Gluten Free Granola and Hemp Muffins

These muffins come from the recipe off the Enjoy Life Gluten Free Granola which we found as a new item at Kroger yesterday. I was so excited to try the gluten free granola despite the fact that it is almost $5 for a tiny box (of air! - gluten free air specially manufactured in a facility...).

Very berry sawdust, mmm

I made my first mistake in thinking that I ever I missed granola. This will be a very biased review since I never liked granola, but then again I'm not a carb person. My subsequent mistake was in believing it would taste like real granola... or something other than stale brown rice syrup. I should be fair and say Jon tried it and he said it was decent, but would be improved with milk and lots of cinnamon and honey. If you like or miss granola, this might be ok for you since Jon has a better sense of granola than I do.

I followed up my buying mistake with an entertaining hour-long painstaking irritable dance around the kitchen while I tried to follow their recipe. I hate following directions. I can't do it, so I added some organic hemp protein and organic blackstrap molasses (skipped the brown sugar) to make it more my own. I should have added flax just to spite my dad who responded "No flax! I don't like that stuff, yuck" when I asked what he wanted with his homemade steak dinner for Christmas. Got it dad, extra flax. Double flax for that, but no flax here. Plenty of rice monstrosities masquerading as "granola" though :)

1 c. Enjoy Life granola (I used the berry variety)
1/2 c. brown rice flour
1/2 c. buckwheat flour
1/4 t. sea salt
3 t baking powder
1 T. cinnamon
1 small organic apple with skin, chopped
2 T. organic hemp protein powder
2 eggs
1 c. unsweetened applesauce
1/2 c. lite coconut milk
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
2 T. agave nectar
1 T. organic unsulfured blackstrap molasses
1/4 c. raisins
1 T. organic raw pumpkin seeds
1 T. raw organic sunflower seeds
1/4 c. shredded organic reduced fat coconut
1 organic banana, chopped

Coat your muffin tins with nonstick spray and preheat oven to 350 degrees. I used a large muffin tin of 12 cups plus smaller 6 muffin tins. In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients (except the fruit). In a separate smaller bowl, combine wet ingredients while adding the molasses and agave last. Add in the wet ingredients and stir well. I used a potato masher to squash the banana into the dough. Add the chopped apple, raisins, coconut, and seeds and stir until well mixed. Fill the muffin cups about half full and add extra granola on top if desired. Bake 15-17 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Serve warm.

Yield: 22-25 muffins