich creamy texture, and is my ‘go to’ substitute for fat in almost any baked good. But you can also use canned pumpkin, or another winter squash.

As you make more of my recipes, you’ll see that I use Kabocha in most of them. It’s super nutritious and packs a punch with vitamin A. It’s a bit starchy though, so a little goes a long way.

This muffin is by no means low carb, so it can be a great addition to your post workout protein to round out the meal.

But my favorite time to have this is for my desert after dinner, when I let those carbs coax me into a deep sleep, where I dream of…  poppies …I mean my next days challenge in the weight room!

Be careful though, as the Yum factor of this muffin is quite high, and you may find yourself stuffing your face with the whole bunch!

Let’s start baking!

Photo credits go to my good friend Jos at www.delightfultastebuds.com. Make sure to visit her site full of yumminess!

Gluten Free Lemon Poppy Seed Pumpkin Muffins
 
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A quick and easy gluten free lemon poppy seed muffin made with kabocha pumpkin squash and rice flour
Author:
Recipe type: Desert
Cuisine: American
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • ½ cup white rice flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp salt (I used fine sea salt)
  • 3 tbs sweet potato starch or potato starch. You can buy sweet potato powder(starch) at local Asian market or maybe on Amazon
  • 10 gram whey isolate (i use zero carb raw pastured from Z-natural)
  • ½ cup baked kabocha (Japanese pumpkin)squash that is pressed into the ½ cup measure cup. You can also use butternut or acorn squash. Canned pumpkin is an option too if you don’t have any winter squash.
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1 tsp coconut oil
  • 3 tbs lemon Juice
  • 2 tbs water or almond milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • ¼ Stevia, or to taste. Or ½ cup erythritol (I've also used about ½ cup granular Splenda )
  • 1-2 tbsp poppy seeds. Macros are for 1 tbsp
Instructions
  1. Mix dry together in small bowl, except sweetener and poppy seeds
  2. In medium bowl , using hand mixer, blend together wet ingredients and sweetener.
  3. Add dry to wet and mix with spoon until smooth and everything is incorporated
  4. Fold in poppy seeds
  5. Using approximately ¼ cup measure, divide batter into 6 silicon baking cups, or 6 paper lined muffin tins (note that rice flour baked goods will stick to the sides of paper liners and make it hard to peel off); or divide into TWO 3” non stick ramekins (or lightly oiled non stick ceramic ramekins)
  6. It should make 6 muffins. I think the last muffin was short so I took like ½ tsp out of others to even it out
  7. Bake 365 for 30-40 minutes depending on if you’re using small muffin cups or 2 larger ramekins. Smaller muffins check at about 25 minutes. Mine usually take about 35 minutes, but it depends on if my oven is running on the cooler side.
  8. Tops should be brown.
  9. Test a muffin by slicing out a small portion. If the center is still a bit gooey put back in oven for another 5-8 minutes. The toothpick test may not necessarily work with this muffin
  10. Cool muffins for 5 minutes before removing from cups
  11. These are amazing with coconut oil, coconut butter, or even a blueberry compote drizzled on top!
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 6 Fat: 2 Carbohydrates: 27 Protein: 2

How nice these would be with a some of my homemade lemon coconut butter spread!
How nice these would be with a some of my homemade lemon coconut butter spread!

 

Gluten free lemon poppy seed muffins
Lemon and Poppy Seeds…Yum! Photo: Jos www.delightfultastebuds.com

 

 

 

 

Low Carb Melt-In-Your-Mouth Chocolate Brownie Cake

Top view of brownie slices on platesHi Your Fit Day Friends!

As I sit here on my ball, writing my post, the scent of chocolate is wafting it’s way throughout my apartment and under my nose. This is causing quite a stir. With me anyway, since I’m the only one here, and I know how amazingly good this low carb melt-in-your-mouth chocolate brownie cake is!

And I can almost guarantee that you will soon add these chocolate melt-in-your-mouth brownies to your list of ‘go to’ and ‘must haves’!

Now, for those of you who know me, or who’ve clicked around on my blog, here, and here, you know that I’ve been sugar, and processed-foods free for the past 26 years.

But that doesn’t stop me from indulging in a bit of decadence-low carb style. And that’s just how my low carb melt-in-your-mouth chocolate brownies make you feel: like you’re diving into a box of Swiss chocolates!!

They’re super chocolatey, with a slightly sticky, merengue-like top. And, they have crisp sides, which has always been my favorite part of a brownie.

Ahhhhh…and when you sink your teeth into one…it’s so light and airy… and just melts in your mouth.

low carb melt-in-your-mouth chocolate brownie cake
They will melt in your mouth after each bite!

OK! Well, I don’t want to make you wait any longer…so here’s what to do:

Make the kabocha squash mixture and set aside.

Pureed kabocha pumpkin in white bowl
Creamy Kabocha squash mixture should be like a thick gravy or sour cream consistency.

Sift together dry ingredients following recipe directions, and set aside.

cocoa powder and coconut flour dry mix in bowl

Beat eggs until frothy, and then add in the cream of tarter,

03_foamy_eggwhites

Beat until soft peaks form,

04_softpeak_eggwhites

and then add in the sweetener of choice (see notes in recipe), a little at a time, and continue beating until stiff peaks form

Egg whites beaten to stiff peaks
Beat egg whites just until stiff peaks form

And then add the kabocha mixture gently on top, and spread around a bit, making sure not to break the whites.

Kabocha squash mixture sitting on top of egg whites in metal bowl
Kabocha mixture should sit on top of egg whites

Then fold the mixture gently into the egg whites. (You can watch the video on folding here)

Kabocha partially folded into stiff egg whites.
Slowly fold kabocha squash mixture into beaten egg whites

Until they look like this

orange colored stiff egg whites in metal bowl
Folded to perfection with lots of volume

Then, take 1/4 of the dry mixture and sift it over the egg whites. Then fold this into the egg whites gently. Repeat this step three more times. It will eventually look smooth and creamy like this.

Picture of chocolate batter
The dry mixture has been nicely folded into the kabocha/egg white mixture. Make sure that all the large and small clumps have been bursted and incorporated

You’re almost done!

Now pour this lusciousness into the prepared tin.

Chocolate batter in round baking tin
Tap the pan on the counter to take out all the air bubbles. Look how nice and smooth the batter is!

And bake, following the directions below, until it looks like this.

Baked brownies in round pan on counter
Waiting to be cut and plated for some eating pleasure!

Or if you are a square, like this!

baked brownies in square pan

(Personally, I prefer to bake these in one of those grocery store 7″-8″ cheap pie pans because the bottom and edges come out super crispy).

Let cool without going nuts (Oh, you can fold those into the batter at the end if you want!)

Slice and plate them up, like this, if you want!

Side view of sliced brownies on plates with glass of milk

Or this…

Brownie slices on plate with glass of milk
They will melt in your mouth after each bite!

Or this…

Triangle slices of brownies on plate in star shape with glass of milk
Almost too pretty to eat…NOT!

Honestly, I couldn’t wait this long with my first batch. They were gone, baby, gone!

Really, whichever way you choose to bake these, it’s like eating milk chocolate truffles (that recipe’s coming soon!).

Ha! I should have called it my milk chocolate truffle cake!

Alas, let’s get baking!

All photos credited to Jos. Be sure to check out all her yummy recipes, too!

Low Carb Melt-In-Your-Mouth Chocolate Kabocha Brownie Cake
 
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A chocolate chiffon-like brownie cake that melts in your mouth with every bite!
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert/Meal
Cuisine: Paleo/Primal
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 3 egg whites
  • 75gr baked kabocha
  • 1 Tbsp coconut milk
  • 1 tsp liquid vanilla extract
  • 5-6 Tbsp water (this really depends on how watery or starchy your kabocha squash is. Add 1 Tbsp each time until you got that thick gravy/sour cream consistency
  • 10 gram whey protein powder
  • 1 Tbsp coconut flour
  • 8 gram unsweetened cocoa powder
  • a pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp xantham gum (optional)
  • ½ cup powdered Splenda
  • ¼ cup granulated Splenda

  • What You'll Need:
  • Large Stainless Steel, Copper, or Glass mixing bowl
  • Medium size bowl
  • 2 small bowls
  • Rubber spatula
  • Mixer, either hand or stand
  • Sifter
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
  2. Lightly grease 7-8 inch tin with coconut oil
  3. In a medium size bowl, separate the egg whites and the yolks (best done when the eggs are still cold straight up from the fridge). Reserve the yolks for another use.
  4. Grind ½ cup granulated Splenda in a coffee grinder until it becomes powdered
  5. In a separate bowl, mix coconut flour, whey protein powder, baking powder, powdered Splenda, cocoa powder, and salt.
  6. Sift the dry ingredients.
  7. In another bowl, mix mashed baked kabocha with 1 Tbsp coconut milk, 1 tsp vanilla extract and 1 Tbsp of water. Mixture should resemble thick gravy. Don't make it too watery. If the batter gets too watery, a quick remedy would be mix about 1-2 tsp of the sifted dry ingredients.
  8. By this time, the egg whites should be at a room temperature.
  9. Using a hand mixer with a whisk attachment, lightly beat egg whites until foamy.
  10. Lower the mixer speed, then put in ⅛ tsp cream of tartar. Increase the mixer speed and beat until soft peaks formed.
  11. Lower the mixer speed, then mix in ¼ cup granulated Splenda. Mix it slowly until everything incorporates so you won't have the Splenda flying around.
  12. Beat the egg whites until stiff peak formed.
  13. Pour in the kabocha/coconut milk mixture and carefully fold into the egg whites. Please watch video on folding below:
  14. Once the batter is mixed, sift ¼ of the dry ingredients on`to the egg white. Carefully fold the dry ingredients into the egg whites mixture. Repeat this three more times, until you use up all the dry ingredients.
  15. Fill your 7-8 inch tin with the batter.
  16. Bake in 350F for 45-50 minutes
  17. Remove from oven and let sit about 15 minutes before removing from the tin. They come out easier this way.
  18. Slice and enjoy!
Notes
Take your time when folding all the ingredients into the egg whites. And make sure to break apart, very gently, any lumps or bubbles of dry mix that you see.

The best way to do this is by lifting the lumps onto your spatula and breaking them apart by tapping the spatula on the side of the bowl.

Using Splenda: I use ½ cup of the Splenda granules (not the baking Splenda or packets) and then powder that for the dry mix, and use ¼ cup for the egg whites.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 8 Calories: 28 Fat: 1 Saturated fat: 0 Carbohydrates: 5 Sugar: 1 Sodium: 24 Fiber: 1 Protein: 3