This is a very moist muffin, almost decadent in flavor with all the spices added. Yet with the garbanzo beans ground into the wet ingredients, it has some protein along with the carbohydrates. Its sweetened with dates so there’s no added refined sugar. Because its gluten-free, it needs to cook a little longer than a regular muffin and it also needs to be made in regular muffin/cupcake pans rather than the jumbo (or the teeny ones would work but you’ll get more than the dozen). And its versatile, you can make it with pumpkin, sweet potato, or butternut squash (or a mixture of squashes).
Prepare 12 muffin/cupcakes by grease and flouring them. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a blender or food processor, combine until smooth:
- 1 cup drained garbanzo beans
- 2 cups (or 15 ounces if you’re using canned) pumpkin, sweet potato or squash
- 1/2 cup non-dairy milk
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup chopped dates (using the ones mixed with flour will help dry the batter)
- 1/2 cup dried prunes (or you could use dried figs)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Meanwhile in a large bowl combine:
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose gluten-free flour
- 1/4 cup tapioca flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 cup chopped dates
When the wet ingredients are well mixed and all solid bits are broken down, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and hand mix until all the flour is combined. Divide as evenly as possible between the muffin cups and bake for 20-30 minutes depending on the size of your muffins. If you’re using the teeny muffin pans, baking time will probably be only 10-12 minutes. These are so tasty that they don’t need cream cheese or butter but can be eaten just as baked. Be sure to let them sit 10-15 minutes after removing them from the oven so that they dry out a little more in the baking pan.
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