My girls wake up early. For us, 6am is sleeping in. Not only do they wake up early, they wake up HUNGRY! Unfortunately my older daughter has my quirk of only wanting to eat if something sounds like the perfect food at a given time. I will often skip eating if we don’t have exactly what I want, and so will my daughter. Also unfortunate is she has my tendency to get hangry. If she doesn’t eat within 15 minutes of waking she turns into, well, it isn’t pretty. To make it more difficult, she goes through phases eating the same thing day after day, until one day, that will no longer be acceptable. We just when through a tough couple of weeks where nothing sounded good to her, so getting her breakfast was a challenge. Then I remembered these little gems and we have been on easy street again.
This are paleo muffins packed with yummy ingredients that scream fall. They taste quite similar to pumpkin pie; bursting with warm baking spices, and hints of pumpkin. As far as nutrition goes I’m fairly picky about what my girls eat, and I’m ok with these. They have no grains and use almond flour instead, which is nice as they won’t eat a lot of nuts on the daily. It also has pumpkin so we get the touch of vegetables that makes me smile.
Pumpkin Muffins – Dairy Free, Grain Free, Paleo
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups almond flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 cup neutral oil (coconut oil is good, but melt it first)
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Line a mini muffin pan with 24 muffin liners.
- In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (almond flour through salt).
- In a separate medium bowl, mix together the wet ingredients (eggs through vanilla).
- Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and stir just until combined.
- Pour the batter evenly into the muffin liners, filling each liner until almost completely full. You’ll likely have enough batter for two large muffins, or a second batch of 6 little guys.
- Bake for 11-13 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- These need to cool for at least an hour before serving, both because of taste and texture.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Happy Food Ninja 