Jasmine Rice Muffins ~ Pumpkin Spice & Coconut

It's taken me a while to figure out how to make a SIBO-safe muffin. I really thought about it a lot! What flour could I use? Um, none. In terms of grain-based flours, wheat of course is out, spelt is out, brown rice flour is out, any "gluten-free flour" blend is still packed with starch, so it's out, too. Then you have your nut flours, the foundation of most Paleo baking. But nuts are still really high in fiber, not to mention dense. A little bit might be okay, but not a whole muffin full. Think lead belly. Not appealing.

That's when inspiration struck. Why not make my own flour from Jasmine rice, the ONE safe, non-fermenting grain in the world, which I know about from the work of Norm Robillard and his brilliant Fast Tract Diet. For some reason, Jasmine rice is so starchless and fiberless (and probably nutrient-less, lol) that it doesn't feed gut microbes at all, at least not when you eat it in the proper quantity which is one half of a cup of cooked Jasmine rice. This translates to 1/4 cup of raw Jasmine rice...and from there, these muffins were born.

Once my idea hatched, I spent several weeks dreaming up a Jasmine rice muffin recipe. There was sweetness, flavor and texture to consider. I went with raw Jasmine rice that I grind myself, rather than pre-cooked, another option. For sweetener, Golden Lakanto (a blend of monkfruit and erythritol—zero calorie, zero glycemic, zero fermentation potential) works perfectly. There's a little (but just a little) bit of coconut flour and shredded coconut in the blend, while mashed, cooked Kabocha squash adds depth and consistency. (You could also use butternut squash, or even pumpkin itself.) It's a miracle I hit it perfectly on the first try. But I did. Here they are!

Jasmine Rice Muffins with Pumpkin Spice & Coconut 

Makes 9 muffins

Ingredients

¾ cups raw, uncooked Jasmine rice

¼ cup coconut flour

4 Tbs shredded coconut (+ a little more for sprinkling on top)

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

2 pinches Himalayan pink salt

½ tsp baking soda

¼ cup Golden Lakanto sweetener

3 large pastured eggs

¾ cups mashed Kabocha squash

½ tsp natural vanilla extract

¼ cup melted butter, coconut oil or combination of the two

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9 muffin tins with butter or coconut oil. Use a nut/seed grinder (or coffee grinder) to grind the raw Jasmine rice into coarse flour—it will feel like cornmeal between your fingers. Combine the Jasmine rice flour with remaining dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Place butter or oil in the warm oven to melt. Use a whisk to beat the eggs well in a separate bowl. Add mashed squash and beat again until there are no lumps. Add vanilla extract and beat to combine. Finally, beat in the melted butter/coconut oil, adding it slowly so the temperature doesn’t shock the eggs.

Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and begin adding the wet ingredients mix as you stir. Do your best not to overwork the batter. It will be very thick! When fully combined, divide batter between 9 muffin tins, filling each cup a little more than ¾ full. Press sides of batter down with your fingers to smooth and round the top. Sprinkle a bit of shredded coconut and add a tiny dot of butter on top of each.

Fill empty muffin cups half way with hot water. Put muffins in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or a little longer, up to 30 minutes depending. When tops start to brown and a sharp knife inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, they are done!