Sugar-Free Sunday
February 7, 2010
Ellen has decided to give up refined sugar – see her video announcement – with her hosting duties on American Idol and taping her own show, Ellen says she needs all the energy she can get and eliminating sugar from her diet is sure to boost her stamina!
In honour of Ellen, I’ve started Sugar-Free Sunday, inspiration for sugar-free baking you can do on the weekend to get you smoothly through the week.
The first recipe is for Crumbly Lemon Blueberry Cupcake Muffins – from the Balanced Plate by Renee Loux.
I made these yesterday for a Yoga Teachers Evening hosted by my beautiful Yogini friend Sylvie. We ate most of these delicious morsels last night and this morning John and I polished off the few I brought home, yummy. I’ll make another batch this afternoon.
Crumbly Lemon Blueberry Cupcake Muffins – perfect with a cup of chai tea, sweetened with honey or agave nectar
makes 12 – 18 muffins
3/4 cup organic whole wheat flour
3/4 cup organic spelt flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp Celtic sea salt
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp softened Omega Nutrition coconut butter or grapeseed oil
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup apple juice, almond milk, soy milk, or filtered water
2 tsp lemon zest (Donna’s note: I used the zest of 1 lemon)
2 tbsp lemon juice (Donna’s note: I used the juice of 1 lemon)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 cup fresh blueberries, or thawed and drained organic frozen blueberries
Streusel Topping
1/4 cup nuts (pecans, walnuts or raw almonds)
3/4 cup spelt flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp + 1-2 tsp softened Omega Nutrition coconut butter or grapeseed oil
1 tbsp agave nectar
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp lemon zest (optional)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
Line muffin tins with unbleached paper baking cups or brush the pans with oil.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder and salt
In another bowl, beat together the coconut butter or grapeseed oil, agave, maple syrup, apple juice (or almond milk, soymilk, or filtered water), lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla and vinegar.
Beat the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until just nice can smooth. This can be done by hand or with a mixer, but be careful not to overmix or your muffins will be tough.
Gently fold in the blueberries
Fill the muffin cups about half full with batter.
Now make the streusel topping: in a food processor, grind the nuts into a fine meal. Add the flour, salt, and cinnamon and chop until well mixed. Add the coconut butter or oil, agave, maple syrup, and lemon zest (if desired) and chop in pulses just until mixed and crumbly. The texture should be like pebbles and sand. If it is too moist, add a bit of flour. If it is too dry, add a touch more oil.
Sprinkle the streusel topping evenly over the muffins.
Bake until golden, 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let cool before serving.
I suggest you make a double batch and freeze some of these delicious muffins so they will last through the week!
Another recipe for The Balance Plate that I make quite often is for Frozen Chocolate Coconut Haystacks - very easy to make and sugar-free! I use raw cacao powder for an added hit of anti-oxidants and the most yummy chocolate flavour. You can get raw cacao powder at any health food store.
Ellen we’re behind you! Be strong.
Hey anyone want to join Ellen on her sugar-free journey?
Anyone have a Sugar-Free Sunday recipe to share? I’d love to add it to our recipe list
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