Don't those look good! This recipe came from Artisanal Gluten-Free Cooking by Kelli and Peter Bronski. I am so impressed with this recipe. Although, it was a bit of a process to get them to the point in the above picture. Here's why.
I ran out of rice flour. I went to Econo Foods (the local Houghton grocery store, with a great selection of GF items, and organic foods, among other things) to get some at about 11 pm Thursday night, because I had four very ripe bananas waiting to be made into something delicious. They didn't have any. Not even an empty spot, waiting to get filled. I probably need to go back at a normal hour, and look again. So, Friday, Josh has the car, he is at work. Their those bananas sit, calling my name. So I pull out my 25 pound bag of natural brown rice, and my little coffee grinder (which I use to grind things, except coffee) and I get to work.
I should note that the first time I tried this it was a miserable failure. My mother was in town visiting (yay!) and we were trying to make pasta. I saw how much a pound of rice flour cost, and I laughed, and chose, instead to make my own. Especially since I had gotten a 25 pound bag from the World Food Market in Houghton for under a dollar a pound! Whoo Hoo! After all was said and done (I will spare you the details of that tragic disaster of a meal) I had given up making my own, until I could get a better grinder, or mill. My in-laws are actually working to find me one. Isn't that sweet? But it is not here yet.
Back to the rice flour I was in need of...I decided to put it through the coffee grinder 3 times, on the fine setting, and see what I got. Since I didn't have any rice flour to compare it to, I had to go by feel, and memory. It looked better than the first time I tried it. It seemed to look like pretty fine flour. And, even though it's texture was a tad bit more grainy than what I remembered the store bought rice flour being, I thought it would be alright. Besides, what other choice did I have. So away I went.
Once the oven was preheated, and all the ingredients mixed, and poured into a muffin tin, I took a little taste of the batter. Something I hate doing, especially since the last egg recall-- which left Walmart (and I suspect other stores as well) completely void of all eggs-- was less than 6 months ago. The batter had a bit more of a grainy texture to it, more so than I had remembered with the blueberry muffins, which were made with store bought rice flour. I decided to combat this by lowering the temperature of the oven, and cooking the muffins longer. Now, there may be some of you who are reading this and shaking your head in amusement. I am not a baker. Heck, I am not even a cook. I can follow a recipe, and even delineate from it every now and then, with pretty good results. So, maybe I did the exact opposite of what I should of done. The reason I thought this a good idea was because I thought back to the rice pasta disaster, and remembered the texture of the pasta after it was cooked. It felt like I was chewing tiny bits of uncooked rice, with each bite (sufficed to say, I didn't take very many bites of that pasta). So I figured, if I gave the muffins more time in the oven, it would combat the bits of rice, and make them cook completely; that meant I needed to turn down the temperature to make sure they did not burn.
Well! 35 minutes later I pulled them out of the oven, and they seemed to be done. They were really moist and mushy, but not, like, under done. I fed the kids each one, and then I ate two. But by the end of my second one, I had convinced myself to put them back in the oven. I turned it back up to the suggested temperature in the recipe, and cooked it for another 10 minutes. They turned out perfect! So, I am not sure if I should have just kept cooking them in the oven, at their current temperature, or if I should have never changed the temperature in the first place. I might have to try this recipe again. And that would be okay with me.
I would rate this recipe as follows:
*Difficultly: 5 out of 5 stars
If you forget about all the problems I had with the rice flour, this recipe was actually pretty simple. I used my Kitchenaid stand mixer, and then poured the batter into the muffin tins. It was a cinch.
*Time: 5 out of 5 stars
It really did not take long at all. I LOVE my Kitchenaid. I remember when I use to make whole wheat banana bread, with out a stand mixer, it was so difficult, and took a lot of time, and several dishes. Not the case with this recipe and my Kitchenaid!
*Price: 4 out of 5 stars
$6.29 for 12 muffins, which equals $.52 per muffin. Not too bad, I guess. But not super impressive either.
*OHA: 5 out of 5 stars
Had everything I needed.
*Yum Factor: 5 out of 5 stars
Delicious! It had a bit of cinnamon in it too. So yummy and flavorful!
*Calories: 4 out of 5 stars
It was 215 calories per muffin. They were not giant muffins, but they were worth the calories!
*Over all rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars
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