Name: Gluten-Free Maple Bacon Buckwheat Carrot Muffins
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 3/4 cup gluten-free buckwheat flour; 1/4 cup certified gluten-free purity protocol oatmeal or oats ground into flour; 1 tablespoon psyllium husks or golden flax seed, ground to flour (I use a clean coffee mill); 1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder; 1/4 teaspoon sea salt; 1 teaspoon gluten-free ground cinnamon; 1 large egg; 1/2 cup almond milk; 3 medium carrots, washed, peeled, and grated; 3 tablespoons coconut oil; 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup or honey; 3 slices crisp bacon for the garnish; 10 ounces cream cheese, softened; 1 stick butter, room temperature; 3/4 cup Swerve; 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract; 4 tablespoons salted butter, room temp; 1 cup Swerve; 1-2 teaspoons cinnamon, to taste

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Welcome back to March Muffin Madness (MMM) and Gluten-Free Maple Bacon Buckwheat Carrot Muffins! I love seeing how excited you all are about these gluten-free muffin recipes, terrific daily prizes, and the amazing overall/grand prize offering—with the Blendtec, Instant Pot, Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker, and so much more! (See complete listing at the bottom of this post.)

Gluten-Free Maple Bacon Buckwheat Carrot Muffins from Gluten-Free Home Bakery

Today we welcome my friend Ali of Gluten-Free Home Bakery (formerly Skinny GF Bakery) to MMM. She’s sharing her Gluten-Free Maple Bacon Buckwheat Carrot Muffins!

Don’t they look fantastic? These muffins are not only gluten free, but also dairy free, refined sugar free, and xanthan gum free.

Of course, if you use the traditional Cream Cheese Frosting, which is shown on these muffins, they will contain both dairy and refined sugar. (Of course, there are some great non-dairy cream cheese options now.) If you’re vegetarian, no worries … you can simply omit the bacon “flourish” if you choose to frost your muffins (or use a vegetarian bacon such as coconut bacon).

Using Truly Gluten-Free, Purity Protocol Oats

UPDATE: On April 4, 2023, Gluten-Free Watchdog issued a new statement, Gluten-Free Watchdog Cannot Recommend Any Brand of Gluten-Free Oats. Read the full statement here. This statement was followed by details on recent testing results of gluten-free products that contain oats., which showed 30% of the labeled gluten-free oat products tested contained quantifiable gluten.

This statement was followed by details on recent testing results of gluten-free products that contain oats, which showed 30% of the labeled gluten-free oat products tested contained quantifiable gluten. I’m not eating any oats and I urge all of my readers who eat gluten free for medical reasons to also abstain.

Ali’s muffins use a combination of buckwheat flour and oat flour. When you make these muffins, be sure that the flours you use are gluten free. If you eat strictly gluten free for medical reasons, I urge you to use certified gluten-free oat flour that is made from purity protocol oats versus mainstream oats that have been mechanically separated and tested via an “averaging” of test results. The averaging of test results is currently allowed by the FDA, but this averaging “dilutes” results so that while testing results will indicate that the oats are less than 20 ppm, you can still end up with gluten-full oats in your bowl (or recipe). Therefore, it is no longer sufficient to buy oats that have “gluten free” on the label or even ones that say “certified gluten free.”

Of course because we’re in MMM, I do want to share some of Ali’s other muffin recipes with you!

~ Blueberry Coconut Chia Muffins,

~ Low Carb Peanut Butter Banana Muffins, and

~ Pina Colada Muffins.

But, I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention a few of her so many wonderful bread recipes to you, like Buckwheat Artisan Bread Boule, Best Chia Grain-Free Bread in the Bread Machine, Paleo French Bread, and Grain-Free Sesame Chia Bread in the Bread Machine.

If you can’t wait to get Ali’s Maple Bacon Buckwheat Carrot Muffins made, out of the oven, and on your cooling rack, I totally understand! But don’t forget to enter today’s giveaway!

Gluten-Free Maple Bacon Buckwheat Carrot Muffins Recipe

Yield: 8 to 10 muffins

Gluten-Free Maple Bacon Buckwheat Carrot Muffins

Ali says: "These muffins are a kitchen sink of all of my favorite healthy gluten-free ingredients piled into a scrumptious gluten-free muffin that is low in sugar and full of nutrition and fiber!"

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Additional Time 10 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

3/4 cup gluten-free buckwheat flour
1/4 cup certified gluten-free purity protocol oatmeal or oats ground into flour
1 tablespoon psyllium husks or golden flax seed, ground to flour (I use a clean coffee mill)
1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon gluten-free ground cinnamon
1 large egg
1/2 cup almond milk
3 medium carrots, washed, peeled, and grated
3 tablespoons coconut oil
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup or honey
3 slices crisp bacon for the garnish

Sugar-Free Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients

10 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, room temperature
3/4 cup Swerve
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Sugar-Free Cinnamon Butter Spread Ingredients (this spread is my personal favorite!)

4 tablespoons salted butter, room temp
1 cup Swerve
1-2 teaspoons cinnamon, to taste

Instructions

Whisk the first 6 dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, lightly beat the egg. Add the almond milk, shredded carrots, coconut oil and maple syrup.
Stir the wet into the dry until just incorporated.
With a spoon, fill each lined muffin cup about 3/4 full of batter.
Bake at 350 F. for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool on rack.
Frost muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting (optional; mix ingredients and beat lightly until just smooth and fluffy) and serve with Cinnamon Butter Spread (optional; stir together ingredients and spread on muffins!).

Notes

The frosting, crispy bacon garnish, and cinnamon butter spread are all optional but seriously yummy!

Today’s Daily Giveaway

Update: All giveaways are now closed.

~ The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook from Elana Amsterdam (3 winners)

My friend Elana of Elana’s Pantry is really the one who put almond flour on the map, so to speak. After all, her almond flour-based chocolate chip cookie is on the bag of Honeyville Almond Flour! Honeyville brand is the flour of choice for the recipes in this cookbook, which are healthy and delicious choices for anyone who is gluten free and anyone in general. There are plenty of treats like muffins, scones, cookies, and cakes, but there are also savory choices like crackers, Eggplant Parmesan, quiche, pot pie, and, of course, pizza! Thanks to Elana for sponsoring this giveaway! You’ll also want to be sure that you’re entered in the giveaways for her other cookbooks in MMM, too—Paleo Cooking from Elana’s Pantry and Gluten-Free Cupcakes: 50 Irresistible Recipes Made with Almond and Coconut Flour.

~ The Allergy-Free Pantry: Make Your Own Staples, Snacks, and More without Wheat, Gluten, Dairy, Eggs, Soy, or Nuts from Colette Martin (1 signed copy, 1 winner)

This cookbook is over 300 pages, folks, and it shows you how to do and make everything you need for your allergy-free pantry. Let’s face it … the need for the allergy-free pantry can be a shock when celiac/NCGS and other food intolerances/allergies enter the picture. You start reading labels and pitching stuff and soon your pantry is bare. No kidding. Step by step, Colette shows you how to replace those items with your own safe and delicious versions. By the way, this is Colette’s second cookbook. Be sure to enter to win her first cookbook in MMM here: Learning to Bake Allergen-Free: A Crash Course for Busy Parents on Baking without Wheat, Gluten, Dairy, Eggs, Soy, or Nuts. Thanks to Colette for sponsoring this giveaway!

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Grand Prize Giveaway (1 winner for each)

Update: All giveaways are now closed.

Be sure to enter the overall/grand prize giveaway at the bottom of this post and come back tomorrow for another terrific gluten-free muffin recipe and another daily giveaway. Again, remember that commenting on every post during the MMM event gives you additional entries into the grand prize drawing, which includes the following, so be sure to spread the comment love here and on participating posts!

1/2 gallon Hidden Springs Vermont organic maple syrup,

USA Bakeware 12-cup muffin pan,

Kettle & Fire bone broth (thanks to the folks at Kettle & Fire!),

5-lb bag of Honeyville almond flour,

Cuisinart ice cream maker,

Paderno World Cuisine vegetable slicer/spiralizer,

Crockpot casserole slow cooker,

Instant Pot pressure cooker, and

Blendtec Designer 625 with Wildside+ jar and Twister jar—this is our grand prize! It’s sponsored by the generous folks at Blendtec. The winner even gets to choose the color of their high-speed blender/all-in-one appliance. You can see the up-to-date listing of daily prizes and the complete lineup of bloggers and recipes in the kickoff post here.