As I created these buckwheat-oat bran muffins for my Candida diet, they do not contain any fruits, refined grains or sugar, gluten and by my own choice also oil.
I’d been on the diet for five weeks, when I finally took the matter of muffins into my hands. I’ve always loved to eat my whole food plant-based muffins daily and now I was suddenly forced to manage without. Nevertheless, the yearning was always there and so I stood in the kitchen and began to figure out the ingredients.
Choosing the grains was actually quite easy as I had grown to love oat bran during the five weeks of my diet and buckwheat had been a staple in my kitchen for years already.
I soaked buckwheat overnight to blend it into batter the next morning – this is my favourite method for muffins, pancakes and even porridges these days. Soaking reduces or removes phytic acid (which reduces mineral absorption), releases the enzyme inhibitors that store nutrients while growing and prevents premature germination, and even boost vitamin B content.
Instead of bananas and applesauce I used sunflower and sesame seed paste and replaced oat milk, which I used quite often, with almond milk. Finely grated zucchini gives the muffins just a perfect amount of moistness.
It’s very easy to sweeten cakes and muffins when you’re allowed to have dried fruits and bananas. However, Candida diet rules these goodies out, so the only option left was to experiment with stevia and xylitol. With my first batch I used the combination of both, but with second I stuck to xylitol only.
I was really surprised at how moist they came out! So, I can confirm these muffins to be an excellent substitution for those on strict diet yearning to enjoy a muffin every now and then. These muffins also have much lower glycemic load than my regular muffin recipes that use dried fruits and bananas, thus being perfect for those who struggle with blood sugar fluctuations.
If you haven’t followed my blog for the past two weeks and do not understand what I am talking about, then head to my previous posts about Vegan Candida Diet and Vegan Candida Diet Meal Planning.
My Candida diet buckwheat-oat bran-zucchini muffins are oil-free, gluten-free, refined sugar free, plant-based, vegan and contain no fruits.
If you are lucky enough to be able to eat all the goodies that whole food plant-based diet offers, head to my other muffin recipes, i.e. Buckwheat-Spirulina Muffins, Turmeric-Chocolate Muffins, Chocolaty Plum Muffins, Millet-Buckwheat Muffins with Blackcurrants, Spicy Cherry-Poppy Seed Muffins.
Finally, please tag me in social media whenever you try one of my recipes and leave me a comment bellow if you have any questions! I’d love to see your creations! Instagram @thenutriplanet and Facebook @nutriplanet.health.hub
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Buckwheat-Oat Bran-Zucchini Muffins
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins 1x
Description
As I created these buckwheat-oat bran muffins for my Candida diet, they do not contain any fruits, refined grains or sugar, gluten and by my own choice also oil.
Ingredients
- 150g (5.3oz, 3⁄4 cup + 3 tbsps) raw dry buckwheat, soak
- 80g (3/4 cup + 1.5 tbsps., 2.8oz) oat bran
- ½ tbsp. sunflower seed butter
- ½ tbsp. sesame seed butter (tahini)
- 200g (7oz) almond milk
- Pinch of Himalayan salt
- 2 tsps. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. ginger powder
- ¼ tsp. cardamom
- 3 tbsps. xylitol
- 2 tsps. baking powder (aluminium free)
- 1 tbsp. poppy seeds
- 200g (7oz) zucchini, finely grated
Instructions
- Soak buckwheat groats overnight, then rinse and drain.
- Heat oven to 175 C (350 F).
- Grate the zucchini finely.
- Put all ingredients, except zucchini, poppy seeds and baking powder, into blender and blend into smooth batter.
- Blend in the baking powder.
- Finally mix in poppy seeds and grated zucchini.
- Transfer the batter into muffin forms.
- Bake in the middle rack for 35 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Method: Baking
Tips:
- My buckwheat-oat bran muffins are not overly sweet. Should you prefer them sweeter, add more stevia and/or xylitol.
- Should it be your first date with stevia, be careful and maybe use more xylitol as stevia has an aftertaste that not everyone appreciates. I’ve used it for 6 weeks now and notice the taste much less than I did in the beginning.
- You can replace sunflower seed paste with tahini and vice versa. You can also use any other nut or seed butter that you find suitable.
- If you don’t like the taste of cardamom, just ditch it or use less.
- Freeze the leftover muffins and heat them up in the oven whenever needed. I do just that every morning – one for my kid’s lunchbox and another for myself for the drive to kindergarten.
Enjoy!
Thanks for lovely recipe. Will try it this weekend! Can you tell me how many muffins this recipe is for? And can it be doubled? Would like to make many and freeze them:)
I’m trying to find the Norwegian version of this oat bran,and want to make sure it’s the right thing. It’s the shell around the oats? And it’s naturally glutenfree? Thanx! Xx
Hi Liv!
I’m so glad to hear that you’re going to try it out!
The recipe is for 12 muffins. Of course you can double, triple etc the recipe 🙂 It’s very good for freezing — I do it all the time with muffins.
If you don’t find oat bran, use regular rolled oats instead, but add about 50ml more plant milk.
Oats are naturally gluten-free, but are often processed in facilities that deal with gluten grains as well. That’s why you’d need to find a brand that is certified gluten-free. Some people intolerant to gluten cannot have avenin in oats as well. If not, you can sub oats with buckwheat flakes for example.
Great, thank you! Think I will do it with oats then. I need something to have with my salad for lunch, so these are perfect. I think I will do them with no sweetener though. Thanx a million! 🙂
You’re welcome! I’m sure they are good in the savoury version! Maybe add a bit of sweet or smoked paprika and nutritional yeast and even garlic powder to spice things up 🙂
Quick question. Is it 150 g dry buckwheat of 150 g soaked buckwheat?
Hi Kirsten!
Measure dry buckwheat! Happy baking!
Hi! I soaked a bunch of buckwheat groats to use, but I didn’t measure the dry amount for this beforehand. Do you know about how much soaked I need? Thanks!
Hi Sarah! No problem — buckwheat soaks in about 75% water (of its dry weight). So, it’d be about 744g soaked buckwheat groats.
Hi! I’m so sorry, I somehow thought you were commenting my buckwheat bread! As the muffin recipe requires 150g dry groats, you’ll need 263g soaked buckwheat!
Can I replace buckwheat with buckwheat flour? Will it be the same amount? And I don’t suppose I need to soak the flour?
Hi Audrey,
In theory you could, but flour and whole groats absorb liquid very differently, so I can’t really confirm the new quantities. I really suggest you try out the groats! It’s much healthier that way too! 🙂