Sweet Potato Muffins for ALL occasions

So it has been a LONG time since I have posted a recipe. I showed a photo on Facebook of some Sweet 'tater muffins I threw together that I modified to be gluten free and traVegan.

TraVegan: It is my modified, tested diet where I'm not totally vegan anymore. I suppose it'd technically be called 'ovo-vegan'. I have been vegan + eggs for about a month now and feeling pretty great, so I'm gonna stick with it until I have a reason to stray. I also eat honey but I think that's a pretty strict distinction, so it's not in my vegan consideration. Reason for eggs? GREAT quality protein, very tasty and versatile, and really helpful in baking...I'm just not a fan of the flax egg/Ener-G replacers. They usually work either okay or "fine", but they miss what the egg contributes; an added gloss and smoothness that makes a LOT of people forget that butter is missing ;).

Enough nutrition talk, let's talk about these muffins! They came out perfect on my first attempt, not sure how but I'm a happy man. Even my roommate here in Tucson liked them...he wasn't much of a fan of my cycling bars - the ones that did have chocolate chips.

Use: These muffins are great for anything really. Breakfast side, quick bite, mid-night snack, etc.

For the Athletes out there: I was surprised at how darn well they did out on the roads. I live-tested them on a 98 mile ride. One early on, on at mile 80. They held up GREAT inside a jersey pocket without being wrapped (it got up to close to 90 degrees. I also sweat a lot. So anything being safe to eat after 4 hours in my jersey passes the ultimate test).

The best part: SUPER easily digestible.

Other bonuses:

• Coconut oil (great fuel fat)
• Sweet potato (very nutritious, starch = longer carb fuel and easy on stomach)
• No Butter or other fats that can be tough to digest
• Protein from the egg/brown rice flour, great for longer activities
• Gluten Free

Here's the recipe:

TK's Sweet Tater Muffins: Makes 9 Regular Muffins (probably 24 mini's, and like 2 Dunkin' Donuts sized ones haha)

You'll be pleased to see these come out of the oven.
I had already eaten one before I snapped the photo...

• Dry Stuff: Mix very well in medium bowl. Apparently I did thise correctly as I hear horror stories about not distributing the xanthan properly
• 1.25 C Brown Rice Flour + 3/4 tsp Xantham Gum
• 1 T Cinnamon
• 1.5 tsp Baking Powdahh
• 1/4 tsp (+) Sea Salt (maybe 5/16, I'm not counting!)
• Not Dry Stuff: Mix very well in large-ish then add to "Dry Stuff" until combined evenly
• 1.5 T Apple Sauce
• 1 Egg (Large: feel free to try egg replacers though)
• 1/4 C Agave Nectar (I prefer agave for many mixing recipes, as it is fairly thin)
• 1/4 C Coconut Oil (melted: do this last as it congeals pretty quickly)
• The Good Stuff: Add and mix into batter
• 1 C Shredded Sweet Potato (use cheese grater, thickness as you wish - I did coarse)
• 1/2 C Raisins
• 1/4 C Shredded Coconut (*unsweetened*, but you could likely add more without consequence, with more yum!)

• Directions:
• Pre-heat oven to 350F, grease muffin pan (I use spray)
• Mix Dry Stuff very well
• Add Not Dry Stuff, mix to combine evenly
• Add "The Good Stuff" and mix it in
• Spoon (approx 1/4 C) into each muffin spot, close to even with pan level
• Bake for ~18 mins (best to go with the toothpick method though)
• Let cool and remove from pan

This is about how much I put in each muffin spot.
Note: These are the other muffins I made. Mashed Tater Muffins, they were good but not amazing.

Enjoy!

Reduced Fat/Higher Carb concentration test:

• Dry Stuff: Mix very well in medium bowl. Apparently I did thise correctly as I hear horror stories about not distributing the xanthan properly
• 1.25 C Brown Rice Flour + 1 tsp Xantham Gum
• 1 T Cinnamon
• 1.5 tsp Baking Powdahh
• 1/4 tsp (+) Sea Salt (maybe 5/16, I'm not counting!)
• Not Dry Stuff: Mix very well in large-ish then add to "Dry Stuff" until combined evenly
• 1/4 C Apple Sauce
• 2 Egg (Large: feel free to try egg replacers though)
• 1/4 C Agave Nectar (I prefer agave for many mixing recipes, as it is fairly thin)
• 1.5 T Coconut Oil (melted: do this last as it congeals pretty quickly)
• The Good Stuff: Add and mix into batter
• 1 C Shredded Sweet Potato (use cheese grater, thickness as you wish - I did coarse)
• 1/2 C Raisins
• 1/4 C Shredded Coconut (*unsweetened*, but you could likely add more without consequence, with more yum!)

Regular Recipe is 33% kcal from fat (for 10 muffins): 210kcal - 71 from fat. F: 8g / C: 34g (Fib: 3g, Sug: 13g) / P: 3g

"Reduced" Recipe is 23% kcal from fat (for 10 muffins): 187kcal - 42 from fat. F: 5g / C: 35g (Fib: 3g, Sug: 13g) / P: 3g

Next time I'll see about cutting out one egg and some shredded coconut/oil...but I really believe in a notable quantity of fat for fueling...so maybe I won't :P