Almond Flour Mini-Muffins with Honey Ricotta spread

Contrary to what these last two posts suggest, I never thought of myself as a baker. That title always went to my sister who would conjure up cakes and cookies while I stared, baffled, at recipes that wanted me to sift, fold, and mix but not overmix.

When I began cooking with my boyfriend, who is gluten intolerant, I thought baking and I would never meet again. We had a gluten-free cookbook but the ingredients lists (potato flour! tapioca flour! xanathan gum!) and complicated measures (3/8s? 5/16ths?) had me running for the hills.

It all changed when I discovered Roost and first heard of almond flour. After scouring the internets and reading testimonies of its ease of use and light taste, I decided to try it. It was love at first mix.

Seriously, these low-carb (really, almost no carb) muffins are so wonderfully easy, forgiving and completely guilt free. You can add almost any flavoring to the mix (I've made it with vanilla, lavender, even cheddar!) and pile on any of your favorite spreads. Really, these are the PERFECT afternoon jam vehicle. Boyfriend's gluten intolerance or not, I throw these together any time I need an excuse to dig into some new jar of jam.

I made mine small and snack sized, but if you increase the amount of batter, you can have regular muffin sized ones too! Even all y'all gluten eaters should give this baby a try!


Recipe adapted from Roost

Almond Flour Muffins

Ingredients:
2 cups almond flour or almond meal (buy it at Whole Foods or process your own like I do)
1/4 cup melted butter
2 eggs, separated
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup honey

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a muffin pan. I tend to avoid greasing a muffin pan by using little silicone cupcake/muffin liners. They work great, save you time, and can be used over and over again.

Whisk egg yolks.

In large mixing bowl, combine almond flour baking soda. Then add honey, melted butter and whisked egg yolks. Mix well. With almond flour, there is no such thing as overmixing!

In separate bowl, beat egg whites until peaks form. Fold into flour/honey/butter/yolks mixture. This will give your muffins a more airy texture.

Lastly, add your apple cider vinegar. This will combine with baking soda (remember the volcanos of elementary school since?) and help your muffins rise a bit.

Pour mixture into muffin tin. If you want mini muffins, pour sparingly and make more muffins. If you want full sized muffins, pour to top of muffin well.

Pop in the oven, check after 20 minutes. Muffins will be done when a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean.

While they cool, whip up the honey ricotta spread!

Ingredients
8 oz ricotta
Honey, to taste (I used about 1/4 cup)
Optional- Whiskey, to taste.

Whip together ricotta and honey. Add more honey if you so desire. Slowly whisk in whiskey (ha, whisked whiskey...).

Spread on top of warm muffin, add a drop of your favorite jam (I ate mine with a Cherry Thyme concoction from the lovely ladies of Rare Bird Preserves whose jams I stock up on in Chicago then hoard forever after), and enjoy :)