Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Muffins

Wake up with a warm and lovely carrot muffin.

Happy First Friday of the New Year. Like any first of any season this auspicious occasion makes yours truly want to bake. And with snow on the ground, it has to be muffins- like these tender little bundles of gluten-free joy. So cute and sunny. I love the carroty color. The subtly fragrant texture of coconut flour and quinoa flakes. A hint of cinnamon and ginger. A bite of raisin.

Seriously chai worthy.

And more fiber rich than say, a powdered donut. Or your average gluten-free bagel which is nothing but starch (not that I have anything against starch these days; I am embracing my personal Doris since the news about weight and a longer life). This a treat you can eat without a heavy helping of self-imposed guilt.

Truth is I don't count calories or worry about dieting.

At my age (or any age?) I think worrying can make you gain weight.

Focusing on all the food you can't have. Thinking about how many bites is too much. Cutting back so drastically on caloric intake or carbs that your blood sugar plunges faster than a carnival ride. You don't want to be around me if I'm on a diet- or a low-carb regimen. I am one wildly cranky be-atch. I lose brain cells. I see flashing lights. I tip over. I claw through the refrigerator overwhelmed with the sensation of deprivation.

Until I find the long lost bag of gluten-free pretzels.

Then I'm done.

And done in.

So I don't bother with the details when I need to lose make friends with my yearly winter weight gain. And I may as well confess- ! I don't go sugar-free any more. I eat a cookie. There I said it. Or a muffin. Yup.

Then I go for a walk (if it isn't zero degrees). I try to keep moving. Because the reason I gain a pie roll this time of year has less to do with carbs and fat grams than you think. It's not the morning muffin that gives me my muffin top. It's the hibernation. The paucity of exercise. The bump on the log that I become once the sun sets- at 4:42 PM.

It's hard to burn calories watching reruns of Downton Abbey.

Unless you're on a treadmill.

Which, like cousin Violet, I am most decidedly not.


Read more + get the recipe >>