Gluten Free apple muffins

 Our dear 8 year old has quite the problem.  She has suffered with eczema since she was about 6 months old.  She is very lucky that it is mainly limited to the bend in her arms and behind her knees (thankfully not on her face or around her eyes), but it causes her problems.  She almost always has the tell-tale rash, which becomes itchy and she scratches in her sleep.  This causes bleeding, open sores and we've dealt with staph infections on more than one occasion.  We try to keep her "lubed" up to retain as much moisture as possible, but many times I get distracted and she doesn't get lotion put on before bed (bad parenting moment, I'll admit).

Her eczema hit an all-time worst right before school was out.  She was very dry, itchy, scabby and kids were making fun of her (even if they ask about it, it hurts her feelings).  We went on an intense therapy of straight shea butter followed by steroid cream 4 hours later... rinse and repeat.  For three days, we did the shea butter and steroid cream.  It is finally liveable again.  She has major scarring, but her skin is once again smooth.

She has finally decided that she doesn't want to do this any longer.  We are going to try eliminating gluten and dairy from her diet for a period of time (I told her a month, but I'm hoping to do this all summer) to see if that helps her eczema.  She has been reluctant to take such a drastic step as there are many things from both food groups that she likes.  But, I told her that we needed to try.  If it doesn't work, then she could eat the foods again, no problem.



So, for the next few weeks, I will be making gluten and dairy free alternatives to what the other daycare kids are eating.  We will try to maintain the gluten and dairy free evening meals so that we can all share the same thing.  This first week is transition week, so not everything will be eliminated (mostly because I made the menu plan before deciding to do this).

Here are the apple muffins that I made this morning.


A sneak peek from the freezer bag.  These were frozen
 before I got around to taking pictures.



1 banana, mashed (or 1 egg-I ran myself out of eggs, again!)

1/3 cup oil (I used coconut)

1/2 cup milk alternative (I used rice milk)

2 apples, peeled and finely chopped 1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup of sugar
1 tsp. molasses (I don't measure-just drizzle some in.  I find it too tedious to scrape out the measuring spoon)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 cups gluten free baking mix (I used Domata flour.  I'm sure there are several on the market.  Check to see if yours has xanthan gum in it.  If not you'll need to add some as directed on the package.  It'll probably be about 1 or 1 1/2 tsp.)

Topping:
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup nuts (I skipped these just b/c I didn't want to get the chopper dirty.)

Mix the wet ingredients.  Mix the dry ingredients.  Add the dry to the wet and stir until just combined.  I find that mini muffin cups work better for gluten free items as they tend to take a long time to bake.  It will work as bigger muffins, it just takes a long time and I'm not big on patience. LOL  Fill mini muffin cups.  In a separate small bowl, mix the topping and sprinkle on the tops of the unbaked muffins.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes until tops are golden brown.

I thought they ended up a little too moist, but the girl assured me that they were fine and ate 6!