Double Chocolate Muffins

A while back I posted a recipe for some yummy muffins. They are still a staple in our house! Somewhere along the line we added in some cocoa powder. It took a little fiddling but the result is great! We've been making a batch of these about every other day. They can easily pass as cupcakes too! :)

Double Chocolate Muffins

300 grams brown rice flour
50 grams arrowroot starch
2 1/2 Tablespoons cocoa powder (7 1/2 teaspoons)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
180 grams dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
61g applesauce (1/4 cup)
1 Tbl apple cider vinegar + rice milk to make 300 g
115 grams canola oil
1/2 cup Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips

Prepare muffin tins and preheat oven to 350F.

Add apple cider vinegar to the rice milk and set aside.

Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, then stir in applesauce, oil and vinegar/rice milk mixure.

Finally mix in the mini chocolate chips. :)

Bake for about 25 minutes.

Yields 18 standard size muffins.

After cooling, store in a covered container. They are best the first and second day, and if left uncovered for too long turn almost rock hard. But luckily they are so yummy they rarely see a day three, so no one ever has to eat a stale muffin.

…

I have always used regular old brown rice flour, but after my son had several reactions that I strongly suspect were due to cross-contamination with the flour, I switched over to Authentic Foods Superfine Brown Rice Flour. I'd read about it from several of the big name gluten-free, allergy baking names, but never could make myself spend the extra to try it. WOW. The muffins and pancakes I've made with it are light and fluffy, not gritty at all, and taste and feel like they were baked with gluten-filled all purpose flour. If you haven't yet, give it a try and you will be astounded at the results.

For comparison, here's the exact recipe, same number of muffins, baked with the natural-food-store-generic-brand brown rice flour I've been buying for years. They are just slightly domed, and much denser. Still yummy muffins, but they aren't going to pass as cake.

Waffles!

We recently purchased a new waffle iron, and before contaminating it with milk, wheat and egg, I wanted to try out an allergy-friendly version first. I came across this recipe at The Daily Dietribe and was thrilled with the results!

A rarity, I actually was able to use the recipe as written! It's written for any flour, starch or milk, but I wanted to record exactly what I've been using so I wouldn't have to keep relying on my memory every time I make a new batch.

I have started using my scale for baking whenever possible, so I have only used the weight measurements. The volume measurements are by The Daily Dietribe. 

Dry Ingredients:

158 grams superfine brown rice flour (1 cup + 3 Tablespoons)

86 grams arrowroot starch (1/2 cup)

2 tsp safe baking powder (see sidebar)

1/2 tsp Kosher salt

2 Tbls granulated sugar

Wet Ingredients:

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 Tbls canola oil

196 grams full-fat coconut milk w/o guar gum (1/2 a 14oz can)

1/4 - 1/2 cup water (1/2 - 3/4 cup for pancakes)

Stir together dry ingredients. Add in wet ingredients except for water and stir. Add water while stirring until the batter is thick but spreadable. 

Pour just enough batter onto preheated waffle iron and cook until lightly golden. Serve warm with maple syrup, chocolate syrup, jam or fresh fruit! They are a hit! 

p.s. The waffle iron has now been designated as allergy safe, so no allergens are ever going to be cooked it in. :)

I posted this recipe to Cybele Pascal's Allergy Friendly Friday (on-a-Monday) post on March 12, 2012! Take a look at all the other great recipes posted -- all are allergy friendly in some way!

Updated Barley Oat Pancakes (Top 8 Free)

I mentioned these pancakes in my previous post, so now it's time for the recipe! I remember taking a photo of the regular pancakes cooking (they turned out fluffier than the original post's photo) but I can't seem to find it, so the number-shaped pancake will have to do!

Barley Oat Pancakes (Wheat, Egg, Dairy, Soy, Corn free) 

1/2 cup barley flour
1/2 cup oat flour
1-1/2 tsp safe baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 Tbls maple syrup
1 Tbls canola oil
1/4 cup applesauce
3/4 cup rice milk
coconut oil to coat griddle & to "butter" pancakes

Preheat a pan or griddle on low-medium to medium heat. (On my electric stove I set it to 3 or 3-1/2.) Coat pan lightly with melted coconut oil.

Stir together dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and mix until smooth. Set batter aside for a minute or two to thicken.

Pour batter onto hot griddle and cook until edges turn a light-medium golden color and bubbles start to form on the surface. Flip over with a spatula and top with coconut oil. Cook other side until golden brown.

Yields 18 3" silver dollar pancakes

I've been making these every couple days at the demand of this little man. :) 

(Posted on Cybele Pascal's Allergy Friendly Friday Linky List 3/19/11!)

Birthday Boy!

Subtitled: What was supposed to be his allergy-safe celebration

My little guy recently turned 3! Kid birthdays here always start off with a number shaped pancake, and that's the case allergies or not. I used a modified version of these barley-oat pancakes I posted a while back and I'll repost it soon. :)

He spent the morning playing and then snoozed the afternoon away! We were all waiting for him to wake up so we could have his celebration! 

One of our recent purchases was a cotton candy machine especially to make special treats for our little guy. Not that you *need* cotton candy but with as many things as he can't have, we wanted something really special that he could have, that would always be safe. Instead of using the artificial stuff they give you with the machine, I just put plain organic cane sugar in. One tablespoon of sugar makes a big cloud of fluffy white cotton candy! The plan had been to use the cotton candy machine his birthday afternoon, but he slept all afternoon! I was happy we'd tested it out a few days prior. :)

His favorite tv show right now is Team Umi Zoomi and I found printable party decorations online so that's what we used. I made Chocolate Wacky Cupcakes and dusted them with tapioca starch powdered sugar because he doesn't like icing. 

Blowing out the candles!

He had such a fun time! He ate 3 cupcakes. :) 

That's where the subtitle comes in. :( Later that night his face got a bit rashy. The next day he was sporting quite a pair of allergic shiners along with flaring eczema and the GI issues that go along with any reaction for him. Rotten birthday present.  

He ate the same recipe cupcakes just 1 month earlier, all the same ingredients with no issues. The only thing that I don't use on a nearly daily basis? Guar gum. Guar gum is also an ingredient in the coconut milk and ice cream that he once loved but started refusing in January. Refusal typically indicates the beginnings of an allergy, I just didn't connect it. Guar gum is in the legume family which he has a lot of trouble with already so I'm not terribly surprised, just disappointed and sad. 

Later the same week, he started refusing he favorite soy yogurt, saying it made his belly hurt. He had been eating it daily. He would ask for it, look at the bowl, cry, give it back to me uneaten. On Sunday, after not requesting it for several days he asked for it again so I gave him a really small bowl. He gobbled it up and asked for more. I gave him a little more, he ate it, then asked for more, and I gave him the last little bit. Within an hour he was crying about his belly hurting and later that night the allergic shiners & GI symptoms appeared.

So…instead of outgrowing allergies he's just gaining them.  I never posted an allergist update in Feb but that appointment confirmed a definite allergy to sunflower seeds, still a very strong reaction to dairy (cross contamination was the likely cause for the cracker reaction), and a new mild allergy to carrots and tomatoes. I wish I'd taken in soy and pinto bean samples, I meant to but forgot. I'm sure he would test positive on both of those now. :(

Just this past week he caught a rotten bug from his in-preschool-sister. Between the soy and the virus he lost 2 pounds in under a week that he couldn't afford to lose and surely knocked himself back down to the bottom of the growth chart. He's reacted to strawberry flavoring in Zofran and corn in fever reducers and has been all-around miserable. After C was doing so well I'm now back to working with a nutritionist trying to find a way around spending more than I usually spend on a week's worth of groceries for the family to buy some elemental formula to supplement my little guy ever-shrinking diet. :(

Serendipity Biscuits!

My plan this weekend was to make my little guy another batch of coconut cupcakes/muffins (he prefers no icing). Since we've figured out that flax seed definitely IS a problem for him I planned to use 1/2 cup of soy yogurt in place of the flax seed and hot water mixture in the original recipe. But, I was apparently very distracted, because I only added 1/4 cup yogurt AND forgot to add the 2 cups of sugar! Surprisingly they turned out to be a different but still yummy treat! They are lightly sweet, don't rise up as well as the cupcakes, and are a handy snack!

Coconut Biscuits

1/2 cup safe shortening
1/2 cup coconut oil (room temperature)
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup soy yogurt
1 1/4 cup rice flour
3/4 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons tapioca starch (flour)
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons arrowroot starch
4 teaspoons safe baking powder (see sidebar)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoon guar gum
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups coconut milk, hot

Preheat oven to 350F.

Beat coconut oil and shortening. Blend in applesauce and yogurt. In a separate bowl, mix together flours, baking powder, baking soda, guar gum and salt. Slowly mix in half the flour mixture, then half the milk, until blended. Then slowly mix in remaining flour and milk.

Place liners in cupcake pans, fill about 3/4 full and bake for about 20 minutes. Let sit in pans until cooled.

Yield: This recipe made 30 small biscuits.

Barley Oat Pancakes

I've tried a few allergy-friendly pancake recipes, but this is the most successful recipe I've found. I'm guessing that the gluten in the barley is what helps these pancakes hold up and not be so fragile.

This recipe is adopted from one I found on the bag of Arrowhead Mills flour.


1/2 cup barley flour
1/2 cup oat flour
1-1/2 tsp safe baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 Tbls maple syrup
1 Tbls canola oil
1/4 cup applesauce
3/4 cup coconut milk
safe margarine to coat griddle

Preheat a pan or griddle on low to medium heat. (On my electric stove I set it to 3 or 3-1/2.) Coat pan lightly with melted margarine.

Stir together dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and mix until smooth.

Pour batter onto hot griddle and cook until edges turn a light golden color and bubbles start to form on the surface. Flip over with a spatula and top with margarine. Cook other side until golden brown.

Favorite Oatmeal

My little guy loves this oatmeal so much he often hugs and kisses his bowl. :)

1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill Oat Bran
1/4 cup apple juice
1/2 cup Original So Delicious Coconut Milk

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

Mix oats, juice, and milk in a large microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 90 seconds at full power. Let cool for 1-2 minutes until it thickens, then stir in applesauce.