| Monday, February 18, 2013 |
| Tagatose Sweetened Gluten and Dairy Free Banana Muffins! |
The boys had a long weekend with an unused built in snow day on Friday and Presidents Day today. So, we headed to Tennessee to visit Tony's parents. The funny part about the weather is that we were supposed to have flurries on Saturday at home, but didn't, however it snowed for about 15 minutes in Tennessee, so the boys saw snow anyway (during their "snow day" long weekend). Sadly, there wasn't a significant amount, but it was beautiful. This was the sky right after the snow passed...
It looked beautiful, especially since I was inside by the warm fire and not in the freezing weather.
There is no way to lead into this one, so I'm just going to go right to it...I want to talk for a minute about a new sweetener I tried recently from NuNaturals.
Tagatose...
From NuNaturals:
"PreSweet Tagatose is safe for diabetics because it will not raise blood sugar levels. It is also being studied for other health benefits.
One of the health benefits of PreSweet is that it is a prebiotic ingredient. Prebiotics feed probotic bacteria like acidopholis found in yogurt. Prebiotics help the good bacteria in the digestive system multiply. This improves the overall health of the digestive system and may improve the general health of the body.
PreSweet Tagatose is a naturally-occurring sweetener found in milk, fruits and vegetables. It is 92% as sweet as sugar. PreSweet is a low calorie (6 calories/serving), low GI (3 on the glycemic index), and low in carbohydrates (especially considering that many of the carbohydrates are not digested).
PreSweet is anti-hyperglycemic and great for those on weight loss programs because it will satsify your sweet tooth without adding the calories that sugar will.
Unlike sugar alcohols like Xylitol and Erythritol, PreSweet Tagatose browns like sugar.
While Xylitol has a unique cooling taste and Erythritol has a distinctive taste, Tagatose as a very clean, neutral taste like sugar."
I was excited to bake with this one! I'm a huge fan of prebiotics and I love finding great sweeteners that offer health benefits! When I'm trying something new with sweeteners, I normally go with something that we all love and are familiar with flavor wise. I chose banana muffins since we had bananas that needed to be used for baking. Otherwise, I would have made cinnamon bread...that one's next!
I made these on a Monday morning after training a client at 5am. I measured my flours the night before to make things a little easier. When I got home, I mixed everything together, popped them in the oven and we had freshly baked muffins for our crazy Monday morning! Now that's how you start the week off!
Gluten and Dairy Free Banana Muffins
(makes 12)
3/4 cup almond milk
1/2 tsp cider vinegar
1/2 cup brown rice flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1/2 cup amaranth flour ( I used Bob's Red Mill)
1/2 cup gluten free all purpose flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1/3 cup turbinado sugar
1/3 cup tagatose
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated
1/16 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 cup egg whites
1 1/2 cup mashed banana
1 dropper vanilla stevia (or an extra 1/4 cup sugar)
1 TBSP + 1/2 tsp turbinado sugar for topping
Combine the almond milk and cider vinegar in a measuring cup; set aside (I did this the night before).
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray 12 cup muffin pan with nonstick spray.
In a bowl, combine the flours through xanthan gum. Mix well. Next add the egg whites, banana, stevia and milk mixture to the flour mixture. Stir with a whisk to make sure everything is fully combined. Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups. Sprinkle each muffin with the remaining turbinado sugar. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
We all loved these! I always mix my low/no calorie sweeteners with sugar to ensure there is no aftertaste. These banana muffins turned out perfectly! They had an extremely clean flavor with no aftertaste at all. The boys devoured them without hesitation! They are my true test since I know there is a different sweetener in my baked goods and they will tell me if they detect something if I change it. I could not get them to stop eating them! That's a good sign and they're already asking for more!
I've made a microwave cake with tagatose too and I will share that one soon! Think spicy, sweet, moist and chewy...YUM!
For now, I've finished training a couple of clients already, the kids are out of school today, so I'm going to enjoy some coffee and blog reading! I hope you all have a great Monday!
I'm sharing these on this week's Slightly Indulgent Tuesday and Allergy Free Wednesday.Labels: breads, breakfast, gluten free, muffins, product reviews, quick bread |
posted by Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen @ 6:00 AM  |
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| 11 Comments: |
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I don't mind the cold at all if I'm inside by a fire. :)
I loved the tagatose too! Can't wait for your microwave recipe. I've been making them nearly every night lately.
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Interesting on the tagatose. Your muffins look terrific! Enjoy your day off with your boys. :-)
It's miserably cold and windy here right now so we're inside more than usual.
xo,
Shirley
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I've not used the tagatose yet. Glad you guys had a long weekend. I sure could use one of those myself.
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Muffins look great, makes us miss baking and bananas ;)
Glad you all had a great weekend, we did too!!
Hope you got to enjoy your day and coffee!
hugs
purelytwins
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you are the best wife! tony is so lucky to have you, and vice versa! I just got this sweetner too, so i must try the muffins, it's a sign
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What a great idea to measure out the flours and such ahead of time. Not really sure why I never thought of that before!
Hope you had a nice day yesterday!!
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Aw, what a nice long weekend for the boys :)
I've never heard of Tagatose! That's pretty interesting. NuNaturals has my favorite stevia.
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That looks so beautiful. Glad you got to enjoy some family time.
I didn't use tagatose for GDF as it is usually derived from dairy. Any idea if NuNaturals is?
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I've never heard of tagatose. I'll have to scope it out. Those muffins sound delicious and that sky is breath taking. So glad you had a great long weekend with your boys. :) Hugs friend! I think about you daily!!!!!
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I am very curious about the tagatose....a new sugar free goodie on our horizons, can't wait to test it out, hanks for introducing it to me! featuring your recipe this week on AFW!
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Ahh, nothing better than enjoying a winter day INSIDE by a warm fire! I so wish I had a fireplace! And that picture is gorgeous!
I've got a whole slew of sweeteners from NuNaturals but I have yet to experiment with them since baking is not exactly my strong suit...and well, I never really feel like my pancakes need sweetening. I recently used xylitol for the first time and surprised the heck out of myself when I had a loaf of coconut banana bread come out of the oven in total perfection! Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky with the NuNaturals stuff too! *fingers crossed*
Mmmm, can't wait to see the microwave cake! You had me at spicy and sweet! :D
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Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen
Home: Atlanta, GA, United States
About Me: Lactose Challenged
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I don't mind the cold at all if I'm inside by a fire. :)
I loved the tagatose too! Can't wait for your microwave recipe. I've been making them nearly every night lately.