All of the hustle and bustle surrounding the move has thrown a rather large wrench into my daily routine. Basically, my life’s been a ball of inconsistency for the past 2 months. While I enjoy living life on the edge from time to time, I’ve been yearning to create structure to my days and get back to the schedule I was following before we picked up our lives and moved across Canada.
After much unpacking, organizing and planning, I’m proud to say that I had my first normal day yesterday… and it felt good.
I woke up at 5am, took the dogs for a walk, enjoyed a big pumpkin smoothie in purple office #2 and ended up worked all morning long. Then, in the afternoon I chose to make a batch of muffins, take a couple of photos of my creation to test out the lighting in the new place, and spent the afternoon replying to emails, organizing files and planning recipes.
It was glorious.
I prepared this gluten-free muffin recipe for Happy Days Goat Dairy just days before the move and decided to make a dairy-free version yesterday as a way of testing out our new oven. We had a gas oven in our old home and a convection oven in our new one. The constant dry heat and difference in altitude will take some getting used to, but my first try wasn’t too shabby!
Getting back into the kitchen and doing what I love, then sitting in the sunshine to enjoy the fruits of my labor made all the craziness of the past 2 months wash over me. I’m ready and raring to go for this next (big) chapter!
This recipe was developed for Happy Days Goat Dairy. For the goat cheese version of this recipe, click here.
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- ¾ cup almond flour
- ¾ cup brown rice flour
- ¾ cup arrowroot starch
- 2 tablespoons milled flax seed
- 1 tablespoon gluten-free baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup unsweetened, not-from-concentrate apple juice
- ½ cup gluten-free date sugar *see note
- 1 egg *see note
- ¼ cup coconut oil, melted *see note
- 2 tbsp unpasteurized honey
- 1 cup diced Granny Smith apple (approximately 1 medium-sized apple)
- 1 cup packed dairy-free cheddar cheese
- Preheat oven to 375F. Line a muffin pan with paper or silicon liners and set aside.
- Whisk all dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl.
- Combine all wet ingredients in a large bowl.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until incorporated. Don’t mix too much or you’ll have rock-hard muffins.
- Fold in apple and cheese.
- Drop batter into prepared muffin tins and bake for 22-25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Allow muffins to sit in the pan for 1 minute before removing from the pan and placing on a cooling rack to cool.
- Store baked muffins in the fridge for up to a week, or freeze in an air-tight container for up to 3 months.
Preheat oven to 375F. Line a muffin pan with paper or silicon liners and set aside.
Line up all of your ingredients… I find it’s easier to bake when I have all of my ingredients measured and ready to go. It results in a bit more dishes, but I like being able to just toss everything in a bowl and get the muffins in the oven as soon as possible.
Begin by whisking all dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside and combine all wet ingredients in a large bowl.
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until incorporated. Don’t mix too much or you’ll have rock-hard muffins.
Fold in apple and cheese.
Drop batter into prepared muffin tins and bake for 22-25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Allow muffins to sit in the pan for 1 minute before removing from the pan and placing on a cooling rack to cool. Make sure you don’t let your muffins cool in the pan. They’ll get mushy and gross and will disappoint you every single time. Trust me. At least this goes for gluten-free muffins.
I have a very exciting day planned for today! I’m meeting up with Dawn Mauricio, the owner of Passport to Prana Montreal at a cafe downtown, visiting Jean-Talon Market for a couple of baking essentials for next week’s recipes, and plan to check out Viva Vegan before I head home. Have I mentioned how much I love this city?
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
The new lighting definitely looks great in the photos! Glad you were able to have your first normal day in the new house
YAY! I am so glad you had a normal day finally. I bet it felt SO amazing! The lighting in your new place looks incredible! I am so envious, my best photo lighting is outside on the back patio and those days are numbered with winter right around the corner
OMG what an exciting day ahead! I’ll admit I’ve never understood the obsession behind cheddar and apple pie.. is it a Canadian thing? Maybe my Scottish heritage shines through when it comes to pie preferences because cheddar and apples have never been a huge winning combo in my mind. Having said that, your muffins looks so beautiful that now I’m intrigued!! So glad the convection oven worked!
Getting back into routine feels so good sometimes! I love that feeing. But goodnessgracious, Leanne, I am still amazed at how you wake up at 5am every morning!
“A slice of cheddar cheese over top a wedge of my Mom’s homemade apple pie reminds me of Fall.” Funny, this reminds me of a time I babysat my niece & nephew (I was 12 or 13)–I made this for them & they were NOT impressed. They thought it was the weirdest thing (of course, I didn’t). They STILL remember that.
(I love your pics! especially one of pretty yellow flowers–so bright & cheery)
Are there any health benefits associated with date sugar? I understand that it is used in ayurvedic cooking, but don’t see why it’s different than say sucanat?
I know coconut sugar has minerals, etc. and is low glycemic…Can anything be said for date sugar?
Thanks, Leanne!
Hope you’re enjoying the new place and MTL!!
So good! So good!
The smell is so…
Now I want muffins!!!
I’m a morning person but waking up at 5 am just doesn’t put a smile on my face, 6 is my time
your muffins would be perfect on these chili morning with a cup of hot tea.
Great pictures and the muffins look awesome!