Paleo Apple Squash Muffins
I have come up with another seasonal muffin recipe; this time using apples and butternut squash. I started working on this recipe last winter, but then spring arrived and my desire to eat muffins was pushed aside for fresh leafy greens. I found the little piece of paper with the recipe scribbled on it a few weeks ago, and I decided to rework the recipe without rice flour and make it grain-free.
It took me several attempts to get this recipe right. For some reason I kept coming out with 9 muffins, and I really wanted to fill the whole tray and make 12! Needless to say, I have a freezer full of these muffins after having so many test batches. They all tasted great, but just came up 3 short. I can’t complain though, I now have easy after school snacks for the kids for the next few weeks. I also tried to work this recipe without using tapioca flour, as I know many people are trying to avoid the added starch these days. The muffins did turn out OK without the added starch, but I found them to be more crumbly. I tolerate tapioca well, so I didn’t go much further with that experiment.
- ½ cup ground Sunflower Seeds
- ⅓ cup + 1 tbsp Coconut Flour
- ⅓ cup Tapioca Flour
- 1tsp baking powder
- 1tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- Pinch of ground ginger
- 4 eggs whisked
- ½ cup pure maple syrup
- 3 tbsp Coconut Oil liquefied
- ⅔ cup of butternut squash puree
- 1 organic apple diced
- Streusel Topping
- 3Tbsp raw sunflower seeds
- 2-3Tbsp coconut sugar
- 1tbsp coconut oil
- Preheat oven to 325F
- In a small bowl, whisk together the ground sunflower seeds, coconut and tapioca flour, baking powder and spices.
- In a large bowl, whisk together 4 eggs until frothy, add the maple syrup, coconut oil and squash puree.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and combine well with a spoon. Add the diced apple
- to make Streusel topping place all ingredients in a food processor and process for a few seconds until it becomes a crumbly texture.
- Fill prepared muffin tin ⅔ of the way full with the batter. Sprinkle Streusel on top.
- Bake for approx 25 minutes or until tooth pick comes out clean
I shared this recipe with: Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Gluten Free Wednesday, Allergy Free Wednesday, Pennywise Platter, Whole Foods Friday
Visiting from Slightly Indulgent Tuesday. I just became a follower of your blog and am looking forward to looking through your recipes. ( these muffins look amazing) Hope you have the time to visit my blog. I would love a follow back.
Totally dig it
I'm not paleo but these are awesome!
I saw this post on Slightly Indulgent. I shared an apple protein donuts recipe, I'd love for you to check out as well
These ROCKED! I was skeptical because I am new to paleo eating and haven't baked anything until these. My young daughters wanted to try them and they love them, as does my husband and so do I! Yum! You wouldn't even know they don't have grain flour.
Thank you Judee, I am going to check out your blog
Kammie, your donuts sounds awesome!
Kikimama, Thank you so much for the review! I am glad your family loved them as much as mine do
Visting from GFW. Love that these muffins are paleo/grain free, too, and I’m weak for streusel topping! Would probably make mine with cushaw squash, just because that’s my fave and I have some on hand.
They look delish!
Shirley
Thank you Shirley, I will have to try it with that squash as well. I don’t think I have ever eaten it!
I love the idea of these! I have a few questions- would blanched almond flour work in place of the sunflower seeds? Also, where do you get sunflower seeds? I ordered some from Vitacost and they smelled stale. And lastly, are some tapioca flours better than others?
Hi Kristie, I think almond flour would substitute well in this recipe. We just can’t eat nuts. I have replaced sunflower seeds for almonds myself in other recipes and they turned out well…I get my seeds bulk form my local health food store. They give me a discount for buying such large quantities at once! haha You never know until you ask.
Living in Canada, I haven’t found an online source for me where once shipping is added in, I might as well just buy it local. I know a lot of people use Amazon.com and I have heard of Nuts.com. You will see near the top of my blog *Fresh4five store* and that is my affiliate link to Amazon, and I have listed most of the products I use. I typically use Bob’s Redmill tapioca flour, but have also used the bulk flour at health food stores, and they all seem to work the same. I hope this helps! Let me know if you try these, and how they turn out with almond
These look so tasty! I’d love for you to visit my Gluten-Free Monday party at OneCreativeMommy.com and link up this and any other GF idea you would like to share. I hope to see you there.
Has anyone tried to use the flax/water sub for the eggs? Not everyone in my family can handle eggs (me for one) so I usually use the flax/water sub. Thanks! The recipe sounds great!
Hi Cricket, I haven’t tried it myself. I will try it next time I make them though (I have a squash on the counter waiting to be baked!) I use Chia/water to sub for eggs though, as we are intolerant to flax.
Just wondered how it would be to use applesauce instead of the squash? That would make it just an apple muffin.
Hi Charlotte, I think it should substitute well, it has a similar consistency. Let me know how it goes
I recently made this with pumpkin (cause my freezer is full of it) and the apple shredded (as my big buy with ASD was having texture issues with the apple chunks) and it turned out great that way too
Hi Danielle!
Thank you for sharing this recipe at Whole Food Fridays! I love that you used ground sunflower seeds! They look super yummy!! (I’m featuring them this week!)
Hugs,
Megan
Awesome! Thank you Megan
Do you know of any substitute for the sunflower seeds? I have an allergy and was wondering if I could substitute freshly ground flax seeds?
I think Flax would likely work (I can’t eat flax though, so I don’t have a lot of experience with it) You could also use a nut flour. HTH
Hi! I would love to try many of your recipes. However, besides grains, I am also nut, soy, and coconut restricted. I noticed several recipes used coconut flour, do you have any suggestions for a substitute?
Thank you
Hi Susan,
Coconut is an absorbent little sucker, and I find it quite unique in recipes. It would be hard for me to tell you exactly the measurements of a substitution without testing myself. I would say more sunflower seeds and tapioca or arrowroot flour, less liquid.
I have had a number of requests for coconut and nut free recently. I have been making some recipes this way lately; these waffles~ http://www.fresh4five.com/2013/01/basic-paleo-waffles-nut-coconut-free/ and the fortune cookies.
I will see if I can test this recipe out coconut free.
Hi Danielle,
I made these yesterday and everyone in my family likes them. Thanks for sharing, I am planning to try more of your recipes.
Your website is awesome.
SO glad to hear! thank you so much for sharing