This healthy muffin is a variation of my kitchen sink muffin recipe; the changes include adding locally sourced pawpaw pulp and swapping sugar for coconut palm sugar *lower on hypoglycemic index. I have grown to love pawpaws and this is my first muffin attempt. They are tender and delicious. These are breakfast style muffins so not that sweet, great texture and totally yummy. I do love muffins for snacks. They are healthy; more fruit and no sugary topping. If you want to add extra sweetening use my oatmeal topping from my chocolate chip banana muffin recipe. This time I used pawpaw puree, golden raisins and dried sweetened coconut, great combo! I swapped walnuts for slivered almonds, either is fine.
Because they will lose moisture if they sit around, I will freeze any I won’t eat in 2 days; I love using a Ziplock freezer bag for this but cool them first. Label carefully with date and contents…be sure to eat them within a month. 
Pawpaw Kitchen Sink Muffins
2 cups brown rice flour mix (see below) or King Arthur Basic GF Mix
2/3 c coconut palm sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp xanthan gum
¼ tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2/3 cup pawpaw puree
2/3 c flaked coconut
½ c golden raisins
½ c slivered almonds (optional)
2 large eggs beaten
½ c plus 2 Tbsp. milk, whole or 2 percent
½ c canola oil
Directions:
Heat oven to 375, placing the rack in middle of oven. Spray muffin pans with cooking spray. One batch makes 14-15 muffins.
Mix all dry ingredients in bowl of stand mixer or big bowl
Add fruits and nuts; stir to coat them with dry mix
Combine milk and oil, beat in eggs. Add liquids to big bowl; stir until blended. Note: If you used regular sugar you will need to leave out the extra 2 tbsp. of milk.
Fill muffin pans 3/4 full. Bake 22-24 min until golden brown. Do not overbake or they will be dry. Remove within a minute from the pans and cool on a rack. Freezes well for up to 3-4 weeks and keeps in fridge (well wrapped) a few days.
This is all about a flavor sensation: pawpaw. They are the only native to America tropical fruit. Looks like a small funky green mango. tastes like a banana and a mango had a baby but with a touch of wild toasted coconut flavor. Squishy soft yellow flesh with dark brown seeds embedded in its flesh. Its skin can look pretty mangy but when you peel the skin off the insides are ripe and perfect for eating. They are not sold commercially as their season is very short and they are a delicate fruit that doesn’t travel well. They grow in the wild in the woods in the mid-Atlantic states, but I know someone with 2 trees, and they share with me. The first few times I ate it I was not sure I liked it; too weird a flavor. I persevered at eating a few and grew to find them interesting eaten fresh. Eventually I fell completely in love with these squishy treats.
I mostly eat them raw, but I am branching out this fall. I made a pawpaw pie yesterday, tasty especially with a dollop of freshly whipped cream on top. The other week I made a batch of pawpaw jam. Very tasty it was. This ice cream is my latest thing. I took an ice cream recipe out of my old Betty Crocker cookbook and revised it and made a small 1/3 batch.
I used coconut palm sugar and that gave it a delicate caramel flavor that was very appealing. You could use brown sugar or even plain white sugar if you can’t get the coconut palm sugar, but it won’t be as delicious. I also use the coconut palm sugar as it is low on the hypoglycemic index making it a healthy choice for a pre-diabetic diet.
It needs heavy cream for that rich texture and flavor. I don’t have any suggestions for a substitute. If you get your hands on some pawpaws, this is the recipe to try out with them!
PawPaw Caramel Ice-Cream
1/3 cup whole milk
2 Tbsp. coconut palm sugar
a pinch of sea salt
1 large or extra large egg yolk
1/2 tsp. Vanilla extract
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream.
Directions: pour the milk, sugar and sea salt in a medium 1 qt sauce pan, add the egg yolk, Beat with a whisk constantly as you heat it on medium heat. Once the outside edge has lots of tiny bubbles turn it off, add the vanilla and the cream. Pour in a dish and chill in the fridge until cold; at least an hour.
Peel and seed 1-3 pawpaws until you have a heaping half cup of pulp. Chop up with a knife. Add to the custard and pour in your ice cream maker; I have a Donvier hand crank machine; French and a tiny capacity so this small recipe is as much as I can make in it for a batch. You could easily double or triple this recipe for a bigger ice cream maker. Turn until firm and then scrape into a freezer container and chill 1-2 hours to allow it to ripen. Enjoy!
This is my new favorite bread recipe. You need to make a gf starter; lots of directions online. its not that difficult and you can buy a freeze dried one on-line. I prefer one made with brown rice flour and it needs to be at least 2 or 3 weeks old before using it. The weeks of forming it include lots of discarding a portion of it in efforts to get rid of harmful or poor tasting bacteria. I suggest you read up on the process, so you have a good idea of the process before you make one.
This is a pretty easy bread recipe for a beginner. You do need these assorted flours but trust me, if you have to eat gf you are probably sick of expensive and flavorless store breads so buying these flours is well worth it. I keep the sorghum, brown rice, millet and psyllium husk powder in the freezer, so they each stay fresh. You should put them in a freezer bag if their container is flimsy.
You could probably use a portable mixer, but a stand mixer is best. I use a scale to weigh most of my ingredients, necessary for exacting measurements. They aren’t that expensive and if you bake much, one is a necessity. My recipe is a take-off of one by Gluten Free Gourmand. I added the preferment step to my version to increase flavor and improve texture.
The preferment is a fancy term for a mixture of the sourdough starter, flour and warm water that stands around for 4 to 24 hours, some people let it stand even longer. Its purpose is to add sour flavor to the bread; without it your bread will be a bit bland, and it also can help the texture especially if you use an active starter (fed with flour and water that day so it is bubbly and active). I find the use of the preferment step makes this bread deliciously sour and with a lighter texture. It isn’t hard to do; I actually use a 32 oz yogurt container with a lid and just leave it sit for that day to get sour; simply dump the entire contents, including any separated liquid, into the bread dough mixture. Super easy and it definitely improves flavor and texture.
There is no tricky kneading or shaping of this bread. I roll it into a tube shape and bake in a metal loaf pan so I have the traditional bread shape for use in sandwiches. This bread made great grilled cheese or panini sandwiches. I slice up the loaf the day after baking it and freeze it in a freezer Ziplock; defrost in microwave for 50-60 seconds and you are ready to toast it or make a grilled sandwich! You can make it in a round or oval boule if that floats your boat; you might want to use a banneton to shape it as it rises and a cast-iron Dutch oven to bake it in. I generally like the boule recipe on Bakerita.com for that sort of sourdough but this recipe below could be shaped, risen in a mold called a banneton and baked in a boule. My Dutch oven is oval, so I tend to make oval loafs in it; they slice in nice slices which are mostly the same size.
Discard Sourdough Bread Made with a Preferment
Preferment:
200 gms (grams) active starter
80 gms sorghum
100 gms warm water (95-115 degrees)
Mix in a plastic lidded container and let stand for 24 or more hours
Dough directions – Ingredients:
Mix in stand mixer bowl
65 gms potato starch (you could do 115 gms potato starch and leave out the cornstarch)
50 gms cornstarch
40 gms millet flour
40 gms tapioca flour
9 gms sea salt
20 gms psyllium husk powder
Mix well and add 1 tsp active dry yeast
Add 280 gms warm water and the preferment. Mix with beater of stand mixer for 1-2 minutes until well blended. I have a beater with a built-in scraper; use it or a separate scraper to push all dough together into a rough ball. Cover with a damp lint free kitchen towel and put in a warm place for 60-90 minutes. I leave the beater in the bowl for this first rise.
Add these three things: 75 gms tapioca flour, 1 tbsp. sugar and 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, Blend well with the stand beater. Turn out onto lightly floured bread board, form into a log; I like to roll it back and forth to smooth the bumpy surface. Place in a metal baking loaf pan sprayed with gf cooking spray. Cover with the damp cloth and put back in the warm place for 60-90 minutes. It should have risen some but doubtful it will double. I like it to be puffy but not too puffy or it might become over risen, not good!
Preheat oven to 450 degrees when the bread is close to ready for baking. While it heats put a low pan of hot water in the oven so it comes to a boil while in your oven. I like my baking shelf set in the middle slot. Bake the bread 30 minutes covered loosely with aluminum foil and then 20 minutes more without the foil. Remove from pan within 5 minutes and cool for a minimum of 4 hours; I like more than that. I often bake this in the later afternoon to evening and then cut it in the morning. Enjoy!
My World Without Wheat 