Chamomile Cranberry Muffins

There’s a real part of me that wishes the Wendy’s Eating Husband would LOVE to eat archerfriendly all the time. I’m not longing for him to eat exactly like me, but for him to truly desire a healthy diet from the depths of his heart. I want him to want it for real. My idea of a healthy diet is otherwise known as eating archerfriendly, and the principles are outlined on my food page.

It’d be inaccurate to portray him as a complete anti-archerfriendly food junker. He loves all of the a-f savory dishes I make, and he’s really come a long way in that department. He can house large arugula salads, and is able to notice how he feels like crap after a shoddy grease-pit lunch. He loves roasted brussel sprouts and there’s no veggie he turns down.

When it comes to the archerfriendly baked goods and sweets that I make, he’s so not into it. Which means that he’s so not into these Chamomile Cranberry Muffins, even though I think they’re AWESOME and so do the girls. When will he get on the gluten-free, whole foods, blood sugar friendly muffin train?

Maybe never.

Eating a whole foods based, unsweetened muffin requires a mental shift. It’s not going to taste like those oversized, oily blueberry muffins from the Costco bakery. That’s why you have to really want to eat healthy to make that mental shift in order to enjoy that which is optimal for your body. The mental shift isn’t easy, but once you do it, you’ll love eating healthy because you’ll love how you feel when you do. When a food makes you feel great, you’ll not just want to eat it, but you’ll come to love it, and your Wendy’s eating taste buds will follow suit.

The healthiest muffin for your body has three qualities:

1. It meets your personal food restrictions & allergies.
2. It is made with organic, whole foods.
3. It keeps your blood sugar stable throughout the day.

For a muffin to keep your blood sugar balanced, it must have as much protein and fiber as possible, paired with as little sweetener as possible. The less sweetener in the muffin, the better it is for your health. Stevia is the only sweetener exception, since it is a natural herbal sweetener that does not affect your blood glucose. You can put all the stevia you want in your muffins!

I’m all about stabilizing your blood sugar because it’s one of the best ways to decrease inflammation in your body and restore order. The unsweetened life rocks because of how amazing it can make you feel.

These Chamomile Cranberry Muffins contain both chamomile tea and chamomile flower petals. I used “loose leaf” chamomile flowers to brew a double strength tea and I used the contents of two Traditional Medicinals chamomile tea bags for the chamomile flower petals. The flower petals go straight into the muffins, and because they come from a tea bag, they blend unnoticeably. You can use loose leaf chamomile tea for the petals, but avoid putting the yellow flower centers and stems into the muffin mix. I like the tea bag situation because I don’t have to hover over my canister of dried chamomile flowers, picking out the delicate flower petals. The tea bags are easy, and I’ll take easy when I can because it doesn’t happen often. The chamomile situation is flexible, so do what you want. It’s not a big deal if you want to use tea bags to brew the tea.

Chamomile gives you calm, which is why you need to sneak it into all your holiday recipes. You can empty two chamomile tea bags into your chocolate chip cookies or your mashed potatoes. You can use double strength chamomile tea where a recipe calls for water. I dare you to put it into something you’re making in the next few weeks.

Chamomile Cranberry Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 cup white bean flour*, sifted then spooned into a measuring cup without being packed
• 1/2 cup sweet brown rice flour, sifted then spooned into a measuring cup without being packed
• 1/2 cup quinoa flour, sifted then spooned into a measuring cup without being packed
• 1/2 cup ground flax seeds, sifted then spooned into a measuring cup without being packed
• contents of 2 Traditional Medicinals chamomile tea bags (or 2 teaspoons chamomile flower petals)
• 1/8 teaspoon stevia
• pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon saigon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon packed fresh ground nutmeg

• 1 cup chamomile tea, brewed with 2 Tablespoons chamomile flowers
• 1 cup full fat coconut milk
• 1/4 cup cranberry juice
• 1/2 cup organic virgin coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1 heaping cup cranberries

• 1/2 cup cranberries, measured whole, then roughly chopped cranberries for topping
• 5 drops liquid stevia
• 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

^{* I grind my own white bean flour in my Vitamix.}

Makes 12 muffins

1. Brew chamomile tea by placing 2 heaping Tablespoons of dried chamomile flowers in a tea strainer. Pour boiling water (being mindful that you only need 1 cup) over flowers and infuse for 15 minutes.
2. Grease muffin tins or prepare muffin tins with 12 cupcake wrappers. (I like to add a smidgen of organic virgin coconut oil to the bottom of my wrappers to make it easy for the wrapper to pull away from the baked muffin without taking half the muffin with it.)
3. Preheat oven to 400°F.
4. Prep cranberry topping by roughly chopping 1/2 cup cranberries. Sprinkle chopped cranberries with 5 drops of liquid stevia and 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract. Mix in a bowl and set aside.
5. Blend together all dry ingredients (white bean flour, sweet brown rice flour, quinoa flour, ground flax seeds, contents of chamomile tea bags, stevia, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, & nutmeg)
6. In a blender, blend all wet ingredients together (chamomile tea, full fat coconut milk, cranberry juice, coconut oil, & vanilla).
7. Combine wet and dry ingredients, careful not to overmix.
8. Add 1 heaping cup cranberries.
9. With a spoon, divide batter evenly among 12 muffins.
10. Sprinkle unbaked muffins with roughly chopped cranberry mixture.
11. Bake for 30 minutes at 400°F. Halfway through (at 15 minutes) rotate muffin pan so muffins are evenly browned on top.

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