Breakfast: Gluten-Free Carrot Muffins

These healthy muffins make a great breakfast or side dish to have with a salad or soup. Freeze them individually for a convenient grab-and-go breakfast.

This recipe includes superfoods such as:

Cinnamon, Apples

Health benefits of Gluten-Free Carrot Muffins

Cinnamon is one of the best ingredients that someone with insulin sensitivity can eat. Half a teaspoon of cinnamon per day has been shown to be very effective at normalizing blood sugar levels. Cinnamon contains hydroxychalcone, which is thought to enhance the effects of insulin. It has also been suggested that Cinnamon prevents post-meal blood sugar spikes by slowing the gastric emptying rate - meaning that food digests slowly. (Reference: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11506060). Apples will improve your body's sensitivity to insulin (Reference: http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/27/1/281.full)

Ingredients

2 cups gluten-free baking mix (such as Pamela’s)
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 eggs, slightly beaten
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup unsweetened applesauce
¼ cup canola oil
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups carrots, shredded

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tins with muffin papers.
In a large bowl, combine the baking mix, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, brown sugar, applesauce, oil, water, and vanilla.  Make a well in the middle the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients. Mix well. 
Gently fold the carrots into the muffin batter.
Spoon the batter evenly into the muffin cups.
Bake for 22 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
Remove the muffins from the oven and let them cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove the muffins from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack.