A while ago we did a gluten free muffin round up, and the hands down winner was the Donut Muffin recipe from Bev Lieven of Milwaukee Celiac-Sprue Crew. The combination of cinnamon and nutmeg in this recipe, plus the sugary topping, yields something very close the fast-receding memory of donuts that we used to crave. The muffins are great, and they are asked for by people who don’t have to eat gf. Now that we stop to think about that statement, is it somehow a greater endorsement that the non-gf world thinks those muffins are great? Perhaps so, because they can choose to eat regular donuts as well and don’t have to “settle” for the gf variety.
In the months since we first put the Donut Muffin recipe on the web, it has been referenced by other blogs – or “glogs” as we like to call the gluten-free websites. Meanwhile, we have been playing with the recipe to see how much refined sugar we could eliminate. We have successfully substituted 1/4 honey and 1/3 cup sugar for the original 2/3 cup sugar in the dough, and for the topping we cut the sugar down to 1/2 cup and kept the 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. We used buttermilk instead of regular milk. We used our favorite cookie flour mix for the flour. Lastly, we just mixed the dry ingredients, then dumped the wet ingredients on top and mix with a fork. These adjustments yield an equally good muffin.
Slightly Revised Donut Muffin:
Combine:
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups gluten free flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 tsp. xanthan gum (opt.)
Mix with a fork:
1 egg
1/4 cup honey
1/2 c. buttermilk
1/3 c. melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla
Add to dry ingredients. Mix to moisten. Fill lightly muffin pans lined with paper liners. Sprinkle w/ cinnamon sugar (Mix 1/2 c. sugar, 1 tsp.or more ground cinnamon.) Bake at 375ยบ for 15-20 min. Makes about 11 muffins.