Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free, Oil-Free Cranberry Muffin Recipe

Walking through the produce isle recently I saw my first bag of fresh cranberries for this season, and it got me to reworking an old favorite recipe of mine -- cranberry muffins. These are a crowd pleaser and fairly simple to make. There is no added salt in these, but as you probably know, both baking powder and baking soda do contain significant amounts of sodium. When I make these for people on low-sodium diets, I have been omitting the baking soda -- (and using just the two teaspoons of baking powder) This makes them a bit denser, but still really good. This is a great recipe to use up apples that have gotten soft or a bit past their prime -- you could also substitute apple sauce for the blended apples. This recipe makes 24 muffins.
Ingredients:
3 cups sorghum flour
2 tsp guar gum (or xanthan gum)
1/2 cup ground golden flax seed
1/3 cup arrowroot powder
2 tsp Rumford Baking Powder (Rumford does not contain aluminum)
2 tsp baking soda (omit to reduce sodium)
1 1/2 cups blended apples (about 3-4)
1 cup loosely packed fresh stevia leaves OR 1/2 tsp of stevia extract
1 cup of chopped pitted dates tightly packed
1 TBS vanilla extract
1 tsp orange extract
1 bag of fresh cranberries (about 3 cups)
1 cup of water
3 cups sorghum flour
2 tsp guar gum (or xanthan gum)
1/2 cup ground golden flax seed
1/3 cup arrowroot powder
2 tsp Rumford Baking Powder (Rumford does not contain aluminum)
2 tsp baking soda (omit to reduce sodium)
1 1/2 cups blended apples (about 3-4)
1 cup loosely packed fresh stevia leaves OR 1/2 tsp of stevia extract
1 cup of chopped pitted dates tightly packed
1 TBS vanilla extract
1 tsp orange extract
1 bag of fresh cranberries (about 3 cups)
1 cup of water
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two trays of muffin cups with parchment paper liners.
2) Measure out the first 6 dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix well with a wire whisk.
3) wash and slice 3-4 apples. Place slices into powerful blender and pulse until they look like apple sauce -- adding more slices until you have about 1 1/2 cups.
4) Add the stevia to the blended apples and blend until well incorporated.
5) Roughly chop the dates on a cutting board and press the pieces into a measuring cup tightly until you have 1 cup. Add these to the blender and blend on high.
6) Add the extracts and bananas and blend well one last time.
7) Place the fresh cranberries into a bowl and pick over them to remove any that are soft, then rinse the remaining with water and drain through a strainer -- repeat this a few times.
8) Pour the blender mixture into the bowl of flour and mix with a spatula to just barely incorporate, DO NOT OVER MIX. Scrape out as much as you can from the blender with the spatual and then pour the 1 cup of water into the dirty blender and blend on high to get remaining mixture into the water. Then add the washed drained cranberries to this water and pulse very carefully a few times -- just to break up the cranberries a little bit, but don't over blend -- you want some nice chunks of berry.
9) Pour the cranberries and liquid into the batter and mix well enough that no dry flour is evident, but don't over mix, then quickly spoon the mixture into 24 muffin cups dividing it evenly between all the cups -- they will be nearly full. Place into preheated oven and bake for 40-45 minutes just until the tops start to brown. Remove from oven and remove muffins from tray to cool.
Due to the high fruit content, once cooled, these should be stored covered in the refrigerator, where they will keep well for at least a week. We always slice them in half horizontally and reheat them in the toaster oven before eating them -- they are much better that way.