Can you smell the warm cinnamon spice smell wafting through your kitchen?
Well, you would if you made these muffins! They are crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.
The roasted pumpkin seeds add an aromatic crunch that offsets the squishy sweetness of the butternut pieces. Not unlike carrot cake.
Who would have thought that these muffins contain no refined sugar, coconut sugar or agave. Not me. There is a hint of caramel colour and flavour.
These muffins are also easy to make. The trick is to bake the butternut beforehand. If you have never done that follow my quick instructions below the recipe.
- ⅔ cup spelt or gluten free all purpose flour (85g)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 heaped tbsp ground flax seeds (soaked in 4 tbsp water for 20 mins) or 1 egg
- ¼ medium baked butternut squash
- ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 2 heaped tbsp coconut oil
- enough almond or rice milk to form a dough
- optional: 2 handfuls of pumpkin seeds (preferably pre-soaked)
- Preheat the oven to 160C / 180C / 350F / gas 4. Spray a muffin tin with oil or line with paper baking cups.
- Add the spices and the baking soda to the flour. Meanwhile heat the coconut oil up in a small saucepan. Pour this onto the flour. Add the flax seeds/ egg, mashed squash and pumpkin seeds if using. If you lightly toast them in a small frying pan they’ll taste even better.
- Fold all the ingredients under adding enough almond milk to make a smooth dough.
- Bake for 20-25 mins until golden and a skewer inserted comes out clean.
This is a good combo. I will definitely make this again.
You can even make it a day before and freeze it in ziplog bags to add to muffins and hot pots later on.
Quick instructions to bake Butternut Squash for freezing.
Put it on a baking tray that’s sprayed with oil. Cover with tin foil. Bake for 50-60 mins until the skin is starting to soften to the touch. The longer you leave it in the sweeter and mushier it gets.
When it’s done cut it in half with a big knife and let it sit on the side for 30 minutes at least to cool down. Then cut in half again, take the seeds out and peel the skin off with a potato peeler. This should be easy now that the flesh is softer. Then cut in cubes and blend to a smooth paste. (I mashed mine with a fork). Put aside or freeze 3/4 of it.
Candida Diet Advice:
These muffins are fine to eat in stage 3, once you are allowed carbs, and you are feeling ok.
If you are a bit under the weather and you have noticed that carrot, bread or potatoes make your symptoms flare up, then give these muffins a miss. Butternut is a known culprit for Candida sufferers. On the flipside if it agrees with you then you are doing your body the world of good with this powerhouse in vitamins and minerals. Best enjoyed only occasionally to avoid a relapse.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Could you use a flourgluten free blend ,not brave enough to use spelt yet ?
yes, I meant to include that in the recipe but since I hadn’t tried it out yet, I left it in the end. I’m pretty sure that it would word beautifully though. Please try and report back
Tried it already, my first attempt at a gf recipe. I bought a gf flour blend, which was intended for bread but used it anyway, didn’t mash squash so sweetness was not throughout, I used flaxseed version. it seemed a dry mix not a batter so I added water to losen it up . Was edible , but would perhaps use egg next time, more squash and better mashed than cubed. I did enjoy, but cautiously. Only just started to try new foods but lost a lot of weight so need to increase calorie intake. Keep posting recipes. Thankyou
Thanks Angela, you are right about the mashed squash – will adapt the recipe. Have just realized that I forgot to include almond milk, duh! That would explain why you needed to add water. Sorry about that. Glad they were at least edible
It will be nice not to have to watch your weight – sooo many pancakes, muffins and pies to try for you…
Looks really yummy! Love how you used parchment to line the muffin cups – and the rustic shape of the muffins by doing that. My gluten-free flour blend doesn’t have xanthan gum or anything like that in it. I could try the recipe and see… but wondered what you thought about it.
Well spotted Cat, thank you. Since I got used to using parchment paper now I can’t stop. I started doing it when I was baking breads, and now I use it for baking lots of things
I deliberately left the xantham gum off myself because I read about people getting tummy problems from eating it. Thought I’d try it…. Since I started the diet I kind of got used to dense low baked goods now. I just took an attempt at a quinoa bread out of the oven – boy has that sunk – all the spoons full of baking powder did nothing to lift the cooked quinoa, hm I wonder why 
Learning by doing (again and again…). On the flipside I also made an Almond Psyllium Husk Bread and that was pretty and yummy thank god 