Hip hip hooray for these deliciously moist and cinnamony, sugary Gluten Free Snickerdoodle Muffins. They are a breakfast favorite around here!
I have absolutely no festive Fourth of July food post for you. No red, white, and blue jiggly Jell-O or blueberry, strawberry, banana fruit pizza shaped like a star. I have no bold berry spritzer or crazy food coloring infused cake or cupcakes. I have no patriotic trifle or refreshing fruit layered Popsicle.
So so sorry.
It’s not that I think these Independence day goodies aren’t fun to eat and serve. It’s just that…well…I’m just not a planner. It takes too much effort to figure out some cutsie dessert or appetizer ahead of time to coincide with each holiday. My kind of baking is, “Hey, what do I have in the pantry??? Great, that’s what I’m making tomorrow”…or today (if I’ve really procrastinated).
Most decisions that I make in life are based on the same approach of what’s the most convenient NOW:
- Family pictures – what do we already have in our closets that somewhat matches and coordinates because our photo shoot is tomorrow?!
- Packing for vacation – what’s already clean and washed and easy to pack because my plane leaves in a few hours?!
- Halloween costumes – what dress up still fits the girls and they’re still somewhat excited about because trick-or-treating is tonight?!
- Christmas stocking stuffers – what items are lying around the house that the girls have hopefully forgotten about because Santa has already left and the kids are waking up NOW?!
Yep, apparently I like to live life on the edge. Pretty risky business, eh?
But in reality, I find more calm in my life by living this way. Instead of stressing for days or months over planning and preparing, I only hyper stress for a few hours before to get done what I need done. Makes sense to me. And it has taught me to be innovative, creative, and versatile in using the things that are right in front of me to complete a certain task.
Cooking and baking are no exceptions.
Really, I think I should record myself each night around 5:00 when I open the fridge, scout out my options for ingredients, and get to work chopping, mincing, grating, etc. in an attempt to create a cohesive meal. It’s so rewarding when your final product is not only good, but delicious, made just from odds and ends. It’s basically a home-based episode of Chopped each evening.
I do the same thing with baking. In any given moment I will crave a freshly baked good, and in an instant I’m in the pantry whipping out ingredients for some new muffin, cake, cookie, or other treat with no recipe in sight, just a rough draft recipe floating around in my head. Most times it works out, and other times it’s game over, you lose.
Well, when it came to making these Gluten Free Snickerdoodle Muffins, it was definitely a level up in my book. I mean, who wouldn’t want a snickerdoodle for breakfast???
I’m so used to making banana based muffins because most the time I’m thinking of muffins, I have at least a ripe banana or two laying around that need to be used anyway. I’m a sucker for changing up my banana bread recipes with different flavors, mix-ins, toppings, and textures. But, this time around there were no bananas in sight. Then it hit me, I’ve never really made just a plain old quick bread type muffin.
Well, why the heck not?!
And instead of just a slightly sweet quick bread, how about a quick bread infused with all sorts of cinnamon flavor with a cinnamon sugar crust on top??? Yes, a snickerdoodle muffin sounds good indeed!
You know what??? They are good. Very VERY good! These muffins are so moist with the mixture of milk and sour cream as well as the dark brown sugar which holds in moisture better than granulated sugar alone.
Then they have this burst of cinnamon flavor, not only in the cake, but in the topping as well. Don’t be shy with shaking that cinnamon sugar on the tops of the muffins. It may look like your dumping on a lot, but as the muffins rise and spread, the topping distributes evenly across the crust. Delish!
I’m telling you, these are the perfect last minute bakery muffins to please your holiday guests. And all the ingredients are pantry staples which means NO PLANNING AHEAD. And those are words that I swear by.
So eat up all your red, white, and blue goodies, but remember the next time you’re in an entertaining bind, you can whip out a batch of these muffins and you’ll look like the hostess with the mostest that had everything planned. You got them fooled!
What are your Fourth of July plans?
- ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup milk (I used 1%)
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1½ teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum
- ½ cup brown rice flour
- ½ cup white rice flour
- ½ cup sweet sorghum flour
- ½ cup potato starch
- cinnamon sugar mixture for topping (about 2 tablespoons)
- Preheat oven to 375 and line muffin tins with paper liners. Set aside.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine milk, sour cream, and lemon juice, Stir until smooth and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, mix together oil, eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla until smooth.
- In a smaller mixing bowl, sift together cinnamon, salt, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, brown rice flour, white rice flour, sorghum flour, and potato starch.
- Starting with dry ingredients, alternate adding dry ingredients and milk mixture to egg/sugar mixture. Mix until smooth in between each addition, scraping down sides when needed. Beat on low for 30 seconds.
- Fill paper liners ⅔ way full with batter. Shake generous mixture of cinnamon sugar on top of muffins.
- Bake muffins at 375 degrees for 22-25 minutes or until tops of muffins spring back at touch of a finger and toothpick inserted into center comes out with few dry crumbs. Remove from oven and carefully transfer muffins to cooling rack. Allow to completely cool.
- Store leftover muffins lightly covered at room temperature for up to 3 days or in freezer for up to 3 months.
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