Our garden is overflowing with zucchini and one of my favorite things to use it for is delicious zucchini bread muffins (made gluten free with date paste)!
If you haven’t heard of date paste, it’s time you learn about it. This was my first time actually making it and using it in a recipe and I couldn’t get over the flavor it yielded. In this particular recipe, I used it in place of brown sugar and it was PERFECTION. Plus, the natural sweetness combined with the high fiber content made it an excellent ingredient to make this gluten free baked good the perfect guilty pleasure (without the guilt).
How to Make Date Paste
Date paste is super easy to make. Simply take one cup of medjool dates and soak them in about 2/3 cup water. After about 30 minutes of soaking, blend them in your blender–I use my Magic Bullet and it yielded date paste that was smooth as butter. Keep in mind, if the date paste isn’t blending as well as you would like, just add more water–you’re not going to mess this up.
How to Use Date Paste
Use date paste anywhere your recipe calls for sugar. I find that recipes that call for brown sugar, date paste works especially well. I also plan to use it in recipes that call for molasses and honey. As far as how much date paste you should use–I followed the ratio of 1:1. My zucchini bread muffin recipe called for a 1/2 cup of brown sugar so I used a 1/2 cup of date paste.
On to the Gluten Free Zucchini Bread Muffins
When making baked good recipes that I want to be gluten free, I use a flour blend that is equal parts oat flour, almond flour and coconut flour. Keep in mind, the coconut flour will cause the recipes to be very dense and also be a bit grainer than you might like. If this is not something you think that you’ll care for, I suggest using a flour blend of just oat flour and almond flour.
I chose to make my zucchini bread muffins in silicon muffin liners because they are no stick and also easy to clean. Here are some that I would recommend.
**Want to see some of my other recommendations for baking/cooking gluten free? Visit my page that includes gadgets and ingredients I love.**
Now for the recipe…..Delicious Zucchini Bread Muffins (gluten free with Date Paste)!
Delicious Zucchini Bread Muffins (gluten free)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups gluten free flour blend (equal parts oat, coconut and almond flour)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/2 cup date paste
- 1/2 cup Swerve Sweetener - Confectioner
- 1 large egg (at room temp)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup shredded zucchini
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg together in a large bowl until thoroughly combined. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk the oil, date paste, Swerve sweetener, egg, vanilla, and zucchini together until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Gently whisk until combined; do not overmix. Batter will be semi-thick.
- If you are using silicon muffin liners (I highly recommend), you do not need to grease. If using regular muffin tins, grease before adding batter. Spoon the batter evenly into each liner, filling each all the way to the top. Bake the muffins for 5 minutes at 425°F (218°C) then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 13-16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 18-21 minutes, give or take. Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin pan, then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling.
Notes
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