My cooking inspiration started with my mom allowing me to experiment in the kitchen (usually making a big mess). There was never a right or wrong way and trying new things and improvising was a big part of her teaching process. (Figures, she was a first grade teacher for over 30 years!)
When she called me with the idea of sneaking kale into some cupcakes for my 2 year old nephew, I was intrigued. We threw around some ideas and this is what she came up with. Thanks Mom, I appreciate your willingness to make our crazy ideas come to life so I can blog about them! Look for a future post when I try to put more kale and less sugar in these yummy treats.
Gluten-Free Kale Muffins
- 3/4 cup brown rice flour
- 3/4 Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Mix
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 4-ounces plain yogurt
- 3/4 cup kale, cleaned, chopped & steamed
- 1/2 cup softened butter
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1 egg
In a medium bowl, mix dry ingredients. Steam kale in microwave until tender or soak in boiling water 10 minutes. Drain excess water from kale. Add remaining ingredients, including kale, to a blender or food processor, blending until smooth. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until thoroughly combined. Do not over mix. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full and bake at 350º 25 minutes or until muffins test done. For mini-muffins, decrease time to 15 minutes.
Frost with cream cheese frosting or dust with powdered sugar if desired.
A Note on Kale: Kale comes in many varieties, shapes and stages of maturity. When cooking or using kale in smoothies, I remove the rib if it is larger than the size of a pencil. If it is smaller, I simply chop the kale to make it easier for my Vita-Mix to blend. For the smaller variety of kale, that looks like the size of a spinach leaf, I rarely even chop as it breaks down easily when blending.
