Muffins for Everyone!

Yipee!

I have finally found it...the elusive gluten-free muffin that tastes good. It's like finding the holy grail. While shopping at Whole Foods yesterday, I came across a new brand of GF cake mix. Well, it's new to me. I don't know how new it is in the world. Since I don't have a Whole Foods close by, I have to make an effort to head out there. And I do it just about every 2-3 months really. It's not that far, I just never head out in that direction very often.



Anyway, this is the mix--Authentic Foods Gluten-Free Vanilla Cake Mix.

I found this at the Whole Foods market on Tatum and Shea in Scottsdale, for those of you in the area. Of course, I had to modify the recipe a bit. Don't we always? I just can't leave things alone. I've been craving chocolate chip muffins for ages, well since I went GF. I haven't had a good muffin since then and it's been killing me. Sure, there are some good donuts, but nothing satisfies like a good muffin with your coffee in the morning.

As you can see, these muffins are moist, chewy, crunchy on the outside and lovely on the inside. Even my kids were praising them and I had to tell them to get their mits off of them. I may have to head out to Whole Foods again before the summer is out.

Of course, these are not low-fat or low-calorie, but on this diet sometimes I just crave something that I remember from the "good-old-days" when I used to eat anything without ever asking what was in it. These come really, really close.




Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Muffins

2 eggs
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup half-and-half (minus 2 TBS)
Juice of 1/2 orange
1 tsp vanilla extract (GF of course)
1 package Authentic Foods vanilla cake mix
1/2 package instant vanilla pudding
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
pinch of sugar for top of muffins (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Whisk eggs, olive oil, half-and-half, orange juice and vanilla.

Add cake mix and pudding mix and stir. Be careful not to over mix. Batter will be thick.

Add chips and mix quickly.

Place batter in greased or sprayed muffin tins. FIll to about 3/4 full. Sprinkle a small amount of sugar on top if you want a crunchy top to your muffin.

Let batter sit for 5 minutes before baking.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, depending on your oven. If they're brown on top, they are probably done.

Let stand for 5 minutes to cool, if you can wait that long.

Enjoy!