Green muffins

I like to snack. Nowadays bought snacks are generally sugar filled concoctions devoid of nutrition. I prefer to prepare my own foods. I like to keep things sugar-free. By sugar-free I am not talking about artificial sweeteners and I’m not even talking about those natural sweeteners such as honey and maple syrup and rice syrup. What I will use to sweeten things are fruits and not those sugary dried fruits like dates either (those can be addictive little sugar bombs – I know).

So I’m often on the lookout for interesting snack foods that the kids will like as well. Grain-free can be a benefit as well. When baking grain free, nut flour can get pretty expensive. My latest experiment was with sunflower seed flour. Did you know sunflower seeds can turn green when baked??

I’m also experimenting with egg whites as we have an abundance of those as breakfast often includes a couple of egg yolks raw without the whites.

Green muffins

The outside looks unassuming and brown like a regular muffin. The inside is a distinct colour of green.

1.5 cups sunflower seed flour (grind in coffee grinder)

¼ or less cup coconut oil, melted

4 or 5 egg whites beaten with some salt until stiff

¾ cup or less pear butter (I used a home made one which was just pureed whole pears that were gently cooked for a long time)

Chopped dried apricots – I didn’t use these but imagine they may make a nice addition

Mix flour with pear butter and then mix in oil. Gently fold in egg whites and fill muffin cups with mixture.

Bake at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes or so.

For these muffins I used my new silicone muffin trays. What a concept! I have yet to hear anything negative about the use of silicone in baking. I’m on the lookout. Anyway here I have these flimsy, plastic look-alike muffin trays. Surely they will melt when you put them in the oven. They don’t. The muffins come out easily. They are easy to clean up. Neat! I don’t think these muffin cups will take over my beloved baking stone muffin tray but a definite convenience with a place in my kitchen for sure.