Tuesday, May 18, 2010

The Return of the Muffin

Yesterday I got a hankering. Not quite a craving, but more of a leaning of the soul toward a certain treat. In yesterday's case, it was for a muffin.

If you've been reading Kitchen Courage for a while, you might know that this blog began its life as Muffin Love. The only explanation that I have for this title as the blog was about more than muffins was that I enjoy muffins and used to be rather obsessed with baking them (often to the Best Husband Ever's chagrin, as I health-ified said muffins). In February 2009, I thought that the blog's themes and my writing goals had changed, and so Muffin Love evolved into the current incarnation of Kitchen Courage.

That doesn't mean that I don't like muffins, though. Even if I'm not quite as avid of a muffin maker as I used to be, I still enjoy a good muffin now and then. Unfortunately, with the recent addition of Crohn's to my particular corner of the world, wheat-based muffins are no longer a great option, especially as I'm trying to use diet to manage my digestive health.

Still, I wanted a muffin. I suppose I could have bought some sort of gluten-free muffin from a store or bakery, but I didn't want to simply eat a muffin -- I wanted to bake a muffin. It's been a while since I've baked anything, and much longer since I engaged in muffin creation. I wanted to get my muffin on in the kitchen.

Thankfully, having stocked up on a bag of almond flour, my muffin craving -- excuse me, my muffin hankering -- was not doomed to go unsatisfied. After a quick Google, I unearthed Comfy Belly's Crohn's-friendly orange cranberry muffins. I made a few swaps (a single naval orange for the two clementines, and oil instead of butter), halved the recipe, and nixed the walnuts. Another important alteration I made was to dig out my heart-shaped silicone muffin pan to make these muffins extra cheery.

After an easy prep and a 35 minute stint in the oven, these flavorful muffins emerged looking beautiful and tasting even better. I let them cool for a moment, then enjoyed one. Incredibly, the Best Husband Ever accepted a muffin on the way out the door to work. Even more incredibly, he said it was good, and then ate the remaining two muffins that evening for dinner! As he noted, they turned out a tad dry, but that could be due to the different flour or my oil-for-butter substitution. I am just amazed (and blessed) that he liked them at all! This might be a first for my husband-versus-healthy muffins record.

Do you like muffins? If so, do you have a favorite flavor or recipe? Make me drool when I read the comments, please! Also, check out Comfy Belly's orange cranberry muffins, which are as sunshine-y and delightful as their name implies. Not only are these muffins fabulous, but her blog is brimming with tons of other Crohn's-friendly amazing-looking creations. Case in point: coconut flour donuts, anyone?


1 comment:

  1. I'm not a huge baker b/c it just doesn't come naturally to me! I MUST follow a recipe to a T or else it fails! I envy all you baker bloggers who can substitute and play around, it must be some weird skill you have to be born w/! heheI love your adorable heart shaped muffin pan!

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