An exciting thing that’s been going on these days in my house is that we’ve started hosting a series of workshops. Some taught by one of us (I have 4 roommates) and others taught by friends, or friends of friends. Basically if you have a skill you want to share, we’ll provide the space and help find the people to fill it!

The lineup so far looks something like this: Contra dancing, Music production on Macs, Curry in a hurry, Basic bike repair/maintenance,  and Going plastic-free in your house. My addition to the series went down last week. The topic? Vegan and gluten-free baking! (No surprise there I guess).

Anyway, I was particularly excited because although I actually run workshops on various aspects of food for a living, my audience generally tends to be of the 5-10 year old variety. A baking workshop for adults presented a whole new level of possibility!

And indeed, the workshop was all about possibility. I prepped a few recipes for the group of nine, equipped them with potential substitutions, and let them go at it. Somehow, the three men in attendance (all novice bakers) wanted to make the vegan, gluten-free muffin (i.e. the hardest recipe) so I spent most of my time coaching them through the process. The result of their foray into baking was so successful that their recipe demanded a place on my blog.

I’m particularly proud of this recipe since it includes locally grown (Ontario) Sweet Potato Flour! This is pretty special stuff – you get the amazing health benefits of sweet potatoes, like vitamin A, iron, calcium, fibre, potassium, and even protein – baked into your favourite dessert! Plus you get the warm colour, sweet flavour, and rich texture that sweet potatoes are loved for. Just an FYI, the sweet potato flour doesn’t seem to be widely available in Ontario yet. I bought mine through 100km Foods, a local distributor. Here’s the website for the farmer/processor…they’ll best be able to say where to purchase it.

Without further ado, I bring you…

Apple-Pear Sweet Potato Muffins

Lots of locally grown ingredients too! Anything marked with a * was local for me.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a twelve cup muffin tin.

Prepare the chopped fruit (can use one or both, as long as it totals 2 cups):

• 1 cup diced apple*
• 1 cup diced pear*

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients:

• 1/4 cup sorghum flour
• 1/4 cup millet or quinoa flour
• 1/4 cup buckwheat flour
• 1/4 cup sweet potato flour*
• 1/4 cup quinoa or oat* flakes
• 1/2 cup tapioca starch or potato starch
• 1 Tbsp sweet rice flour or arrowroot starch
• 3/4 tsp xanthan gum
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp allspice or cardamom

In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients together.

• Egg replacer for two eggs (I used Ener-G Egg Replacer mixed with warm water)
• 1/4 cup light olive or canola oil
• 1 medium banana, mashed well (about 1/2 cup)
• 1/4 tsp light rice or apple cider* vinegar
• 2 tsp gluten-free vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp warm water
• 1/2 cup maple syrup*

Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix thoroughly (about a minute) until the batter is smooth. Add in the apple and pear pieces and stir by hand to combine.

Portion the batter into the muffin cups, just shy of full.

Bake in the center of a preheated oven for about 20 to 25 minutes until the muffins are firm

Cool on a wire rack for five minutes, then turn out the muffins from the pan to keep them from getting soggy. Continue to cool on a wire rack.

Makes 11 large or 12 medium muffins.

Aside: I have been experimenting a bit with this flour in gluten-free baking. I have found it to work well if you replace part of the flour with it, but not all. Which is fine when you’re adapting a gluten-free recipe anyway since there are always at least 3 flours listed.