Here it is, folks...

A gluten free muffin that stands out...

I'm kind of particular about muffins.  To me, a good muffin has to have texture, that bit of graininess that is hard to get in normally starchy gluten free baking.  It should be soft, but a little chewy and not in the least bit pastey.  Its top has to stand high enough to be torn away from the bottom, leaving me with the happy choice of which part to eat first. 

This muffin delivers.

It rises high and evenly, is springy and light but textured enough to not taste like fluff.  It doesn't gum up like so many gluten free muffins do, and neither is it dry and gritty.  It's hearty enough to be a part of a satisfying breakfast and sweet enough to pair with your favourite beverage at snack time - or any time. Whether a day old or out of the freezer, it tastes pretty much as good as freshly made. Seems too good to be true, doesn't it?  I thought so, too, but since I've had good results twice, I'm sharing the recipe with you and you can try it for yourself.  Eating is believing.

I just sort of stumbled into this recipe.  I looked up a few online, noted their commonalities and went from there.  I was trying to avoid using potato starch, and since I had quite a variety of types of GF flours, I just used 'some of this and a little of that.'  I liked the results (a lot!) so I haven't tried to tweak it.

 Gluten and Dairy Free Applesauce Muffins

In a large bowl, stir together dry ingredients:
1 cup brown rice flour
1 cup tapioca flour
1 cup sorghum flour
1/3 cup chickpea flour
2/3 cup light buckwheat flour
1 1/3 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup coarsely ground almonds
3 Tbsp ground flax seed
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp xanthan gum
4 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp allspice
1 tsp cloves

Then add the wet ingredients:
1 cup oil
3 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup water
2 eggs

Stir to mix well.  Mixture should be fairly thick, but still easy to stir. If your applesauce is runny, you might want to slightly decrease amount of water used.  I used our homemade applesauce which is quite thick and not very sweet.
Add in some raisins - I threw in a couple of handfuls.

Either grease the muffin tins or use paper baking cups.  Both ways worked well for me. Bake @ 375 F for about 20 minutes.  This recipe makes 27-30 good size muffins.

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Well, after eliminating and re-introducing corn, soy and eggs in Allison and Leah's diet, we have concluded that these have not been the culprits.  We're so thankful for that.  Life in the kitchen is so much easier again.  Allison is still on a gluten and dairy free diet, as she has been for quite some time, although for the past few days she's been trying plain yogourt and seems to be able to tolerate that.  We're wondering if her recent improvement was due to a change in shampoo - right now she's using Dove, which is gluten free.  Not sure if being gluten free is what makes it better, but that is the reason we chose that brand.  But who knows.  Things get confusing and complicated after a while and sometimes I don't know what's what anymore.  Leah has lost the puffiness in her face, which we think was from bananas, of all things.  She still has ongoing eczema issues that need to be figured out, so we'll have to keep trying.

I hope all you GFers out there enjoy the muffins!