Recently, we hosted family friends for the weekend at our house. You know me to be a gluten and dairy-free, often even vegan baker, and in my book Free for All Cooking, I tackled nearly every other food sensitivity, but the dietary restrictions of this family had even me a little stumped at first.
This family of 5 came with a long list of food sensitivities, and unfortunately, many of them were some of my favorite baking ingredients! No gluten, dairy, soy, egg, nuts, seeds, corn, potato, coconut … you get the idea. I needn’t have worried, as they traveled with all kinds of yummy foods that were safe for them, and some of their delicious concoctions might surprise you! (If you’d like to hear more about how we fared, and how this GlutenFreeByNature family lives deliciously within the boundaries of their food allergies, have a listen to the podcast of our radio interview!)
Back to the story at hand. Although they brought plenty of food of their own, and we came up with more yummy meals to please everyone at our table, I am but a baker at heart. I simply must bake for my guests! What is Saturday morning without some delightfully fresh confection permeating the house with delicious aromas that beckon everyone from their beds? I just had to find something to bake for them!
Baking with all these different flours was fun as an experiment, but boy did it remind me of why I created my all purpose flour in the first place! You’ll see from the recipe below that you can simply use my Jules Gluten Free™ All Purpose Flour for these muffins, OR you can use the alternative mixture I concocted for my guests. Either way, this recipe is amazing! All of our kids loved these muffins as much as the adults did, and even my kitty was caught trying to sneak a muffin herself (see banner picture, above)! There is nothing to miss here. Full of delicious lemony flavor, but free of gluten, dairy and eggs!
+ a Giveaway!
Enjoy this recipe, share with any of your guests and enter our fun giveaway from BeaterBlade® as well! To celebrate their new citrus cylinder called the JuiceLab™, they are giving one of my lucky readers this great new product AND my favorite ZestN’est™ zester!
You’ll want both for this recipe, as they make juicing and zesting SOOO much easier! See my review of the ZestN’est™ — the coolest zester ever because it catches the zest for you as you zest! — with my Lemon Bars recipe (another amazing lemon recipe? You bet!). And read here for more information on this awesome new Juice Lab™ that makes juicing lemons, limes and oranges a breeze. It catches and stores up to 5 ounces of pulp-free juice in a pre-measured, dishwasher-safe container that actually makes juicing easy! 
To enter for your chance to win both of these handy BeaterBlade® kitchen gadgets that will have you whipping up lemony muffins, bars, pies, cakes and anything else your heart desires … you have 5 opportunities! Do one or all, each for an entry (maximum of 5 entries). For each entry, you must enter a separate comment HERE ON MY BLOG telling me which action you’ve taken. The winner will be selected at random on Monday April 30 at midnight ET. Winners must have a shipping address in the U.S. or Canada.
- “Like” my Jules Gluten Free Flour Facebook page & comment here telling me you did
- “Like” BeaterBlade’s Facebook page & comment here telling me you did
- Tweet about the contest & comment here telling me you did
- Pin this recipe on Pinterest & comment here telling me you did
- “Like” my blog on the home page (under my picture) & comment here telling me you did
Lemon Millet Muffins
- 2 cups Jules Gluten Free™ All Purpose Flour*
- 1 tsp. baking powder (if using alternative flour mixture below, use 1 Tbs. baking powder)
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. sea salt
- 2 tsp. lemon zest (use the ZestN’est™!)
- 1/8 cup whole kernel millet (adds a healthy nutty crunch without the nuts!)
- 1/3 cup butter or non-dairy alternative (Earth Balance® Buttery Sticks or Earth Balance® Soy-Free Coconut Spread or Palm Oil Shortening)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar (cane or unrefined coconut palm)
- 4 oz. apple butter (homemade recipe) or natural applesauce
- 1/2 cup mashed banana OR vanilla yogurt, dairy or non-dairy (soy, coconut, almond – I like So Delicious® Coconut Greek Yogurt)
- 1/2 cup lemon juice (use the JuiceLab™!)
- 1/2 tsp. pure almond extract (optional)
- 1/4 cup milk or non-dairy milk (soy, coconut, almond – I like So Delicious® Coconut Beverage) OR water
*Alternative Whole Grain Flour Mixture:
- 1/2 cup sorghum flour
- 1/2 cup millet flour
- 1/2 cup sweet rice flour
- 1/4 cup teff
- 1/4 cup tapioca starch/flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. guar gum
Preheat oven to 350° F (static) or 325° F (convection).
Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the apple butter, banana, lemon juice, and almond extract. Stir in the dry ingredients, adding the milk last. Beat until smooth.
Scoop equal portions of batter into oiled or lined muffin tins. Bake for 20-22 minutes, testing with a toothpick to be sure they are fully cooked, but do not overcook, as that will dry out muffins.
Remove from the oven to cool on a wire rack. Store any extra muffins in a zip-top bag on the counter.
Yield: 12-18 muffins, depending on size.