Gluten Free Carrot Date Muffins

A muffin with no sugar, no butter and no gluten, sounds too healthy to be good, right?

Wrong!  I substituted natures own sweeteners, dates and honey for sugar, then switched out the butter for super flavorful Enzo Meyer Lemon Olive Oil.  For the gluten free flour I used Premium Gold’s blend of heart healthy whole grain and flax seed flours.

The funny thing is, this whole “healthy muffin” originated from me being a total hippie and wanting to use the carrot pulp from my Carrot Orange Strawberry juice I made the morning before!

Yes, I’ve been juicing every morning instead of drinking coffee!  No coffee?  What?  I know, I didn’t think it was possible to live without coffee in the morning (especially the first 2 days after going cold turkey on caffeine!)  But, fast forward 10 days and I’m going strong!

I’ve given myself a 30 day challenge to replace coffee with juicing.  Look for a post in a couple of weeks with the results of my challenge, and in the meantime follow me on Instagram: Whitney Bond or Twitter: @Whitney_Bond to see what I’m juicing up this week!

Now back to those muffins!

Ingredients

• 1 cup carrots (shredded or carrot pulp left after juicing)
• 1 cup dates (pitted and chopped)
• 1/4 cup Enzo Meyer Lemon Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups Premium Gold Gluten Free Flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Begin by combining the carrots and dates in a small bowl.  Next add the olive oil and honey.

Next add the eggs and mix everything together well.

In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg, then add the carrot date mixture to the dry ingredients.

Mix together well.

Spoon the muffin batter into 9 baking cups lined inside a muffin pan.

Bake at 375° for 15-20 minutes.

They’re like little bursts of sunshine deliciousness!

There’s so much flavor in every bite, from the tangy Meyer lemon, to the sweet dates, to the spicy cinnamon and a little carrot crunch!

♣ Vegetarian Option: This recipe is vegetarian.

♦ Gluten Free Option: This recipe is gluten-free.

♥ All pottery seen on the littleleopardbook can be purchased by visiting www.longaberger.com/muffetbond or e-mailing keepsakebl@sbcglobal.net.

Mini Nutella Cinnamon Rolls

Nutella, cinnamon, sugar, icing…. you really can’t go wrong with these sweet little nuggets!

Made with 6 ingredients in less than 30 minutes, these are an easy weekend breakfast treat that everyone is sure to love!

Ingredients

• 1 can crescent rolls
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup nutella
• 2 tbsp cinnamon sugar
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp milk

Begin by rolling out the crescent roll dough and pressing the perforations together.

Next, spread the butter over the dough, then the nutella.

Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the nutella.

Starting at one end, roll the dough up.

Next, slice the dough into the cinnamon rolls.

Place each roll into a pie plate.

Bake at 350° for 15 minutes.

Whisk the powdered sugar and milk together, then drizzle the icing over the cinnamon rolls.

♣ Vegetarian Option: This recipe is vegetarian.

♦ Gluten Free Option: This recipe for gluten-free crescent rolls can be substituted for traditional crescent rolls to make this a delicious gluten-free pastry.

♥ All pottery seen on the littleleopardbook can be purchased by visiting www.longaberger.com/muffetbond or e-mailing keepsakebl@sbcglobal.net.

Blueberry Pastry Delights

No berry makes my heart pitter-patter quite like the blueberry!  Little bites of happiness, I pop these blue treats like they’re M&M’s!

I first had the illustrious “Blueberry Delights” at Shade Hotel in Manhattan Beach. My friend Christian managed the hotel and my friend Greg was the chef.  I loved frequenting their brunch when I lived in LA… mainly for these little treats!

They may just be “Blueberry Pastries” to others, but to me they will always be “Blueberry Delights”!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup cream cheese
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 can crescent rolls
• 1 cup blueberries

Begin by combining the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon in a small bowl.

Next, roll the crescent roll dough out and press the perforations together, then slice the dough into 8 equal squares.

Top each square with a spoonful of the cream cheese mixture.

Then pile the blueberries on top.

Next, fold the corners into the middle and place each pastry on a baking stone.

Place in the oven at 375° for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown.

Make these on Monday and eat them for breakfast throughout the week, or treat the family to a little Saturday morning brunch delight!

Or, do like me and eat them for breakfast, brunch… lunch… dinner… dessert, um yeah, that might have happened yesterday

♣ Vegetarian Option: This recipe is vegetarian.

♦ Gluten Free Option: This recipe for gluten-free crescent rolls can be substituted for traditional crescent rolls to make this a delicious gluten-free pastry.

♥ All Pottery and Flameware seen on the littleleopardbook can be purchased by visiting www.longaberger.com/muffetbond or e-mailing keepsakebl@sbcglobal.net.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins with Chocolate Crumble

Growing up, and still to this day, Blueberry Muffins are one of my favorite breakfast menu items!

I took this version of the classic muffin to a whole other level, possibly to a whole other menu! These muffins are so decadent, they could easily be mistaken for dessert (or if you are me, 3 nights last week, they actually were dessert!)  Yeah, I just admitted that

When I took these muffins out of the oven, the blueberry was bubbling out of the chocolate crumble topping and my mouth immediately began to water!

While I will always love my Bacon Maple Brown Sugar Muffins, they are now tied for first place with these delicious little treats!

Ingredients (makes 15 muffins)

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 3 oz cream cheese
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup butter (melted)
• ½ cup coconut milk
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

Chocolate Crumble

• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp cocoa
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 tbsp cold butter

Begin by combining the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and brown sugar in a small bowl.

Next, blend together the cream cheese, honey and vanilla.

Mix in the eggs, then the melted butter and coconut milk.

Next, add the flour mixture.  Combine well, then lightly stir in the blueberries.

Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.

Place into the oven at 350° for 5 minutes.

In the mean time, make the chocolate crumble by combing the brown sugar, cocoa and flour.

Next, fold in the cold butter and mix into a coarse crumble (easiest way to do this is to get a little messy and use your hands!)

Remove the muffins from the oven and top with the chocolate crumble.

Place back into the oven for 13-15 minutes, or until the crumble is crisp and blueberries are bubbling!

I wish I could have captured just how bubbly and delicious these looked right out of the oven! Literally bursting with Blueberry amazingness!

Serve with a tall glass of milk, I promise, you’re going to want it!

Sprinkle with a little powdered sugar, if you’re feeling fancy like that

Slice these babies open and dig in!

Confession #173: I cut the first one open to take a picture and it looked so good I snatched it right off the little blue plate and gobbled it up.  But the real confession, I did it again a second time!

But don’t worry, I did save enough to play “Muffin Man” the next day and deliver these scrumptious little goodies to some friends around town and the nice gentlemen that work at the front desk of my building!

And yes, I did sing “Do you know the muffin man, The muffin man, the muffin man, Do you know the muffin man, Who lives in Drury Lane?”  the whole time I was delivering them  Except that I had no idea the last line of the song was Drury Lane, had to Google that portion of the song, followed by Googling “Where’s Drury Lane?”  Because of course, I want to find this mysterious Muffin Man!

Wikipedia: “The street Drury Lane is also where The Muffin Man lives as mentioned in the popular nursery rhyme. It is not known whether the song refers to Drury Lane in London or another town.”

Well that’s not very helpful Wiki!  Oh well, I guess I’ll just keep pretending that I’m the Muffin Man and we’ll just change the lyrics to “who lives on Little Leopard Lane!”

♣ Vegetarian Option: This recipe is vegetarian.

♦ Gluten Free Option: Substitute gluten-free flour to make this recipe gluten-free.

♥ All pottery seen on the littleleopardbook can be purchased by visiting www.longaberger.com/muffetbond or e-mailing keepsakebl@sbcglobal.net.

Cranberry Pomegranate Waffles

Oh how I love thee, Cranberry Pomegranate Waffles, let me count the ways!

This amazing creation came together from a few different sources. I first had the idea to combine the two fall fruits into mini pies, then I got hungry for breakfast and my pies almost became pancakes, then I saw my belgium waffle maker sitting in the corner of a cabinet collecting dust, and that’s how my pancakes became waffles!

And here it is, in all it’s glory, the waffle maker I purchased while living in the dorms at San Diego State.  Yes, I owned a waffle maker in the dorms.  Yes,  I was the only person in the dorms with a waffle iron. Yes, I used to make chocolate chip waffles in the dorms and you could smell them all the way at the other end of the floor.  I had college kids coming out of the woodwork to get in on those chocolate chip waffles!

Pretty sure I was breaking all kinds of rules by having a waffle maker in my dorm room, but those chocolate chip waffles were so worth it! What can I say?  I like living on the edge

Ingredients (makes 8 waffles)

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup coconut milk (or regular milk, whatever your preference!)
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp butter (melted)
• 1/2 pomegranate (juice and seeds)
• 1/2 cup cranberries

Begin by combining the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.

Next, whisk together the egg, milk, honey, cinnamon and butter in a medium bowl.

Next, add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix well. Fold in the cranberries, then add the juice and seeds of the pomegranate.

Now the batter is ready to go!  Pour it into the waffle maker and let it do its thing!

Open it up and boom, delicious-town awaits you!

These would be perfect to make on Thanksgiving or Christmas morning. You can make as much batter as you need for 4 or 20 and let people make their own waffles as they arrive (or awake!)

The fruit in these waffles is very tart, so I dusted them with cinnamon and powdered sugar to add some sweetness!

I threw some extra cranberries on top for color, totally optional, but looks very pretty

Pour a little butter on top…

… and dig in!

Click here for printer-friendly version: Cranberry Pomegranate Waffles

♣ Vegetarian Option: This recipe is vegetarian.

♦ Gluten Free Option: This recipe is gluten-free when traditional flour is substituted with a gluten-free flour. Coconut or brown rice flour would be great substitutions in this recipe!

♥ All pottery seen on the littleleopardbook can be purchased by visiting www.longaberger.com/muffetbond or e-mailing keepsakebl@sbcglobal.net.