Granda Cakes – Allergy Friendly Muffin Recipe

What are Granda Cakes? They are vegan, nut-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, corn-free, soy-free, dye-free, banana-free muffins. I always let my son name the recipes I create because they are for him, and he decided these were so good they were granda! These muffins are pretty grand with extra protein, moisture, and so flavorful.

Ingredients

Date Paste – use a food processor to puree  8 to 10 dates with ¼ cup water until a diced jelly consistency. After removing the date pits, I let the dates sit in the water for at least 30 minutes before pureeing, letting them sit longer is fine. We like honey dates the best, but use Medjool dates, too.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds – use a food processor to grind 1 cup of roasted pumpkin seeds for the topping. Here is the link to my roasted pumpkin seeds recipe.

Mini Chocolate Chips – I use ½ cup of Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips. These are optional. You can use any chocolate that works for you, even chocolate shavings.

1 ¾ cup Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour  (I use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All-Purpose flour in the red bag.)

¾ cup Coconut Sugar (You can substitute ½ cup honey.)

*1 tsp Xanthan Gum (*If your gluten-free flour mixture already has xanthan gum in it, you can omit this step.)

1 tsp Baking Soda

½ tsp Salt

1 cup Coconut Milk (You can use any non-dairy milk.) I prefer Native Forest Coconut Milk in the can because their cans are BPA and BPS-free. Here is how I make coconut milk.

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Avocado Oil

1 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. In a bowl, mix dry ingredients well
3. Add wet ingredients
4. Mix well
5. Fill each muffin cup 1/3 full with batter
6. Drop approximately 2 tsps of date paste in center of each cup of batter (I used a heaping teaspoon.)
7. Sprinkle 1 tsp of ground roasted pumpkin seeds on top of the date paste
8. Add more batter to fill the muffin cups to 2/3 or 3/4 full, or add a little more if you want larger muffin tops
9. Sprinkle mini chocolate chips on top, press the chips gently into the batter
10. Bake 20 minutes
11. Remove from oven and let cool at least 10 minutes before eating. The longer they cool, the better they will stay together.