American Style Chocolate Chip Muffins (Wheat Free)

It's good to be back in this kitchen.

Recently I've been adhering to clean eating principles in my every day diet. Essentially, the adage of clean eating is "Real food doesn't have ingredients, real food is ingredients"; it's overly simplified, but the concept is eating as much whole food as possible, with a few rules:

• Eat as many vegetables complex carbs as you can.
• Eat things with as few ingredients as possible: avoid overly processed food
• All meat must be lean: fish, white meat, lean beef/pork, vegetarian alternatives
• Avoid straight up milk and hard cheese: butter (in moderation), buttermilk, and soft cheeses are allowed.
• Fruit is allowed, but only in conjunction with protein: simple carbohydrate metabolises as complex carbohydrate when combined with protein (and protein doesn't just mean meat, it can be nuts or yoghurt).
• Fat and oil are allowed, but only in pure form: for example, olive oil, coconut oil, butter, etc.
• Refined sugar and artificial sweeteners are a no-no: natural alternatives like honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar, and agave syrup can be used instead.

Now, obviously, these are guidelines: it's impossible for someone with depression to make such radical changes overnight when getting up in the morning and washing your hair more than once a week seem like insurmountable struggles. So, I do my best and try not to give myself a hard time when I slip up. In my opinion, changing one's diet and using natural supplements is better than being sedated with pharmaceuticals.

So recently I've been doing simple things, like swapping white flour produce for wholemeal, making my own sauces, drinking more water, bringing lunch to work with me instead of buying things on the go, and other small changes. Lots of little changes over time turn into big changes.

So I took my cinnamon roll recipe and slightly altered it to make some scones and some muffins. They turned out quite nicely!

Because I had to make them at my mother's house -- on account of my own oven being banjaxed -- I made them in the evening. So, I asked my brother to take some photos of them the next day in daylight. This request was taken quite literally! Now, they look like photographs taken of 'wild chocolate muffins in their natural habitat'...

FREE FROM

☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat
☑ Nuts

CONTAINS
☒ Gluten
☒ Refined sugar products
☒ Dairy
☒ Eggs

INGREDIMENTS

For eight medium sized scones

• 8 ounces (225 grammes) white spelt flour
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon (3 millitres) bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) sunflower oil
• 6 fluid ounces (180 millilitres) buttermilk
• 2 medium eggs
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) caster sugar
• 3 or 4 ounces (85 to 115 grammes) chopped chocolate, or chocolate chips

If using unsalted butter, add 2 pinches of salt.

METHOD

• Line a 12 hole muffin tin with large paper cases. Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF, Gas Mk.4).
• In a mixing bowl, sieve together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar together until blended. Using a sieve will get rid of any lumps in the baking soda and baking powder. Add the chocolate and toss to coat the chips in flour.
• In a jug, mix together the oil, buttermilk, and eggs until fully blended. Make a well in the dry ingredients, and add in the liquid.
• Mix gently with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until it's blended. Don't overmix or the muffins will be tough; if you see the odd patch of flour, it's grand.
• Divide the mixture between the 12 cases, filling about 3/4 full. Bake on the centre shelf of the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes.
• After baking, cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before eating. They're best straight from the oven, but they do keep well in an airtight box for up to a week.

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