Corn Muffins

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This recipe was inspired by an English muffin recipe of Ouizoid on LowCarb Friends forums.  I changed up a couple ingredients and added a little yellow food coloring and a new flavoring called “Fresh Corn” made by Superior Flavorings:  http://www.superiorflavors.com/servlet/Categories?category=Flavors&searchpath=7255&start=25&total=56  It has a delightful aroma of buttered corn and I knew the minute it arrived in the mail and I smelled it that this product would have a lot of interesting uses for a low-carber avoiding real corn.  This is my first test with this flavoring and I’m very pleased with  the buttery corn flavor it gave these muffins.  I may even increase the flavoring a bit next baking.  I DO wish I had not decided to use baking cup paper liners as the muffins stuck to the ungreased paper pretty badly.  I discovered once cooled, the paper peeled off nicely, but I like my cornbread HOT!  So I strongly recommend using greased/non-stick muffin pans without paper liners for these.  I like this recipe a bit better than my other cornbread recipe here on the site!  A little more moist and less crumbly!  These are extremely filling, too, with the glucomannan and chia, two ingredients LOADED with fiber!   I can only eat ONE!  This recipe is not suitable until the grains rung on the Atkins OWL phase.  The unusual ingredients in this are available at Netrition.com, all but the corn flavoring, that is. 

NOTE:  I recommend reheating any leftovers for 5 seconds on DEFROST in your microwave rather than in your oven.  Oven reheating dries the surface out. 

INGREDIENTS:

¼ c. oat fiber

¼ c. golden flax meal (I used half golden flax and half dark flax)

¼ c. Carbquick bake mix

1/3 c. plain, unsweetened whey protein powder

1 tsp. vital wheat gluten

1 tsp. glucomannan (konjac) powder

½ tsp. xanthan gum

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1 T. chia seeds (preferably white, but I used mixed dark and white put out by Nativas Naturals)

¼ c. hot water (to make gel with chia seeds)

3 beaten medium-large eggs (2/3 cup)

1 T. olive oil

1 tsp. “Fresh Corn” liquid flavoring (see link above)

4-5 drops of yellow food coloring (optional)

DIRECTIONS:  Mix chia seeds with the ¼ c. water in a lidded jar and set aside for about 30 minutes to an hour.  Shake the jar occasionally, but it WILL tend to clump a bit.  By the way, you can make chia gel ahead in a jar in larger quantity and store in the refrigerator if you prefer.  I’m pretty new to chia seeds, so I’m not sure how long that mix can be stored before it spoils, but probably a week at least.  Having it on hand already made up would be nice!

Once your chia gel is ready, Preheat your oven to 350º.  Measure all the dry ingredients into a medium mixing bowl and stir well.  Beat the eggs, oil, corn flavoring food coloring and chia gel into the batter and stir until very smooth.  If too stiff, add a T. water and stir in well.  I use a 2T. measuring cup to scoop the batter into 10 muffin cups, but you have to dig it out with your finger to avoid batter waste.  Bake at 350º for about 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned on top.  Serve with butter while hot and ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 10 smallish but very filling corn muffins, each contains:

52.7 calories

3.6 g  fat

5.0 g  carbs, 4.5 g  fiber, .5 g  NET CARBS

5.38 g protein

70 mg sodium

50 mg potassium

12% RDA phosphorous