Gluten-Free Cranberry Mini-Muffins
I find that some of the gluten-free all-purpose flour mixtures taste a bit too much of beans, which some of them include. In my opinion King Arthur Flour’s Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour is the best of the bunch (available online at King Arthur Flour’s excellent online store, or at your local Whole Foods) but I also think that more complex flavors, like this fruity muffin, mask the nutty/beany aftertaste that gluten-free flour can give to baked goods. These make a perfect gluten-free snack to get you through a busy morning, or toss them in your kid’s lunchbox for a healthy dessert.
Gluten-Free Cranberry Mini-Muffins (makes 36 mini-muffins)
- 8-oz fresh cranberries
- ½ a large navel orange, cut into chucks (including pith and peel)
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup canola oil
- ¾ cup whole milk
- 2 eggs
- 2 ¼ cups Gluten-Free All-Purpose flour (we have used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour, but we strongly prefer King Arthur Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour)
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¾ cup sugar
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease your mini-muffin tins (I use vegetable spray for this task).
Place the cranberries, and navel orange sections in a Cuisinart. Process using the pulse setting until the fruit is finely chopped but NOT smooth. Remove from Cuisinart and blend in the ½ cup sugar. Set aside. Can be done a day or two ahead.
In a medium-mixing bowl beat the eggs. Add the milk and the oil. Blend well. Add the sugar, whisk until totally integrated. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine lightly. Add between ½ to ¾ cup of the cranberry-orange mixture. If you like a lightly fruity muffin stick with half a cup, if you like a really moist super-fruity muffin go up to ¾ cup. Either way will work. You’ll have a small amount of leftover cranberry/orange mixture. It’s great spooned over a grilled chicken breast, or spread on a turkey sandwich, or just eat it plain! Spoon the batter into greased muffin tins. Bake for 15 minutes. Serve.
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I agree about the beany taste of some GF flours. (I’ve used both KAF and Bob’s Red Mill flours btw). The bean taste was a big deterrent for me when I first started gluten-free baking. The KAF brand is okay–but, like the Bob’s Red Mill GF flour and most GF flour blends, you need to add xanthan gum or similar gluten-substitute to it
There’s another brand I use mostly now called Better Batter–there is xanthan and pectin already in it. No beany taste either. (I’m not affiliated with the company–just a satisfied customer–it’s difficult to locate in-store, but you can order it online directly from betterbatter.org or from places like vitacost.com and glutenfreemall.com)