Has anybody else made the zucchini & pumpkin seed muffins from the guilt-free baking section of the book?
I am in my first week of the 8 week BSD and thought I’d make them as a treat while I wean myself off my guilty pleasures.
They were the biggest epic fail ever – I am so disappointed 🙁 and just wondering where I might have gone wrong.
My instincts told me something wasn’t right with the mixture even before I put them in the oven. However, having never used coconut flour before, I wasn’t sure what to expect so followed the recipe to a “T”. The muffins were dry & crumbly (completely inedible)
I’d be interested to hear if anyone’s had any success as I’m reluctant to waste another lot of ingredients for a similar result.

I made them last night, They came out ok. I added 1.5tsp of butter (instead on 1), and the eggs I had were large, so the mixture was not overly soggy but was sticky.

When baked, they came out well enough, popped them out of the muffin cases ok they break apart easily when eating. Next time I will add more of the spices as I don’t think it was strong enough.

The mixture made 12 exactly.

Thanks for that – glad you had more success than me 😊
I’m a bit confused though – you said you added 1.5tsp butter – do you mean EXTRA butter?
ie in addition to the 3Tbsp it says in the recipe?
I measured out exactly 3Tbsp – the mixture was so dry I thought of adding more butter but I didn’t want to mess with the integrity of the calorie count so I added the juice of another orange instead (reasoning they were only small)
It did improve a bit but not enough to rescue it unfortunately.
Might give it another go but will wait till I hear back from you re butter

I made them on Thursday and froze them – haven’t tried them yet but need something to take for lunch at a day conference on Thursday. I found the mixture dry and had to add a bit more orange juice. They look a bit dry now cooked but they smelt lovely. Will report on cooked texture after Thursday.

I made them on Monday and they were disgusting 😝absolutely inedible. I think maybe there is too much coconut flour in the recipe? I’ve been looking at other low carbon muffin recipes and they only use 50g coconut flour to 4 eggs . I think I’ll have another go using less flour and report back

I think that’s probably it
Coconut flour absorbs an awful lot of moisture so maybe try reducing the amount used.
I found this when making the flatbreads, the mixture is supposed to be a batter but mine was a thick paste.
Still delicious though.

I haven’t tried the muffins but I know what you mean Bill. I decided to make a double batch of your coconut flatbreads yesterday. Made the ‘batter’ then realised I had run out of greaseproof paper, trotted as fast as I could to the shop round the corner and when I got back in the batter was as thick as playdough! Bit tricky spreading them on paper but were still delicious. 🙂
Bill, I didn’t put any salt in this time, I kept half of them plain and the other half had a sprinkling of parmesan before they went in the oven. We had the plain ones as a dessert last night – in a bowl, topped with big dollop of greek yoghurt and a spoonful of blackcurrants. Delicious. My son was most impressed! Thanks again for the recipe.
Now I may just have to go out and buy pumpkin seeds and try these muffins!

Nothing wrong with adapting recipes to taste Judith.
I have this thing in my mind for this weekend about slicing some onions into rings and frying them in coconut oil until tender, then adding a chickpea flour batter and cooking one side until brown, flipping it, and sprinkling a little cheese on top of the onions and letting it melt.
I’ll let you know how it goes.

Sounds good, Bill, look forward to hearing about it 🙂

I made these a few days ago. I used 42g of butter. I accidentally used the juice of a grapefruit rather than an orange.

They didn’t rise as much I would have liked and are very crumbly. I like them. I had one (from the freezer) and it was better than the one I had when still warm. I will make them again.

I found this recipe disappointing. In fact, both the guilt free baking recipes I have tried have been awful and are a stark contrast to all the other everyday recipes which are overwhelmingly delicious. Also, I am renowned for my baking skills and I’m afraid to say that there is no substitute for flour (or almond meal), sugar and eggs!

With regards to the muffin recipe, owing to the coconut flour which absorbs liquids at a great knots, I added more fresh orange juice but this still didn’t fix the problem. As a result, the mixture was too gluggy and the muffins were dense and very boring to eat. Still, I’ve eaten 2 so far and have frozen the rest. However, I’m not feeling very motivated to get one out and eat it! (Although I am going on a long bush walk today so may take one with me.)

The brownies were likewise disappointing but this was more to do with the (lack) of chocolate flavour as I’m not fond of coco nibs. I’m slowing making my way through them by having one most evenings following dinner but more because I don’t want to through them out as I loathe wasting food (and herein lies, in part, my problem!)

Hi, glad I wasn’t the only one! I made these this morning and I agree, they are disgusting – dry and unpleasant. What a waste. I believe I’m quite a good baker and have never had a failure like this. Because I had the oven on I baked my partner some banana bread – oh so tempting, but I held strong!

well done on resisting the banana bread oztru!’

Ooh yes, well done. I’ve decided that, for now at least, I will just go without. Maybe another day ….
( feels like Alcoholics Annonymous!)

Coconut flour needs a lot more liquid than the recipe gives. I kept adding watertill it felt right…ie like a normal cake batter.

quite rewarding to read this thread – I spent ages looking online for a low carb cake recipe for my birthday – I gave up in the end and decided not to bother!
I had a celebratory roast potato instead. No candles!

http://www.ditchthecarbs.com/2014/02/07/chocolate-heaven-cake-low-carb-wheat-free-sugar-less-nut-free-gluten-free/

Dunno if this is good for anyone, has optional sweetener which I’d probably leave out

Only thing I’d be worried about is the sugar content of the dark chocolate

I baked the muffins today and like the other comments found them to be very ordinary. I added about 1/2 cup of additional liquid as have baked with coconut flour before (although not “straight”) and knew how dry things can turn out. They were moist enough but didn’t rise at all and just so bland with a weird texture. I felt like they needed a strong cheese & like the idea of spring onion. I think making them more savoury would help – adding some salt & pepper?? Still won’t fix the texture though. Difficult to change the recipe too much as Im very new to calorie counting!

Hmmm …. maybe you could have some cheese, spring onion, tomato, garlic butter? or whatever you like on the side???

Maybe i am unusual but i don’t at all like traditional English muffins …. to me it’s all about what you eat with them … like bacon and egg?

Sorry but can’t help with the baking of them.

Hi Shalimar
I think you are referring to a different type of muffin – the flat type that you can split in two & toast?? These are the “cake” type that are a little like cup cakes although in this case nothing like cup cakes.

So glad it wasn’t just me! I came on-line to check up on these muffins, as I made them this morning, and they were a disaster. In fact my experience was exactly the same as Littlest 21. They are so dry and crumbly. I ended up putting the crumbs on a plate and adding some soup that I’d made. At least that made them edible. I hate to throw them away, as there are some great ingredients in them. So I guess it will be soupy muffins now.

I made the muffins today after work, also an epic failure, threw the whole lot in the bin. Followed the recipe exactly, added a few tablespoons of water, mixture was weird, not like a batter. They appeared sort of cooked on the outside but inside was inedible. So disappointed.

Folks, give these a try. Lemon sour cream muffins. Really good. Have also pasted a link to one of the “best of” recipe roundups out there with lots of muffin recipes. Bon appetite. LTC

https://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/keto-lemon-sour-cream-muffins-low-carb/

https://asweetlife.org/25-best-low-carb-muffin-recipes/ below are the recipes included:

Bakery Style Blueberry Muffins from A Sweet Life

Cheesy Garlic Bread Muffins from All Day I Dream About Food

Cranberry Orange Muffins from Keto Diet App

Double Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Spice Muffins from Peace Love and Low Carb

Spinach & Mushroom Omelet Muffins from All Day I Dream About Food

Savory Zucchini Feta Muffins from A Sweet Life

Strawberry Vanilla Muffins from Divalicious Recipes

Green Chile and Cheese Egg Muffins from Kalyn’s Kitchen

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins from A Sweet Life

Lemon Blueberry Muffins from Keto Size Me

Maple Walnut Muffins from Swerve Sweetener

Mini Pizza Muffins from A Sweet Life

Zucchini Muffins from Sugar Free Londoner

Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins from Mamashire

Chocolate Hazelnut Muffins from A Sweet Life

Sour Cream Lemon Muffins from I Breathe, I’m Hungry

Cranberry Sour Cream Blender Muffins from All Day I Dream About Food

Grab & Go Pancake Muffins from All Day I Dream About Food

Coconut Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffins from A Sweet Life

Double Chocolate Blender Muffins from All Day I Dream About Food

Pumpkin Muffins from Maria Mind Body Health

Pepperoni Pizza Egg Muffins from Sugar Free Mom

Unusually Fluffy Muffins from Low Carb So Simple

1 Minute Keto Muffins from Ditch the Carb

Chocolate Chip Muffins from Sugar Free Mom

This is a fantastic post, Luv! I always appreciate the time you put into helping us all 🙂 This is particularly timely
for those of us who will soon be into the heat and humidity of summers on the east coast of the U.S. Prior to the
BSD, we routinely ate dinner salads that included chicken or shellfish, and they used to be accompanied by a
blueberry corn muffin. It would be wonderful to find something suitable that is BSD friendly! Do you have
any recommendations? Favorites?
When it comes to recipes, I always trust your judgement 🙂

Best,

Allie

Hey Allie, always glad to help. The Lemon Sour Cream are calling my name. Love a pumpkin spice in the fall and the orange cranberry.

I love Michael Mosely’s books but not his recipes so much. There are better things out there onthe web as a special treat once in a while but BSDers need to be aware of the calories (carbs are usually decent but the calories will get you if you are not careful). So a low carb muffin is a special Sunday brunch treat once or twice a month. But having a few nice recipes keeps one from feeling too deprived.

For a blueberrie muffin try this one. The cream cheese in it really makes a nice texture. It does have artificial sugar in it….can use any one you like. Hope you like them….let me know if they work for you. Note: I skip the plastic bag business and use a spring loaded ice cream “dishes” to fill muffin cups. MUCH easier if you have one.

love back to ya LTC

*******************************************************

Blueberry Muffins

from LowCarbMavin

Yield: 6 Muffins
Serving Size: 1 Muffin
Ingredients
Cream Together
• ½ stick (2 oz) butter, very soft
• 4 tablespoons (2 oz) cream cheese, very soft
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Dry Ingredients
• ½ cup (50 g) coconut flour
• ¼ cup Swerve Granulated
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/16 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon xanthan gum (binds ingredients for more bready texture)

Wet Ingredients
• 3 large eggs (cold)
• 1/4 cup heavy cream (last wet addition)
Add Last
• 1/3 cup fresh blueberries
• 2 teaspoons Swerve Granulated

Instructions

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Position oven rack to the lower third of the oven. Line a six cup muffin tin with paper liners. Add the dry ingredients together in a smaller bowl and whisk together to combine and break up any lumps.

Combine:
2. In a medium bowl, cream the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla together until light and fluffy. Add 1 egg and beat into the butter mixture until the mixture is light and fluffy (it may break or separate, it’s okay). Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients and mix until completely incorporated, making sure to keep that light, fluffy texture. Keep in mind that we want a light and fluffy – almost mousse-like texture throughout this process.
3. Add another egg and beat until fully combined and the batter is fluffy. Add half of the remaining dry ingredients, beating again. Add the last egg, beating until fully incorporated, followed by the last of the dry ingredients. Finish by adding the heavy cream, once again, beating until the batter is thick, but still light and fluffy. Fold in the blueberries.

Filling the Muffin Tin:
4. Spoon the thick batter into a plastic zip-loc bag and snip off a corner, producing about a 3/4 inch hole. Place the snipped corner into a muffin liner and squeeze the batter into a fat, rounded mound, filling the muffin liner about 3/4 full. Repeat for each muffin liner, adding any remaining batter to those that need a little more. Knock down any peaks with your finger. Sprinkle about ¼ teaspoon of Swerve granulated over the top of each muffin to help prevent burning and to give the muffins a nice look.
Bake:
5. Place the muffins into the oven. Turn the oven up to 400° degrees for 5 minutes. Then, turn the oven back to 350° and bake the blueberry muffins for about 25 minutes more. They’re ready when they feel firm when lightly pressed with a finger, but still sound a little moist. Remove from the oven and let cool five minutes before gently removing from the pan and placing on a cooling rack.
Notes
Per Serving – Calories: 273 | Fat: 25g | Protein: 5g | Total Carbs: 7g | Fiber: 3g | Net Carbs: 4g

These sound great, LTC! Thank you so much. Will definitely be giving them a “trial run”. The product “Swerve” is new
to me, so it will be fun tracking it down. I DO miss the occasional blueberry muffin! What would we do without
google?! Or you??

xxx
Allie