Strawberry Almond Muffins gluten-free, grain-free, casein-free

I haven't bought almond meal flour in a long time, because it's so expensive. Then, we joined an Azure Standard co-op, and they offer 5 pounds of Bob's Red Mill almond meal for only $27! (It's $36 for 4 pounds on Amazon...) So, I ordered it, froze half and put the other half in my fridge. Now I am happily baking almond meal muffins again =]

As many of you may experience, when you don't eat refined sugar, and cut back on the natural sugars in your life, your taste for sweetness goes down. I really dislike anything too sweet, after several years of eating this way. What I didn't realize was that my own tolerance for sweetness has gone down, even since last year. My Almond Muffins, for instance, were too sweet for me when I made them a week ago.

That is why I edited my own recipe, so I would enjoy it more now that my taste has changed. I wanted to share my edits with you, in case any of you are in the same boat I am =] I also took this opportunity to make them grain-free by substituting buckwheat flour in place of brown rice flour. Taste is subjective, so you may prefer the original almond muffin recipe recipe. I, however, think the new version is even better.

Strawberry Almond Muffins:

gluten-free, grain-free, casein-free

Add to bowl:

1/4 cup apple sauce

1/4 cup honey

6 drops vanilla liquid stevia

3 room temp eggs (cold eggs will harden the coconut oil)

1/2 cup coconut oil, liquified

Beat with electric mixer.

Add:

2 cups almond meal flour

1/2 cup buckwheat flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder (Grain-free Baking Powder Recipe)

1/2 tsp sea salt

Beat with electric mixer.

Add:

1 cup thinly sliced fresh strawberries

(fresh blueberries would also be nice)

Spoon into unbleached muffin cups, to almost fill.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 24 minutes.

Makes about 14.

Tip: To soften my coconut oil I keep a tempered glass jar of coconut oil on the counter. Right before I start making my recipe I turn the oven on so it can pre-heat. I rest the tempered glass jar of coconut oil on the oven vent in the back. The heat of the oven comes up through the vent and softens the oil.

If you're thinking about adding coconut oil to your diet, check out this article by Bruce Fife, N.D.

"Buckwheat is actually not related to wheat at all. Buckwheat is a bush-like plant, which comes from the same family as rhubarb. Buckwheat flour is made from the triangle-shaped seed, or fruit, of the plant. The seed is similar to a sunflower seed, with a small seed inside a hard outer hull. This tiny seed is what the buckwheat flour is made from. This seed may be tiny, but it is mighty powerful when it comes to nutrition.

Buckwheat has a high concentration of all the essential amino acids, which even whole-grain wheat can’t claim. Buckwheat especially contains high levels of lysine, threonine, tryptophan and the sulpher-containing amino acids. Our bodies cannot make most of these amino acids, so we have to get them through our food sources." -Delicious Gluten-free Baking