Blue Corn Raspberry Muffins, and a Cookbook Giveaway

*NOTE: The giveaway has now ended. Congratulations to the winner, Britt T., of comment #2!

"Mmmm, these muffins are really good, Mommy ... No. They're SUPER-good!" my 5-year-old proclaimed with her first bite at breakfast this morning. I had to agree, as did the rest of the family. The flavor combination in these muffins really explodes in your mouth, and we'll definitely be making them again.

I adapted the recipe from "Corny Raspberry Muffins" out of "The Whole Family Cookbook" by Michelle Stern, founder of What's Cooking With Kids. Do you know Michelle, or know of her? She is one awesome lady. After having her in my Twitter and Facebook world, I had the opportunity to meet her in person at the IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) convention in Austin this summer. Her kindness is genuine, and her passion is contagious.

Which brings me to the giveaway I'm sponsoring in this post. "The Whole Family Cookbook" is not a gluten-free cookbook, but many of the recipes are naturally gluten-free and many others are easily converted to be gluten-free (like this muffin recipe). I like the cookbook so much that I want to share it with one of you.

Michelle makes the recipes friendly for kids aged 2 and up with color-coded steps according to what's appropriate for each age. She celebrates local foods, and healthy meals, in her book. It's a great cookbook for anyone, even if you don't have a family! She has lots of great tips in the book, as well. Details on the giveaway at the end of this post.

I've been wanting to make these muffins for a while, and I'm so glad I finally did it. I've adapted them to be gluten-free with a few other changes. Because muffin batter is fairly forgiving, I decided to go with standard measuring cups for this recipe rather than pull out the scale since I know some of you haven't been convinced of that form of measuring yet. I personally prefer the scale - it's sooo much easier to just dump all the ingredients into one bowl without using various cups! (And I generally get a much better result and crumb by weight than cup.)However, I also meant to weigh how much each cup weighs for those of you who are international or have been converted like I have, and I forgot. I will be making these again, and will note the weight next time and come back to add it.

Projected prep time: 10 minutes; Projected bake time: 20 minutes
Makes approximately 15-16 muffins
(Printable Recipe)

1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup white rice flour (*Note: you can probably just use brown rice. I'm trying it next time.)
1/2 cup blue cornmeal
1/4 cup almond flour
1/4 cup sweet rice flour
1 tbsp. milled flax seed
1/2 cup packed pure brown cane sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 scant tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 1/4 cups vanilla yogurt
3 tbsp. organic canola oil
Zest of one large lemon
2 large eggs
1 cup fresh raspberries, washed and drained
1/2 tsp. organic pure cane sugar, plus a little extra for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line muffin tin with baking cups or grease tin.

Measure flours, cornmeal, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. This is a good step to be done the night before if making in the morning.

In a separate bowl, mix yogurt and canola oil.

Add lemon zest to dry ingredients.

Lightly beat eggs in a small bowl, and add to yogurt and oil, stirring to combine.

In a small bowl, mix raspberries with 1/2 tsp. of sugar and set aside.

Pour yogurt mixture into dry ingredients and stir just until blended. The batter will immediately begin to rise from the baking soda.

Spoon batter into baking cups or greased muffin tin, then spoon a few raspberries into each cup. Sprinkle a few grains of sugar onto tops of each on the batter.

Am I the only one who has raspberries fall apart after gently washing them?

Bake for 20 minutes, or until muffins bounce back when you touch them gently in the center.

Cool on wire rack.

Enjoy!

*NOTE: The giveaway has now ended. Congratulations to the winner, Britt T., of comment #2!

Giveaway for one copy of "The Whole Family Cookbook" begins today, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2011, and ends Friday, Sept. 9, 2011 at 12:00 p.m. (noon) CST. The giveaway is only open to U.S. residents, I'm sorry. The winner will be picked through the Random Sequence Generator on Random.org.

You are eligible for up to six entries in this giveaway. To enter:

Leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite muffin is (only one comment per person will be counted this way).

Additional entries may be earned by (Edit to say: Each one is an entry if you leave a comment for each letting me know):

1. "Like" Mama Me Gluten Free on Facebook (if you already "like" the blog on facebook, that also counts as an entry), then leave a comment here telling me you have done this.

2. Follow @MamaMeGF on Twitter (if you already follow, that counts as an entry), then leave a comment here telling me you've done this.

3. Share this giveaway and recipe on Twitter: "I want to win The Whole Family Cookbook @MamaMeGF! http://bit.ly/qRweEN " and leave a comment here telling me you've done this.

4. Share this giveaway and recipe on Facebook with a link to this post, and leave a comment here telling me you've done this.

5. Subscribe to Mama Me Gluten Free RSS feed, then leave a comment here telling me you've done this. (Edit to say: If you already subscribe, then that counts too - just leave a comment letting me know!)

You must leave a comment on this post for each of things if you want an entry for each one. Only one comment per item per person will be counted. In other words, if you comment more than one time saying you "like" Mama Me on facebook, only one of those comments will be counted, etc.
*Be sure to leave a contact email if you are posting anonymously!


Good luck! :)

Blue Corn Quinoa Waffles

These waffles have an amazing flavor. It's one you aren't expecting, but it's good. Very unique, with a nutty flavor. Almost like peanut, but not quite. It's one of those flavors where you say, "That's different," but it's good so you keep eating it and you like it more. At least that's how it was with me. My family members had mixed opinions.

I served them with maple syrup (organic, Grade B). I loved them, my husband liked them. My oldest daughter thought they were great, my youngest didn't hate them but they weren't her favorite. I did, however, get her to gobble them up a second morning when I put nutella on top. So I guess what I'm saying is, if you like different tastes, you'll probably like these. It's worth a try.

The texture, though. The texture is really great. Perfect crumb.

I usually use Pamela's baking and pancake mix when I make waffles, and follow the recipe on the bag, with the addition of a few spoonfuls of milled flax seed. I made blue corn waffles several times before we were gluten-free, but hadn't tried them since. I wondered how they would taste with quinoa flour, and I'm glad I tried it.

I adapted this recipe from one found in The Blue Corn Cookbook by Celine-Marie Pascale.

Projected prep time: 5 minutes; projected cook time: 1 1/2 minutes per waffle, give or take some time
1 1/2 c. blue cornmeal (gluten-free)
1 1/2 c. quinoa flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. packed pure dark brown sugar
3 eggs, beaten lightly
1 1/4 c. milk (will probably need more later)
1/2 c. unsalted butter, melted

Melt butter.

In large bowl combine your blue cornmeal

with the rest of the dry ingredients and mix together well.

Combine eggs and milk

and then make a well in the center of your dry ingredients and pour liquids into it, mixing well.

Stir in melted butter.

The batter will thicken as it stands, so you may need to add a little more milk periodically to thin it a little.

Bake in a preheated waffle iron until done. I have a Cuisinart waffle iron and 1/3 cup of batter is just about the perfect amount per waffle. Other irons may need more or less.

Serve with your favorite toppings.

Enjoy!