MKG loves lemony treats and desserts. I just bought a big bag of lemons, and with their fresh scent- so summery! I also had recently purchased lemon extract, envisioning something just like this. These muffins came out a zillion times better than I had hoped. The Chia seeds are the perfect substitute for poppyseeds. They look very similar and have so many wonderful health benefits. You do not taste them either- and I would know if you could. Chia seeds to me have a very floral taste, and these muffins are all lemon.
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Grain-Free, Sugar-Free Lemon Poppyseed (CHIA!!) Muffins
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp chia seed
zest of one lemon
4 eggs (preferably cage-free, room temp)
1/4 cup walnut oil
1/4 cup plain non-fat yogurt
1/2 cup sugar-free liquid sweetener *see below for note
2 teaspoons pure lemon extract
In a mixing bowl, combine your flour, salt, baking powder, and chia seed. Use a fork or whisk to get out any lumps. Zest your lemon over the mixing bowl and incorporate. In a separate bowl, crack your room temp eggs (I always notice a big difference in my baked goods when I take the time to bring my eggs to room temp- or you can place them in lukewarm water for 10 minutes) and measure your liquid ingredients into a measuring cup. Mix your wet ingredients together and then add wet to dry. This will be a very wet mixture, but not so wet that it's a pourable batter. Bake at 325 until the tops are verrry golden brown. As I have said many times- my oven is ridonk in terms of cook times- this took 45 minutes! But other bloggers regularly say their muffins cook in 15-20 minutes, so go figure. Want to use poppyseeds? Go ahead! 2 tbsp will do. Why did I use lemon extract you ask? Well, I wanted these to be sweet, not acidic. I felt using straight up lemon juice would just make these sour, instead of lemony. So use the zest and save the juice for lemonade. These little guys make a great breakfast for S- with 4 grams of fiber, 5 grams of protein, and only about 125 calories- they are a great on the snack or quick toddler breakfast. I got 8 decent-sized muffins out of this- so feel free to double your recipe. Even better- make a lemon poppyseed loaf!
*Regarding the sugar-free liquid sweetener- I decided to try a little experiment today. While I use my vanilla SF sweetener sparingly- it still bothers me that it contains sucralose. Ick. So I thought- it can't be that difficult to make my own sugar-free simple syrup with my own preferred sweeteners. I chose to use an equal mixture of three sweeteners- stevia in the raw, xylitol, and erythritol. In a deep sided pot- I added 3 cups of filtered water and 1 cup of each sweetener. Brought to a boil and then simmered for about 10-12 minutes. This resulted in 2 1/2 cups of SF syrup. I wanted something totally unflavored- no vanilla, maple, nada- just a sweet simple syrup. I used 1/2 a cup in this recipe and now have 2 cups to use in future recipes. Stored in an airtight jar in the fridge, I think this will keep for quite some time. This will probably be my go to SF liquid sweetener from now on folks. It has no weird aftertaste, no odd mouth-feel, cooling affects, nothing. So I'd encourage you to try making your own and combining different sweeteners.
I'm so glad I tried this recipe for Fathers Day- because I know these muffins will be a big hit with M- whose only muffin related complaint is that they are too small. Much love to all the dads, dads-to-be, grand-dads, step-dads, wannabe dads out there. Happy Fathers Day to all! XoXoGFG
