Sugar-Free & Grain-Free Muffins … in just 60 seconds!

MUFFINS! (just a minute!)

The theme for today is MUFFINS! Actually, that’s not entirely true. It’s actually more devoted to 60 second shortbreads and cakes. These are little bready-like creations using baking powder as the leavening agent (the stuff that gives these their poof, puff or “lift”), and nuked in the microwave. These aren’t just limited to the concept of a “muffin”, even as they’ve been named that. They originate from dough, which can be placed into any kind of microwaveable container and then nuked for between 60 and 90 seconds. From there, they will puff, about doubling in size. If they are in a coffee mug, they will come out a bit like a muffin. If you put them into small round glasses, they will come out like small round buns! If you place them into something the shape of a hotdog bun (like a microwaveable butter dish), they will come out hotdog bun shaped, which is perfect for all your sausage and wiener needs!

The “One Minute Muffin” concept has been around for FAR longer than I’ve been following this lifestyle. I’ve been aware of these cooked little bundles of dough for years, but did not have a microwave, up until recently! As a result, I never actually tried them and simply fell out of the habit for bready like things. When I moved to the States, my apartment had a functional microwave. Knowing I should add an OMM to my website, I came up with the One Minute Cheddar Bread and Buns, seen here …

I really didn’t expect much from this recipe. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a great recipe, but there are literally thousands of OMM varieties freely scattered around the internet. Throw an eRock and you’re likely to hit one! Here’s a Google search result containing a solid OMM starting point. I added my cheddar OMM recipe to my site without much fanfare, but it took off all on its own! It’s probably my most shared and most seen recipe on my website. Noticing the trend, I sought to make some more! Those are listed at the bottom of this here blog post.

There was also a woman who shared her hot dog bun idea on Facebook, which seemed to be an appreciated tip from many on my Facebook page. I took the cue from this and decided to put together a small list of microwavable containers, resulting in a few different shapes, for a few different purposes. But, before I do that … let’s look at some Coming Attractions!

Coming Attractions

Creamy Pesto Chicken Primavera

Stir Fried Peanut Chicken with Kelp Noodles

Singapore-Style Noodles

Miracle Cauli-Tabbouleh

These recipes will all be coming within the next week. Like my Facebook page to see them, as I add them to my site!

Microwaveable Mold Ideas for OMMs …

Here are a few suggestions based on my own usage, as well as a suggestion from a Facebook reader. These will give you hotdog buns, muffin shapes, mini buns and regular ol’ square bread for sammitches! I’m sure there are many options in the world, but these are ones I know. These are also all highly and substantially rated by the public at large, which is always a good thing! Different shapes and sizes for different purposes. Check ’em out!

	Norpro 6 Piece Porcelain Ramekin Set I LOVE these little ramekins. These are the same ones I own and they make AWESOME OMMs. They’re just perfect for any single-serving baked item. These are what I used for making my OMM French Toast recipe, which I shared for Mother’s Day. As of this posting, they’re about $10.00 for a set of 6, but I picked mine up at a local used restaurant supply store (good deals on beat up kitchen equipment!).
	Libbey 6-1/2-Ounce Small Bowls with Plastic Lids, 8-Piece Set I also own these and use these for just about everything. I’d originally ordered them to stash my ice cream in, but they quickly became a much bigger part of my kitchen. Now, I’ve got bulk spices stashed in them. Any time I cut up onions or garlic and I have extra … in these they go! Because they’re not plastic and non-pourous, they don’t pick up any odors. These are what I used for my little slider buns in my BBQ Pork Sliders. As of this posting, they’re about $16.00, for 8 of them.
	Rubbermaid Standard Butter Dish This is the one that a woman named Sheila Wintermantel suggested as using for making hot dog buns. She says she just flips the lid, puts the batter into them, nukes for about 60 to 90 seconds and … HOT DOG BUNS! I can’t personally vouch for it, but I see no reason why it wouldn’t work. Might be a little square-y, but … who says being square is a bad thing? About $7.00 as of this posting.
	GladWare Variety Pack Food Storage, 12 Count Packages (Pack of 2) I couldn’t find the exact one I use for my wide square sandwich breads. I picked them up at the local grocery store, but this “Variety Pack” has the same ones. It’s just got more stuff in it. These do make perfect sandwich bread. Just split the square in half for a top and bottom, then load up with all your sandwich fixin’s. Good stuff! I should warn that a reader popped onto my site saying plastic in microwaves is bad, will cause cancer, reproductive issues, etc. If you subscribe to that thinking, then I suggest skipping these. However, here’s an article from Harvard Health, talking about the testing procedure. To paraphrase, “If it says ‘Microwave Safe’, then … it’s all good!” – About $14.00 for this variety pack.

That about does it. On with the recipes!

~ Duke J. “Foodie” Nukem

One Minute Muffin

Here we have the famous “one minute muffin” or “OMM” or “muffin in a minute” or “MIM”, whichever way you happen to tilt. It’s little more than a quick batter mixed up in a cup, bowl or microwaveable shape of some kind, and then “nuked” for between 60 and 90 seconds, depending on the strength or power of your particular machinery.

I’ve known about these quick little delights for years, but didn’t own an operational microwave (long story!). Alas, I never actually tried one! Years later, they simply never became a part of any of my own personal routines. Being that I operate a low-carb blog, my website felt incomplete without at least having ONE flavor of the famous OMM. This resulted in the Cheddar Buns; a recipe made from a basic flax batter, blended with cheddar cheese and then nuked. Perfect with a BBQ Pork Slider! I really didn’t expect much from the recipe, due simply to the fact that there are easily thousands of variations on the MIM scattered all throughout the low-carb Googlesphere. Shockingly, that simple and basic Cheddar Bun has become one of my bigger recipes!

I, being the humble servant that I am, love to give people more of what they want! Below is a basic formula for the OMM. If you make this, as written, it won’t taste like anything and you’ll wonder whether or not I’ve lost my mind. Consider it a blank sheet of paper … or … blank sheet of “muffin”, as it were. With this basic muffin ratio, you can add or subtract ingredients to make your own creations! Add some sweeteners, pecans, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice and you have a Pecan Spice OMM! Add some fresh rosemary, goats cheese, walnuts and a few chopped up raisins and you have something really pretty interesting. I’d bet it would be FANTASTIC as a side to a light summer salad!

Point being, this is little more than a start; a beginning to an amazing story … any story you’d like it to be!

Once upon a time …

Spin-Off Stories:

• Chocolate OMMs
• Cinnamon Roll OMMs
• Coconut OMMs French Toast
• Cheddar Buns
• Bacon-Cheddar BBQ Pork Sliders
• Blue Cheese Lamburger with Poppy Seed OMM
• Greasy Fried Pork Sandwich
• … More to come!

Note: This ratio is half flax and half almond flour. I tend to find it’s the best flavor and texture combination, but there are those that have no love for flax. In that case, simply use 100% almond flour. Alternately, you can use 100% flax meal, to drop the carbs to almost nothing. Also note that you can use coconut flour.

Baking Note: I am often asked if these can be baked. Yes! This is just a simple batter. You can grease a muffin pan and bake at 350 F for about 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown. That’s it!

[ VIEW RECIPE ]

Chocolate Muffin, in a Minute

There is nothing particularly super amazingly special about this “One Minute Muffin“, short of the fact that it’s a basic chocolate OM, and that it has pretty pictures! Oh, and it’s WONDERFUL topped with a dollop of sweet and creamy whipped clouds of goodness! AND … it’s super quick, super easy, super tasty and super duper! This sugar free, grain free, chocolate miracle takes about 120 seconds from cupboard to mouth, which can be a great thing!

I left this as a simple chocolate OMM ratio because I wanted to point out a few directions that a raw batter like this could be taken. Try folding some raspberries and toasted almond slivers into it, for a super tasty treat! Try chopping up some sugar-free chocolate bars and folding the chocolate chunks into the batter. This would become a truly hot, melty, gooey, double chocolate delight … in 120 seconds! I know that some consider bananas to be the root of all evil, but with a small amount of freshly smooshed banana, maybe some natural banana flavoring and a few toasted walnuts, a low-carb chocolate banana treat is quickly within reach! Maybe throw some espresso grounds into the batter. Make a “Morning Mocha Alert” (MMA OMM)! Try putting a nice dollop of peanut butter in the center, before nuking it up. Chocolate and Peanut Butter! MMMMmmmm ….

[ VIEW RECIPE ]

OMM French Toast

I know I ran this one last week, but it’s very recent, it’s an OMM based breakfast and it’s just that awesome. I just had to run it, again!

I’m a big fan of Chowstalker.com. They do an excellent job of attracting recipe developers within the paleo/primal/low-carb world and then sharing their collective recipes via a very simple image display. In addition to their main page, they also share recipes via their Facebook page. One day, I was lurking on their page and noticed a post about “Paleo-friendly English muffin in a hurry”. It seemed interesting, so I read about it. At its core, it’s a one-minute-muffin, made with coconut flour and shaped a little more like an English muffin, rather than a … hmmm … puffy American one? (People of England … what do you call Muffins, over there?)

Then, I read the comments on the Facebook page. Someone named Sve Ta suggest that “you can do french toust, too”. Immediately, I knew I wanted that!

So, this whole recipe came about because Chowstalker shared this paleo English Muffin recipe and someone else commented that French Toast could be a way to go.

(just so I don’t feel like I’ve TOTALLY stolen this, note that I have made French-Toast like goodies with OMM’s before)

This one, however, somehow took it to a new level. This may very well be the best thing to come out of my kitchen in a good long while (and some decent stuff comes out of there, too!)

Baking Note: It makes some sense to simply grease a 12-cup muffin pan and bake these for about 12 minutes at 400 F. Then, pop them out of their cups and slice them in half, so they can cool and will absorb the egg mixture more quickly and fry more evenly. Will result in 24 discs, instead of 12.

Photo Note: Topped with powdered Swerve, butter and sugar-free pancake syrup!

[ VIEW RECIPE ]

Cinnamon Roll Muffin, in a Minute

I kind of grew up in and amongst farmers markets. I grew up in a town, somewhere in the mountains, near Yosemite National Park, CA. My grandparents owned a huge apple orchard in the town and they would attend various markets, selling apples, cider and apple honey. I’d join them and hang out. One of the markets was a market in Fresno, and THIS market had sweet, hot, fresh, steaming, aromatic cinnamon rolls.

These rolls became almost something like a part of my own DNA. Without them, I cannot function.

Years later, I owned a catering company outside of Cabo San Lucas, in Mexico. A big part of my catering company was a gigantic portable catering trailer that I’d designed. Because of the horrible and bumpy roads in Mexico, I designed all the cooking devices to run on natural fuels, primarily carbonized coconut shells. Ultimately, it was a 3 ton beast of a machine. To show it off and promote the catering business, I served as a vendor at the local Farmer’s Market, pulling my massive kitchen up onto the grass, sparking up my coconut ovens and baking fresh cinnamon rolls, for all the world to sniff out and eat.

I LOVE cinnamon rolls!

All this said … it COULD be that I love frosting! A do enjoy a good cinnamon roll, drenched in melting butter; fresh and a little doughy, but if I had to look deep within my own genetic structure, it becomes clear that I run more efficiently on FROSTED cinnamon rolls.

What we have here is an EXCEPTIONAL “One Minute Muffin”, with a sweet and cinnamon twist, with the very same cream cheese frosting that I used to douse my rolls with, down in Mexico. Just swap out the sweetener for something a little less intense for my blood sugars and … the end result would’ve made the 8 year old boy in Fresno smile, ear-to-ear.

[ VIEW RECIPE ]

Blue Cheese Lamburger with Poppy Seed OMM

I like hamburgers. They’re delicious! While they’re not technically, historically “American” food, I feel pretty strongly that the US has appropriated the burger, as its own (for better or worse).

Now, while I do enjoy a good piece of ground beef, I also like to play with the idea. A “burger”, in my opinion, doesn’t necessarily need to be beef. There are those that make them with pork, turkey, chicken, a combination of ground meats, sausage patties, etc. There are also burgers served with buns, open faced, packed in lettuce leaves, etc. I’ve also seen burgers made from fish and seafood blends. Of course, there are also a whole range of veggie burgers, including the common “Portobello” burger, where the patty is a giant tasty mushroom cap!

In this case, I’m playing with the idea, and throwing some “lamb” at the burger: Lamburger! YUM!

In this case, I’m using ground lamb, and adding a few goodies to the raw meat, just to add a little more flavor and charm. I’m also using a very simple “One Minute “Muffin” as the bun, but split in the middle, brushed with butter and toasted. Then, I’m topping it all with little more than baby greens, bacon and … blue cheese. If I haven’t said it, yet (I have!) … I’ll say it again: YUM!

[ VIEW RECIPE ]

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