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10/4/12

Sugar Free Almond Poppy Seed Muffins ( a low carb option!)

Almond Poppy Seed -  Low Carb and Sugar Free!

Last night I was in the mood for muffins.  An almond poppy seed muffin to be precise.  The thing is - as some of my readers know, we are currently embarking on a month of 'sugar free' and 'low carb'.  It's something we do about 3 times a year and have since 2002. That means you can't just grab a slice of bread, a piece of cake, a cookie or... a muffin.  If you want a food that is similar to the unhealthy sugar laden, refined white flour version; well, it takes a little work and a few special products to make it happen.

The Almond Vanilla Poppy Seed muffin I came up with started out as a basic 'idea' from the cookbook; 500 Low Carb Recipes.  As I always say however; play with your food.  Make it your own.  I took the idea behind a lemon muffin and tweaked it to my own tastes.  I'm still going to tweak this one a little more but it's close enough right now that I'd happily serve these 'almost like the real thing' muffins to guests without hesitation.




Almond Vanilla Poppy Seed Muffins
Sugar free and low carb

1 c almond meal
1 c vanilla flavored whey protein
1/4 c coconut flour (optional*)
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 c Splenda
1/4 c Xylitol or Erythritol
2 T poppy seeds
1 c sour cream
2 eggs
1 1/2 T water
1 t vanilla
3 t almond extract

Preheat oven to 400.  Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl and whisk the sour cream, eggs, water and extracts in another.  Blend them together using a wooden spoon or rubber scraper briefly, but don't beat the batter.  Stir just until blended well.

Pour the batter into about 15 regular sized paper lined muffin cups (or sprayed with a non-stick oil).  Bake approximately 17 minutes or until golden brown and done in the center.  Remove from pan to a wire rack to cool. 



*I like the addition of the 1/4 cup coconut flour because it thickens enough like 'real' flour to make the batter look and feel like a regular muffin batter and gives the muffins a great texture - without any coconut flavor imparting itself into the finished product.  You can leave this out, but the batter will be a little bit runnier and the muffin a little tiny bit more eggy and less muffiny.


UPDATING IN JUNE 2019 TO ADD:  Another great muffin that uses pumpkin in it can be found in my January 2018 post here.

 

You might be interested in these low carb cookbooks;

        


500 Low-Carb Recipes: 500 Recipes from Snacks to Dessert, That the Whole Family Will Love
1,001 Low-Carb Recipes: Hundreds of Delicious Recipes from Dinner to Dessert That Let You Live Your Low-Carb Lifestyle and Never Look Back
500 More Low-Carb Recipes: 500 All New Recipes From Around the WorldPrint Friendly and PDF