carrot pineapple muffins

Real life.  It's happening.  A lot of life has kept me from my absolute favorite part of life in the kitchen recently.  But mostly, I'm not sorry for it.  

The biggest and most important news is that I re-adopted my child.  Griffin, who spent some time with my parents while I settled at life, has finally reunited with her birth-mother.  We couldn't be happier, thanks.  And yes, she looks just like Andy Rooney.

Did I say happy?  Healthy muffins make me very happy.  While the carrots may be a usual suspect in a healthy muffin, I think you'll find some things you may not expect.  I used a mix of various gluten-free flours, sweetened them with coconut sugar and maple syrup and studded them with pineapple.   

Total happy-life-muffins right here. 

Carrot Pineapple Muffins 

(gluten-free, vegan)1 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup coconut flour
1/3 cup tapioca starch
2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 "flax eggs" (2 tablespoon flax seed meal and 6 tablespoons water)
1 cup coconut sugar
½ cup grapeseed (or other neutral tasting) oil
½ cup almond milk (or other dairy free milk)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 ½ cups grated carrots
1 ½  ounces packet freeze dried pineapple

1 cup chopped walnuts, for topping

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners; Set aside.
2. Sift together brown rice flour and coconut flour into a large mixing bowl.  Add tapioca starch, baking powder, ¾ teaspoon salt and cinnamon and whisk to combine.
3. Separately, prepare the "flax eggs" then add the coconut sugar, grapeseed oil, milk, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons maple syrup.  Whisk to combine well.
4. Add the grated carrots with the pineapple in a bowl and about ¼ cup of the flour blend and toss to coat.
5. Add the liquid ingredients to the flour mixture, whisk to combine then add the carrot/pineapple mixture and fold in. 
6. Divide the batter among the prepared muffin tins. Sprinkle chopped walnuts on top. 
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
8. Store muffins in an airtight bag at room temperature.

*Yields 12 muffins.