Gluten-Free Apple Cinnamon Muffins

I've been wanting to try adding in some more gluten-free options to my diet. I'm not Celiac, but gluten gets to me if I have too much of it. Not to mention that it's probably a healthy idea to have a wider variety of grains in your diet, anyway. I have a few friends who are strictly gluten-free as well so it's always nice to be able to make treats that they can enjoy, too.

I recently acquired the Babycakes cookbook and I've been excited to try so many of the recipes in there. I was kind of dismayed to find that most of the book isn't actually gluten-free, but uses spelt flour. Spelt is fine for me, but for people who have a gluten intolerance, it's not really an okay substitute most of the time. No matter, I'll just make sure to bake those things when it's just me and James eating them.

I did have to make a couple of trips to get all of the ingredients for these, but it was worth it. I didn't even know where would have Xanthan Gum. Thank goodness for Capers!

The first thing I made were these awesome Apple Cinnamon Muffins. I love the big chunks of apples that are in the muffin for one thing. What a cool idea to cook the apples a bit before adding to the batter. I was pleasantly surprised when I tried the warm muffins. They didn't taste like anything gluten-free that I'd had before. You know that typical dry, grainy texture that gluten-free stuff tends to have? These are not like that at all. I could tell they were made with regular wheat flour, but not in a bad way, you know?

James even really liked them. He grabbed some to bring for a quick breakfast at work a few times, too which was an indicator of how much he liked them. He doesn't usually think to bring food from home to work unless he really likes something. I did find that these are better warm. Once they were room temperature they were still good, but lacking a little something that warming them up definitely adds.

I can't wait to make more things from the Babycakes cookbook! If these muffins are any indication of how delicious the rest will be, oh man.