Sweet potato raisin muffins (Paleo, no added sugar)

I’m almost afraid to admit this because it seems like such a trendy thing, but for many reasons I’ve been moving towards a more paleo/primal diet. Cutting down on grains has been a gradual process but for the last two and a half weeks I’ve been strictly following a grain-free, dairy-free, legume-free diet. I’m not sure if I always will be this strict – I’m doing this as an elimination diet and plan to later experiment with adding in various foods to determine what really does bother my gut – but for now I can report that I’ve been feeling better than I have in years.

I have, however, been craving a treat. For my elimination diet I’ve decided to give up all added sugar, even things like honey and maple syrup (which paleo people eat), so I thought I’d try to use naturally sweet ingredients to make muffins. That’s how I came up with these sweet potato muffins, which are studded with raisins and subtly spiced for a taste and smell somewhere between pumpkin pie and oatmeal raisin cookies.

If you’re skeptical about making muffins without flour or sugar, you needn’t be. These muffins have a lovely moist texture and freeze well. My kids love them and my husband said he couldn’t believe they had no grains or added sugar. They are, however, moderate in FODMAPs, so people sensitive to FODMAPs should probably restrict themselves to one per serving. Those especially sensitive to fructose may want to make mini-muffins. I wouldn’t try to reduce the quantity of raisins, though, as they are really necessary to give these babies the sweetness you’d expect of muffins.

Sweet potato raisin muffins (gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo, no added sugar)

Makes 18-24 muffins, depending on size (I ended up with 21)

• 6 medium eggs
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1 1/2 cup roasted, mashed sweet potato
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 cup almond milk (or another nut-based milk)
• 1 1/4 cup almond flour
• 1 cup ground flaxseed
• 1/4 cup dessicated coconut
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon cloves
• Pinch of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1 1/2 cups raisins

1. Preheat oven to 175 C/350 F and line muffin tins. I like to use silicone cupcake liners.
2. Beat eggs in a large bowl, then mix in sweet potato, coconut oil, coconut flour, and almond milk. I find it best to treat coconut flour as a wet ingredient because it’s highly absorbent. It needs time to absorb moisture; otherwise it will absorb it while it’s baking and you will end up with hockey pucks instead of muffins.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together all dry ingredients except raisins.
4. Combine wet and dry ingredients, then fold in raisins.
5. Spoon dough into muffin liners. These won’t rise much so the level of fill is only going to be a little lower than your final muffin size.
6. Bake until muffins are lightly browned and smell delicious. I hesitate to give a time, since I’ve found ovens can vary quite a lot, but I think mine took about 25 minutes.