Yummy Parsnip Muffins-Gluten and Dairy Free

I know what you are thinking……”Parsnips? Yummy?” Yes they can be yummy. I can’t say that I eat parsnips all the time. What I can say is that I have prepared them before and not cared for their flavor. So when I say this is yummy, I am not kidding around. If I didn’t like them you would not be reading this. If my husband and one of my two boys didn’t like them, you wouldn’t be reading this.

Last weekend I was watching Good Eats on Food Network. Alton Brown had an entire show on preparing parsnips so that children would not only eat them but ask for seconds. The first thing he made was parsnip muffins. They looked pretty tasty. His version had roasted almond slivers on top and looked much like muffins you would buy in a bakery.

I decided I would try to make a gluten free version of these muffins since my son can’t have gluten. What is the point of making these the normal way if my child (whom I am trying to get to eat more vegetables) can’t eat them? So I can’t tell you if these taste “just like” his but I can say that we liked them. My oldest son is avoiding them because they are a new food (even though they look much like the banana muffins he loves). My younger son who is in many ways even more picky than his brother said “Mmmm these are super yum!”

My version has the texture of banana or pumpkin bread but a slight lemony flavor. Even though there is no lemon in them.

Thanks Alton for the inspiration!!! Here is Alton's original recipe.

Ingredients

1-ounce sliced almonds (optional)

nonstick spray

8-1/2 ounces Gluten Free Flour Mix

1 teaspoon Xanthan Gum

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (Alton recommends freshly grated, I say use what you got ;)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

3 whole eggs

3/4 cup soy yogurt (I used 1/4 cup soy sour cream + 1/4 cup soy cream cheese + 1/4 rice milk because it is what I had on hand) Plain soy yogurt is harder for me to find with out driving all over the place.

1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used canola)

8 ounces sugar

10 ounces grated parsnips (I processed the gratings into a pulp to hide them better)

Directions

Place the almonds in a single layer in a pie pan and place in the oven. heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bake the nuts until lightly toasted, approximately 20 minutes while the oven heats. Meanwhile, spray a standard 12 cup muffin tin with the nonstick spray and set aside.

I skipped that first part because I used my mini muffin maker (kind of like a waffle maker that sits on the counter). I did spray my mini muffin maker with nonstick spray.

Combine the flour, Xanthan Gum, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and salt in a bowl. Mix well.

Whisk the eggs, yogurt (or my substitutions listed above), vegetable oil, and sugar in a large mixing bowl until combined. Add the flour and parsnips, and fold with a spatula until all the flour is moistened.

Prepare the parsnips by peeling off the outer skin. Cut off the top end and grate all but the inner core. In Alton’s show he explains that the core is a little bitter. You want only the sweet flesh for this. I then put my grated parsnip into a food processor to make it into a finer pulp. This gives the muffins a similar texture to banana muffins. The parsnip will not break down when baking. Your children will be able to see the shredded parsnip inside the muffin when they eat it if you don’t process it down further. Just saying….. For us it is a texture thing.

Divide the mixture evenly among the muffin cups. If you are adding almonds, sprinkle the top of each muffin with the toasted almonds. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the muffins reach and internal temperature of 210 degrees F and are golden brown. Rotate your pan half way through while baking. If needed, use a small knife to loosen the muffins and immediately remove them from the tin to a cooling rack. Alton says to cool them for 15 minutes and serve warm. We ate our mini muffins as soon as they were cool enough to bite into with out burning ourselves (which was more like a minute but remember we made mini muffins, they cool faster).

I have found that gluten free baked goods are best eaten fresh. These are best when eaten with in a day or two. I froze half of my batter for another time. I have done this for years with cookie dough, cake batter and banana muffin mixes. We bake up what we want to eat right away. When I want use use my frozen batter, I simply defrost it and bake it. This is great when you have produce that needs to be used right away before it goes bad. We like to use the frozen batters on weekends for no fuss breakfasts on Saturdays.

P.S. If you are freezing banana muffin mix add a touch of lemon juice to it and the batter won't turn brown.

With cookie dough you can partially defrost it and use what you want right then and put the rest back in the freezer. It will keep for 3-6 months.

Enjoy,

Katrina

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