Gluten free chocolate pumpkin muffins

The new health benefits of dark chocolate are legendary.  If you are pregnant, supposedly you'll have happier babies.  Chocolate can lower blood pressure because of its magnesium conent.  And it supposedly works as well as that daily baby aspirin to keep clots at bay.


So I went to this vegan bakery and had the world's best gluten free pumpkin muffin.  It was a one-time thing, because they were seasonal, so I've tried to recreate my own, based on what the nice lady at the checkout said was in them:



Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 6-muffin tin with paper cupcake liners--I prefer making my own by cutting out squares of parchment paper and mushing them down with a glass.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together (organic when possible):

1 1/4 cup sorghum flour
1/3 cup amaranth flour -- I buy it whole and grind it myself
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup potato starch

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger 
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Add in:

1 cup evaporated date sugar or organic light brown sugar 
1 cup pumpkin puree

1/3 cup grapeseed or other neutral oil
2 free range organic eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  
Now add in:

about 1/2 cup soy milk or other kind of milk

Beat until sooth, add in a little more milk or sorghum flour as necessary to achieve slightly thicker than cake batter consistency.  Add in 1/2 or more cup chocolate chips (use dark, at least 50% cocoa mass to achieve antioxidants)

Spoon the batter into six muffin cups, bake about 20 minutes.  They can stay out a day uncoverd, but after that I would freeze them or put them in a container.  


Note on sources:


The vegan bakery obviously did not use eggs--you can subst. 1 tsp flaxseed and 1 tsp water for each egg.


They also used coconut flour, which is contraindicated for me on my Blood Type Diet.  But by all accounts, these turned out pretty well!




You can get a lot of the interesting gluten free flours by Bob'd Red Mill at Amazon: