The Great Muffin Experiment, No. 12 (Jump to the Recipe)

Several years ago, I decided to quit drinking coffee. I didn't like being addicted to caffeine, as I was traveling all the time and hated having to find a cup of coffee first thing each morning in a strange city or hotel so that the withdrawals would cease. I never quit caffeine altogether; I still drank tea. But I avoided coffee… until recently. I read that there were benefits to working out caffeinated — indeed one of the first protein supplement companies I looked into tried to sell me on the whole "pre-workout" thing: a big jolt of caffeine to get the heart pumping (and skin tingling). Instead of a supplement, I opted to just drink a cup of coffee before heading to the gym. (And now that it's cold in the morning, I pack a thermos.)

I also tried a brand of protein bars with caffeine in them, but they were pretty gross. Nonetheless, I've thought about adding caffeine in some form to my muffins — a bit silly since I eat a muffin after I workout. But whatever.

There's a bit of caffeine in the cacao nibs in my orange ricotta muffins, for example, and my chocolate beet ones. And I have some espresso powder in the pantry that I might play around with at some point. (Chocolate espresso muffins, anyone?) But this is a recipe for almond matcha muffins. Matcha: a powder made from green tea leaves. But truth be told, the point of these is much less the caffeine — there's not terribly much in matcha — and more how wonderfully green they are.

They're green because of the matcha, obviously. But I also added avocado — yes, avocado — in lieu of the butter that the original recipe called for. (I had a bunch of avocados from the CSA, and someone told me you can freeze them. Sure enough, you can. But would you actually want to eat a thawed one? No. You wouldn't. So baked good it becomes.)

Almond Matcha Muffins

This is based on the recipe for almond matcha muffins on the Fit Mitten Kitchen website.

Prep time: 10 minutes  ·  Cooking time: 20 minutes  ·  Servings: 12  ·  Calories: 142

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 c gluten-free baking flour
• 1 c almond flour
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tbsp matcha powder
• 2 tbs collagen peptides
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 c mashed avocado
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 c monk fruit sugar substitute
• 3/4 c milk
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1/4 c sliced almonds

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line muffin tins with paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
3. In a large bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Whisk until blended.
4. Add the wet to the dry and stir until just combined.
5. Fill muffin tins. Press 1 tbs of almonds onto the top of each muffin.
6. Bake for 16-20 minutes.
7. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes, then remove from muffin tins and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Some Baking Notes

I used monk fruit in these. I'm not super-keen on that sugar substitute as I think it can cause gastrointestinal distress. But so far, I haven't had a problem eating these muffins. (I lowered the oven temperature as monk fruit does cause baked goods to brown quickly.) They're not terribly sweet. Nor are they particularly almond-y. When I make these again — and I will — I will definitely add more extract. The sliced almonds on the top are sort of useless, and I'll skip that next time. I pressed them down, but by the time I've frozen and thawed them and moved them in and out of storage containers, the topping has mostly fallen off. Meh.