Cooking with Kumara: Flourless Four Fruit Muffin Bites {Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Secret Vegetables}

Once upon a time, I made a delicious batch of chocolatey rich brownies with a secret ingredient: a little orange kiwi favourite called kumara.  Starchy tubers like kumara can be a great substitute for flours, and are a more nutritious alternative to gluten free flour blends.  It can sound a bit crazy - and I get very sceptical looks and comments every time I use them, but you'll just have to trust me on this one.  Those brownies speak for themselves.  Now for reasons unbeknownst to even me, I haven't featured the kumara brownie on this blog (yet!) but keep your eyes peeled because it's a recipe you'll want to write down and treasure for ever.

In the meantime, here is another kumara recipe.  This one is a yummy, filling, bite-sized muffin with a little something different in each chew.    This is definitely a muffin rather than a cupcake, and probably sits at cafe-style-carrot-cake on the savoury to sweet spectrum. As for the name: "flourless four fruit muffin bites"...? These little morsels are crammed with goodness, including banana, apple, dates and kumara! Now, I know kumara isn't technically a fruit, but come on, don't you love that alliteration?! I used mini-muffin silicone moulds to make mine, but they could also work as jumbo-sized muffins for an on-the-go breakfast option, as long as the cooking time was adjusted.

These muffins are gluten and dairy free, but remember to warn guests about the nuts, nut butter and seeds if you have allergy-prone friends.

Flourless Four Fruit Muffin Bites (makes 24 mini muffin bites)

Ingredients
2 tbsp or 20g coconut flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 Granny Smith apple, grated
1/2 banana, mashed
1/2 cup or 130g cooked, mashed orange kumara
1/2 cup or 100g peanut butter
2 tbsp olive oil or melted coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 equiv tsp sweetener (optional)
2 whole eggs, beaten
1/4 cup or 30g pumpkin seeds
15g soft eating nuts, finely chopped (e.g. cashews, macadamia, pecans, walnuts; I used 5 Brazil nuts)
8 pitted dates, finely chopped

Method:
Preheat oven to 160C. Line a muffin tray with cases.
Sieve together in a bowl the coconut flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.
In a separate bowl, combine the apple, banana, kumara, peanut butter, oil and vanilla. Mix to combine and then taste test. If you would prefer it much sweeter, add an equivalent teaspoon of sweetener such as honey, stevia or brown sugar.
Add the eggs to the fruits, mix to combine.
Add the dry ingredients to the fruit and egg mixture and combine.
Stir in the seeds, nuts and dates.
Distribute into a muffin pan.
Bake at 160C for 12 minutes. Allow to cool on a wire rack. Enjoy!

Nutrition Information (per muffin bite)

Calories: 74
Total Fat: 5g
Carbohydrates: 5g
- Dietary Fibre: 1g
Protein: 2g
Sodium: 149g
Potassium: 58mg