Lemon Muffins

I've made a few different lemon muffins over the years. One of my favorite was the Coconut Flour Lemon muffin that was nut free and very lemony. But today, I was looking for a fluffier version of that muffin. Strictly coconut flour muffins tend to be a little denser than an almond flour one because you need to use so much liquid to balance out the thirstiness of the coconut flour. I wasn't really looking to make this one nut free in particular so I played around with it a bit until I found a combo that I really liked. This Lemon Muffin is a coconut - almond flour combo that is just what I was looking for. You can add poppy seeds to it if you like them; I didn't add them because I didn't have any and they're not my family's favorite. Feel free to customize your own until you find your perfect Lemon Muffin!

Lemon Muffin
1/2 C almond flour
3/4 C coconut flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
5 eggs
3/4 C applesauce
1/2 C honey
2 T lemon zest (about 1.5 lemon's worth of zest)
1 tsp. lemon extract
2 T poppy seeds (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl. Add applesauce, honey, lemon zest and lemon extract. In another bowl beat eggs until they are foamy or fluffy. Gently mix eggs into flour mixture. Spoon batter into lined muffin tin. Bake for about 25 minutes or until tops are firm for regular sized muffins and 40 minutes for jumbos.

New and Improved Zucchini Bread Recipe

It's zucchini  season!  What do you do with your extra zucchini? I love sauteed zucchini as well as zucchini chips and even raw zucchini salad, but my favorite way to eat zucchini is probably zucchini bread. I've made several different versions of zucchini bread over the years, but this version is definitely my favorite.  Give it a try and see for yourself.

Zucchini Bread
2 1/2 C shredded and drained zucchini
2 1/2 C almond flour
4 eggs
1/2 C maple syrup
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1C chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients together except chips. Gently fold in the chips then scoop batter into muffin tins. Bake at 350 *F for 20-30 minutes.

Blueberry Muffins

Who doesn't love a good blueberry muffin? For breakfast or for dessert after dinner, I can't think of too many things I'd rather have than a blueberry muffin. Recently we've been selling these muffins along with several other treats at the Woodinville Farmer's Market and they've been a big hit with the market visitors. Give them a try!

2 C almond flour	2 Tbs. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. sea salt	1 C applesauce
1 tsp. baking soda	1/4 C honey
2 tsp. cinnamon 3/4 C frozen or fresh blueberries	4 eggs

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine almond flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon. Add applesauce, honey, vanilla and eggs and mix well. Gently fold blueberries into batter or drop berries in between spoons-full of batter in muffin tins. Scoop batter into a lined muffin tin. Bake at 350°F for 40 minutes for cupcakes or until tops are firm when you press on them. Makes 6 jumbo or 12 regular sized muffins.

Pumpkin Cupcakes Made in the Box Oven

This past weekend my family went camping with a few other families, several of which also ate Paleo or similar. On this trip we cooked our food in a variety of ways. We baked coffee cake in the Dutch oven,  made pancakes over a camp stove, made omelets in zip lock bags in boiling water, roasted sweet potatoes and more in the campfire coals and baked chocolate chip muffins and pumpkin muffins in box ovens. Box ovens may be my favorite camp cooking method just because it seem amazing to me that you can make an oven that will reach baking temperature using only a cardboard box and aluminum foil. That's kind of crazy, really.

 

The pumpkin muffins were a big hit with the adults while the chocolate chip were the kids' favorite. I'm really psyched to try out more flavors in the box oven. Have any requests?

Box Oven Pumpkin Cupcakes

1 ½  C almond flour
1 small can pumpkin
1 ½  tsp. baking soda
¾  C honey
1 tsp. cloves
2 Tbs. cinnamon
2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. salt
6 eggs

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Spoon batter into a lined muffin tin.

If making in a regular oven, Preheat oven to 350F. Bake muffins for about 30 minutes or until they are firm on the top when you press on them.

If making in a box oven, light 9 charcoal briquettes. Using the instructions here, place the muffin tin in the box oven and bake for about 30 minutes or until muffins are firm on top when you press on them. Keep in mind when using a box oven that every time you lift the box up, you will lose 25 degrees F from the oven and will need to add an additional 15 minutes to the cooking time. That's why the nifty window is so nice!

Pizza Egg Cups

I've been on a mission to get more protein in my kids in the morning before school. They don't eat paleo exclusively and breakfast is where they really want to have their grains and carbs. For the most part I don't push, but offer food I think is better for them. Sometimes they go for it and sometimes they don't. Last week I had a little extra weekend time and decided to make egg cups to keep in the fridge for the week's breakfasts. The boy wanted bacon and cheese in his and the girl wanted pizza flavored. I wasn't sure exactly how to go about that, but I gave it a shot and she seemed to like them. Each morning, she would get out one of her egg cups, put it in the microwave for a few seconds to knock off the chill and gobbled it down. Give them a try!

Pizza Egg Cups
6 eggs
6 slices of bacon cut in half
6 Tbs pizza or pasta sauce (I like classic or newman's own)
6 pepperonis
optional : olives, peppers, mushrooms, or other pizza toppings.

Beat 6 eggs in a bowl with a fork. In a muffin tin, lay half of a slice of bacon across the bottom then lay the other half on top of it making an X in the bottom of your pan. Spoon in egg until it reaches almost to the top of the muffin cup. Place 1 Tbs of sauce in the middle of the egg then top with pepperoni slice. Add any optional ingredients you would like. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until eggs are set. Cool then eat!

What's for Breakfast?

 

Breakfast is probably one of the hardest meals to figure out for new-to-Paleo eaters, understandably so! Breakfast in this country usually consists of cereal, granola, bagels, pastries, toast, oatmeal and other such sugary grain-filled foods. What do I eat if I'm not eating grains? What else is there?

I've been hearing from even non-Paleo eaters lately, that they've been adding more protein to the start of their day with great success. Especially children, can benefit from a protein-rich breakfast rather than a sugar-filled one. Children with high protein breakfasts tend to have better concentration at school and less behavioral problems. And that makes sense, right? Filling our bodies with sugar before we try to go to school or work and think and get along with others just doesn't make much sense really. Also, considering that we eat breakfast 4-6 hours before lunch, having protein as a major part of that breakfast will keep us full longer than carbs will. Win-win!

So, now we're all convinced that protein is the way to go for breakfast foods, but what is there to eat other than eggs? Here's a list of my top 10 favorite breakfasts, in no particular order. What's your favorite breakfast food?

1. Fried Eggs with olives and a side of sautéed greens (time to make: 10 minutes)
2. Paleo pancakes (time to make: 30 minutes, but I usually have leftovers from the weekend in the fridge)
3. Trail mix cereal - a few handfuls of nuts, a few prunes and almond milk (time to make: 5 minutes)
4. Dinner leftovers (time to make: 2 minutes in the microwave)
5. Muffins or scones (time to make: 45 minutes, make over the weekend and eat throughout the week)
6. Paleo porridge (time to make: 20 minutes, make over the weekend and eat throughout the week)
7. Pre-cooked bacon and fruit (time to make: 3 minutes in the toaster oven)
8. Smoothie with banana, almond milk and almond butter (time to make: 5 minutes)
9. Almond butter dipped apple slices (time to make: 5 minutes)
10. Boiled eggs and fruit (time to make: 15 minutes, make over the weekend and eat throughout the week)

Paleo/Primal Apple Cider Muffins

'Tis the season for apple cider! One of my favorite drinks during the holidays is Warm Mulled Apple Cider. For Thanksgiving Dinner the last few years I've pulled out the crock pot and filled it with apple cider and mulling spices and let it sit on Low most of the day. Young and old alike love a mug of this golden yumminess.

This morning when I got up, I was in the mood to make muffins, and once I looked into the fridge and saw the jug of apple cider, I knew just what kind to make. Apple Cider Muffins! I was also sadly lacking in my usual muffin starter of almond flour, so I used coconut flour instead. They turned out very apple-y and cinnamon-y and were a big hit with both small and large family members!

Apple Cider Muffins
1 C apple cider (I prefer organic unfiltered unpasteurized and local!)
3 apples
1/2 C coconut oil - melted
4 eggs - separated
1/4 C maple syrup
1 C coconut flour
1 T cinnamon
1/2 t ground cloves
1 t baking soda

Preheat oven to 350F. Core, peel and dice apples saving peel to use. Separate eggs. In a blender add apple peels, apple cider, egg yolks and maple syrup. Blend until mostly smooth. In a small bowl, beat eggs to soft peaks and set aside. In a larger bowl, combine coconut flour and coconut oil; let sit for a few minutes allowing flour to absorb oil. Add blended mixture to coconut flour mixture then add cinnamon, cloves, baking soda and diced apples. Lastly fold egg whites into mixture. Scoop 1/4 cup of mixture into lined muffin tins. Bake for about 25 minutes or until muffin is slightly firm when you press on the top.

Chunky Apple Hot Cereal

I'm a bit lazy in the morning. If I don't have something already made, I tend to eat fruit or nuts for breakfast then eat something more substantial for an early lunch. I love hot cereal for breakfast but can't bring myself to drag out the food processor to make that happen every day. If I've made a big batch over the weekend, then that's awesome, but otherwise, I'm not motivated enough to make it on a weekday morning.

The other day, I really wanted porridge for breakfast on a weekday so I decided to try an easier preparation method to see how it worked. Rather than putting everything into the food processor, I just chopped it up a bit and threw it in to the pot. Turns out, porridge is just as yummy when it's chunky! I will probably stick with this method from here on out, and maybe use the stick blender on the whole pot when it's finished cooking if I want a smooth version. If I had to guess I'd say the whole pot took me about 20 minutes to make start to finish including the chopping. I can usually swing 20 minutes on a weekday morning!

Chunky Breakfast Porridge/Hot Cereal
1+ apples cored and coarsely chopped ( I had about 1.5 apples)
1 T coconut oil
1 C walnuts coarsely chopped
1/2 C prunes or dates coarsely chopped (I cut mine into 4ths)
1 Can full fat coconut milk
1 t cinnamon
1 t vanilla

In a saucepan melt coconut and saute apples until soft. Add all other ingredients and cook stirring often until everything is warmed through and starting to bubble. Serve immediately or use a stick blender to puree porridge before serving. (I like mine both ways)

The Ultimate Chocolate Waffle - Paleo/Primal

Sunday morning was a waffle morning at my house. On such mornings I've been making my classic Ultimate Paleo Waffles. But this week we wanted something a little more special, and what, pray tell, is more special than chocolate? So, our family classic got an update with a bit of chocolaty goodness. They turned out extra special and very yummy. Give them a try!

Paleo/Primal Chocolate Waffles
4 Eggs – room temperature
1 Banana
1 C Coconut milk – room temperature
1/4 C + 2 T coconut oil – melted
3/4 C Water – room temperature
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 T vanilla
1/2 C coconut flour
1/4 C almond flour
3/4 C tapioca flour
2 T cocoa powder
Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature before you begin. Pre-Heat waffle iron. Mix all ingredients in a blender or in a large mixing bowl (if using a bowl, mash banana thoroughly!). Pour about 1 Cup of batter in the middle of your heated waffle iron then close lid. Cook waffle until your little “done” indicator light goes off then continue to cook as long as a significant amount of steam is still coming out of the waffle iron. If you pull the waffle out before it finishes releasing it’s steam the waffle will be floppy rather than crispy. Check for crispy-ness when you think the waffle is done by tapping the top of the waffle with your fingernail (at least this is how I do it).

Note: I use tapioca flour in these pancakes. Although tapioca flour is a “safe starch”, gluten-free and paleo-friendly it is still a starch and not low-carb.

Zucchini Spice Bread

My friend Jennifer asked me if I had a Paleo Zucchini bread recipe. I was sure I had one since zucchini bread is a staple of summer. But all of my searching resulted in zero, zilch, nada on the zucchini bread front. Well, I took that as a challenge and went in search of recipe I could convert to Paleo ingredients. I found an old one I'd marked up and dog-eared and seemed to like. So I started there and went to work. When I started mixing ingredients I remembered that this recipe was almost a zucchini gingerbread, which I thought was really good.

The results were very tasty and believe it or not, both kids requested some in their lunches for today. Win for mom! I've been eating them for breakfast, as well. Fast, healthy and filling!

Zucchini Spice Bread
4 C shredded or pureed zucchini (I puree it so the boy doesn't see any green specs. )
1/2 C Maple syrup
4 Eggs
1/2 C coconut oil - melted
2 t vanilla
1 T cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1 t ground ginger
1 t ground cloves
2 t ground cinnamon
1 t ground nutmeg
2 t baking soda
1 C coconut flour
2.5 C almond flour
1 C chopped walnuts (optional)
1 C dark chocolate chips (optional)

Bring all ingredients to room temperature. Preheat oven to 350F. Mix coconut flour and coconut oil and let sit for a minute or 2. Stir in all other ingredients except mix-ins. Fold in any mix-ins you like then spoon into lined muffin tins or loaf pans. Bake for about 30 minutes for muffins and 45 for a loaf or until middles aren't mushy when you press on them. This made 18 regular sized muffins and a mini loaf.

Images from around the Garden

The weather's been darn near perfect in the PNW this past week. We've had sunny days with highs in the mid to high 70's. Can't get better than that for a first week of school either! With the weather being so nice, we've been spending as much time outside as possible, too. The kids have been getting off the bus after school, running home, grabbing a snack then running back outside to play. On the last day of summer vacation I managed to get all of the railing lattice on the treehouse platform. So now it's as safe as it's going to get and I don't have to worry as much about the kids falling out of it! They seem to like it, too!

Here are a few pictures I took around the yard the other day. And don't forget to get in on our carrot naming contest over at the Northwest Cavegirls Facebook page! Some of my carrots looked very...amusing to say the least. :)

Kids in the treehouse. They didn't like having their picture taken.

Treehouse from the front

Kids reading highlights magazine and eating a snack in the treehouse

our "pet" chicken. She follows us around everywhere. She's in almost all of my pictures of the chickens because she wouldn't go away!

Chirp!

Beans!

Red and his "girls"

Sneaky!

Buzz!

I found this perfect apple on our tree.

It's a good year for apples in our yard. I'm collecting a basket full every day. Sometimes I get them before the squirrels and bunnies, but sometimes I don't.

It's blackberry season! Go pick some then make some yummy blackberry muffins.

Katniss or Merida?

 

Paleo/Primal Chocolate Pancakes

I woke up this morning planning to make chocolate muffins for breakfast, but changed my mind on the way down the stairs. I decided to make Chocolate pancakes instead. Everyone in my house loves pancakes, whereas muffins are hit or miss. So I went with the consistent winner and cooked up a batch of chocolate pancakes. I used my usual Coconut flour pancake recipe but made a couple of minor changes to pack them full of chocolatey goodness. I think the added cocoa powder gave them a richer flavor that didn't really need syrup (but I added some anyway :) ). I still like the regular recipe, but this chocolate one will give me a second option if the morning calls for just a little more chocolate. :)

Chocolate Coconut Flour Pancakes
4 Eggs
1 14oz can coconut milk
2 t cinnamon
3 T unsweetened cocoa powder
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 T vanilla
2 ripe banana
1/2 C Coconut flour
Combine all ingredients in a blender starting from the top of the list down, mixing until well blended. Add water by the Tablespoon if needed to blend completely. Heat a griddle to 300F. Pour batter from blender onto griddle forming 4 inch pancakes (pancakes much bigger than that will be hard to flip). Add any mix-ins such as shredded coconut, dark chocolate chips, chopped nuts at this time. Once bubbles form in the batter then break and the edges look dry, flip pancakes. Serve warm with pure maple syrup and fruit or the toppings of your choice!



Clean plate!

And another clean plate!

Olives are Awesome!

I discovered something this morning, that I have been missing all of my Paleo lifetime...maybe my whole lifetime! For breakfast, I made my usual three fried eggs with baby kale sautéed in coconut oil, then looked over at the bottle of olives we purchased at Costco yesterday. Hmmm, would olives taste good with eggs and greens? I wasn't sure. But I'm pretty culinarily adventurous; so I thought I'd give it a try. Oh my! It was exactly the thing breakfast has been missing all along! The salty/sour of the olives fit with the fattiness of the eggs and the sautéed kale perfectly! This will become my go-to breakfast from here on out! Give it a try.

The Ultimate Paleo/Primal Waffle Recipe

My friend Rachel threw down the gauntlet. She challenged me to make a crispy, fluffy, tasty waffle to replace her famous buttermilk version. My mission this morning was to find the perfect paleo waffle recipe. With the help of the girl and the boy (and the hubby of course), we went to work. The boy helped me crack eggs and mix ingredients while the girl acted as scribe. She had her favorite feathery pen and fancy notebook at the ready to take notes about what ingredients we added and what each family member thought about the resulting waffle. We tried 4 different recipes, tweaking each one just a little based on what we thought about the previous attempt. Sometimes we'd add more oil or water; other times we'd change the ratio of flours. Along the way these were some of the comments "These are too eggy", "too floppy", "not fluffy enough", "too dense" and "too salty". But by the last batch the comments were "These are crispy", "These taste just right", and "I'm too full, I can't eat another bite." :) So, I think we may have found the best waffle recipe (so far). Give them a try and see what you think!

Note: I use tapioca flour in these pancakes. Although tapioca flour is a "safe starch", gluten-free and paleo-friendly it is still a starch and not low-carb.

Paleo/Primal Waffles
4 Eggs - room temperature
1 Banana
1 C Coconut milk - room temperature
1/4 C + 2 T coconut oil - melted
1/2 C Water - room temperature
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 T vanilla
1/2 C coconut flour
1/4 C almond flour
3/4 C tapioca flour

Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature before you begin. Pre-Heat waffle iron. Mix all ingredients in a blender or in a large mixing bowl (if using a bowl, mash banana thoroughly!). Pour about 1 Cup of batter in the middle of your heated waffle iron then close lid. Cook waffle until your little "done" indicator light goes off then continue to cook as long as a significant amount of steam is still coming out of the waffle iron. If you pull the waffle out before it finishes releasing it's steam the waffle will be floppy rather than crispy. Check for crispy-ness when you think the waffle is done by tapping the top of the waffle with your fingernail (at least this is how I do it).

A note about tapioca flour according to Mark's Daily Apple:

Tapioca flour is one of the “safe starches.” That is, it’s a toxin-free, antinutrient-less, dense source of carbohydrate. Tapioca flour can be treated more like potato or rice starch. It’s a classic carby flour, albeit one without gluten and other noted toxins.

For someone with good glucose control, tapioca is a decent source of carbs. If you’re looking to add carbohydrates, or your activity level warrants it, go ahead and try it out. Since tapioca comes from cassava, which is perhaps the most popular source of starch across the entire world, it’s not like it’s a dietary unknown. To venture into tapioca territory is to travel a well-beaten path. Just realize that anytime you turn something into flour, you massively increase the speed at which it breaks down into usable energy. High energy burners in need of a quick hit may find that to be a plus, while more sedentary individuals might react poorly to a quick infusion of glucose (especially if it’s not going to be utilized right away or sequestered into already swollen muscle glycogen stores). Your call based on your context.

Coconut Flour Pancakes

I love my Almond Flour Pancake recipe. But when Sunday morning arrived,  I went to the pantry to gather my ingredients to make pancakes only to find I was out of Almond Flour! What do you make pancakes from when you're out of almond flour, you ask? Why, Coconut flour of course!

Now, coconut flour is an entirely different beast from Almond Flour or regular wheat flour, for that matter. Coconut flour is very thirsty and requires a large amount of liquid to have the right consistency and not be too dry. But once you understand the liquid to dry ratio you need, coconut flour can be a very tasty and cost effective flour for Paleo/Primal baking.

What are the benefits of coconut flour? Well, I'm glad you asked!

Paleo/Primal Scones

Every Sunday we have a family breakfast together that is a little more special that those of the rest of the week. This morning I decided to make some Scones. I started with a biscuit recipe then altered it to make it Paleo and to make it more scone-like. The result was a bit crumbly like a scone should be but very flavorful and yummy topped with jam and coconut cream. The girl ate 3 of them! Enjoy!

Paleo/Primal Scones
1/2 C coconut flour
3 C Almond flour
1/2 C melted coconut oil
1/2 t salt
1 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1 T vanilla
4 eggs - brought to room temperature
1/4 C honey
1/2 C coconut milk - room temperature

Mix coconut flour with melted coconut oil. Let this sit for about 5 minutes so the coconut flour can soak up the oil. Mix all other ingredients into coconut oil/flour mixture making sure that all ingredients are room temperature or your mixture will be very stiff and hard to mix.

Preheat oven to 350F and line a cookie sheet with silpat or parchment paper. With your hands (yes you're going to get messy, but that's ok!) take a small hanfull of dough and roll into a ball. Place this on the lined cookie sheet and gently press into a flat disc about 3 inches in diameter and about an inch thick. Place about 6 scones on each cookie sheet then bake for about 20-25 minutes until tops start to get browned. Remove from oven and let sit for about 5 minutes to let them firm up a bit before handling. Top with anything you like! The kids ate theirs with jam and coconut cream while I ate mine with sliced banana and coconut cream. Yum!

A week of Paleo/Primal Breakfasts, Lunches, Dinners and Snacks

OK, I really don't like making meal plans. I can't imagine what I might want to make throughout the week while sitting on my couch on Sunday afternoon. I have a freezer stocked with meat and get a veggie box delivered on Thursday. Sometimes they substitute different items in my box; so I don't know what will be in it for certain until it arrives. That makes the meal planning a little hard. But really those are all just excuses because ultimately I don't make meal plans because that's just not the way I work. It's counter to my personality, I think. BUT, I can make a retroactive meal plan; I can tell you what I ate LAST week rather than what I plan to eat NEXT week. That way you can get an idea of what a week of Paleo/Primal eating might look like if you're having a problem coming up with ideas.  Keep in mind that I eat Primal, so there are some dairy items thrown in here. If you don't eat dairy, just omit those. Here ya go!

Week of Breakfasts
Saturday: Paleo/Primal Pancakes (make extra for eating throughout the week, Freezes well)
Sunday: Paleo/Primal Porridge (make extra for eating throughout the week)
Monday: Banana, 3 Eggs with cottage cheese
Tuesday: Orange, Paleo Porridge
Wednesday: Grapefruit, Breakfast sausage
Thursday: Pear, 2 primal pancakes without toppings
Friday: Smoothie, 3 eggs

Week of Lunches
Monday: leftover Beef Tarragon Soup from dinner
Tuesday: Natural sausage, bottled sauerkraut
Wednesday: leftover Spaghetti squash Bolognese from dinner
Thursday: 3 egg omelet with sauteed greens and sun dried tomatoes
Friday: Lunch meat, cheese, mustard wrapped rolled up in lettuce or chard
Saturday: Eat out (most salads without dressing or lettuce wrapped burgers are good choices)
Sunday: Leftovers from eating out Saturday and from the week's dinners.

Week of Dinners
Saturday: Pork Shoulder with Spinach and Onions with Cauliflower Rice
Sunday: Beef Tarragon Soup
Monday: Salmon Fillet, Sweet Potato Fries, Steamed Broccoli
Tuesday: Spaghetti Squash Bolognese, Salad with homemade vinaigrette
Wednesday: Balsamic Chicken and Onions, Salad
Thursday: Braised Beef, Sweet Potatoes with Chive Butter, Salad
Friday: Seafood Skillet, Salad

Other Lunch or Dinner choices:
Natural Sausage with browned peppers and onions, salad
Chicken soup
Baked Talapia, sesame oil broccoli and mushrooms, sesame cucumbers
Baked Chicken Legs, sauteed greens and onions, Steamed Sweet Potatoes or fries
Jambalaya, Salad
Butternut Squash Soup

Snacks:
Pear/other fruit slices wrapped with prosciutto
Nut and raisin mix
Beef Jerkey Pear /apple slices dipped in almond butter
Veggies with guacamole - baby carrots, cuke slices, broccoli

Paleo/Primal Christmas Morning Cinnamon "Rolls"

For breakfast on Christmas morning Hubby makes his traditional cinnamon rolls. They are so good, but I'm sure the level of sweetness will just be too much for me this year and I may not feel great after eating all of that wheat-based pastry. So while he was  making his recipe for him and the kids, I made a version of a cinnamon "roll" muffin that will be perfect for me and anyone else who wants to share with me. Not that it needs it, but I made a coconut cream frosting to go on top as well. I think they turned out very cinnamon-y and will be a good substitute for the traditional Christmas morning Cinnamon Roll. Give them a try and see what you think.

Christmas Morning Cinnamon "Rolls" with Maple Coconut Frosting
Muffins:
1/2 C coconut flour
1 C almond meal
1/2 t salt
1 t baking soda
3 T cinnamon (yes, that's Tablespoons!)
3/4 C Pumpkin puree or Apple sauce  (I used pumpkin this time)
3/4 C Maple Syrup
4 Eggs
1/2 C coconut oil - melted
1 T vanilla

Frosting:
14 oz can coconut milk
2 T maple syrup

Bring all ingredients to room temperature! Preheat oven to 350F. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl and all wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Then mix wet with dry. Fill lined muffin tins with batter and bake for about 20 minutes or until muffins are firm on top.

For frosting, beat coconut cream from a can of coconut milk and maple syrup until it thickens a bit. Spoon frosting over cooled "rolls".