Cranberry Orange Coconut Flour Muffins

As promised, I present you with Cranberry Orange Coconut Flour Muffins! Get it? Present you?

I own Elana Amsterdam’s Almond Flour Cookbook, which is awesome as well as read her blog avidly. I made her Cranberry Walnut Loaf and although delicious, it was too heavy and oily for my taste. So I fiddled with it and used a tip from Kelly, aka The Spunky Coconut, and mixed in pureed white beans. This cut the oil down quite a bit as well as one less egg, since the beans add both moisture and binding.

You might notice the shocking absence of protein powder in these baked treats. Yes, the rumors are true. I am intolerant to dairy and soy. This includes vanilla whey protein powder…

{moment of grieved silence}

This doesn’t mean I’ll NEVER touch it again, but for the next few months at least, it’s out of the picture and I’m joining the noble ranks of the dairy-free.  More on that whole intolerant/allergic topic another day. Without further ado, here’s the recipe.

Cranberry Orange Coconut Flour Muffins

Makes about 14 muffins

What you’ll need:

• 4 eggs
• 1 TB vanilla extract
• 1/4 c. butter, grapeseed oil or coconut oil (also works with olive)
• 1/4 c. orange juice
• 1/2 c. unsalted cooked white beans (rinse if using canned), pureed
• about 1 TB orange zest
• 1/4 c. agave nectar
• 1/4 c. stevia for baking, erythritol or other granular sweetener
• 1/2 c. coconut flour, sifted
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 c. fresh cranberries
• about 1/2 c. walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 1 tsp xanthan gum

What you’ll do:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coarsely chop the cranberries (finely chopped are shown in the photo, but coarsely chopped is more interesting).

Mix the dry ingredients together (flour, granular sweetener, baking soda, salt, xanthan) and in another bowl, whisk wet ingredients (eggs, vanilla, oil, agave, OJ). Mix dry ingredients into wet and then stir in zest and cranberries. Put into greased muffin cups or silicone cups.

Cook for about 25 minutes.

As for the calories per muffin? I’m sure they have enough but not too much. Enjoy it and be glad it’s not a 800 calorie Starbucks scone. The end.