Jelly Doughnut Muffins

These muffins are really good, but they don't taste like doughnuts!  These are some of our best muffins, but I think the name should be "Sugary Jelly Muffins".  Tell me what you think!  The muffins make great quick breakfasts and easy snacks/desserts.  They are VERY sweet and sugary, almost too much for me, but my sister thinks they're "perfect".  If they are too sugary for your breakfast, use them as a dessert treat instead.

Muffins:

3/4 cup rice flour

1/4 cup tapioca flour

1/4 cup potato starch

1/4 cup bean flour (we use white beans for appearance, but any would do.)

1/4 cup millet flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1 large egg

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk (we use a mix of hemp and coconut milks)

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

about 1/4 cup of your favorite jelly, jam or preserves

Topping:

2 tb sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tb melted butter

Preheat oven to 375.

Mix the dry ingredients in a big bowl.  In a separate bowl, beat the egg, not till stiff, but at least get it a little foamy.  Mix the sugar and milk in with the egg.  Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients.  Have some extra milk or water ready; we usually use about 3/4 cup, but it's always best to start with the minimum amount.  The mixture should be a little thicker than pancake batter.

Line a muffin tin (12 muffins total) with paper cups, or grease with shortening.  Put about 1/2 tablespoon of the mixture into each cup.  Using a spoon, spread out the mixture so that it covers the entire bottom.  Put a dollop (about 1/2 teaspoon, or more if you like them really goopy) of jelly on next.  Top with another 1/2 tablespoon of the muffin batter.

Bake for 20 minutes.  Keep them in the pan, but put the pan on a rack to cool for a few minutes.  Meanwhile, melt the butter and mix the sugar & cinnamon on a plate.  Using a brush, coat the top of the muffins with the butter then sprinkle them generously with the cinnamon mixture.  You might have some of the cinnamon left over--save it because it's good for making gluten-free cinnamon toast!  Normally, you would wait for the butter to dry and the muffins to cool, but my little sister ate one right away and said it was delicious!

[This recipe adapted from Camilla Saulsbury's 150 Best Gluten-free Muffin Recipes.]

Milk: Yes or No?

Since it's been about six months, we decided to start introducing dairy again.  We started with hard cheese on top of pasta and stuff like that.  We also tried Kefir, a weird yogurt-milk thing, but I didn't really like it.  At a fundraising event, I also had a gluten free cheese pizza.  After multiple experiments, though, we don't know what to think.  After having dairy-loaded cheese pizza, I was perfectly fine.  But, having some shredded cheese one time had me in bed with a migraine.  Yesterday, we tried cheese again, and today I have no reaction.  Now, I think that whenever I have cheese I should write down what I ate and if I have a reaction.  That might help us figure out what is going on.  It's pretty crazy!

Gluten Numbers Go Down, Down, Down!

When I was first tested for my active antibodies toward wheat in August, my numbers were 122.  This was bad because the normal was between 0 and 20.  I was tested again recently, and my numbers were 15!  The dietitian says this means that we are doing really good about staying gluten free!  This is really exciting because it means that we are on the right track!