I love corn, but I don’t think corn likes me. One of my favorite baked goods is cornbread. My mom always made it when we had comforting meals in the winter. She would serve it with chili or beef stew and we would drench it in butter and maple syrup. So when I decided to make beef stew for New Year’s, I really had a craving for cornbread. I decided to try it (using a modified version of this recipe), but it didn’t go so well. The corn muffins were delicious. My taste buds appreciated them, but my digestive system….not so much. Bummer.
I was about to give up hope when I opened the pantry to put the corn flour away. But the sorghum flour was in the way. Hmmmm, sorghum flour…..I wonder…..Sorghum is a cereal from a grass plant, somewhat similar to corn because it is a little “sweet.” It is gluten-free and generally tolerated by those with fructose malabsorption. I’ve experimented with sorghum flour in the past, but I wasn’t sure if it agreed with me. I’ve since eliminated other foods from my diet, such as grapefruit, and have found I can tolerate sorghum more than I previously thought. Sorghum flour was worth a try. I made the muffins using the same recipe, but replacing the corn flour with sorghum flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill brand). The results were amazing! It tasted so similar to the corn muffins, I couldn’t believe it. I think I found my cornbread replacement.
I still use a little maple syrup on my pancakes and it doesn’t seem to bother me, but I really wanted to find a fructose-free alternative to add some moisture and flavor to pancakes, biscuits and muffins. I remembered a maple butter that I had made several years ago to go on biscuits. I just replaced the maple syrup with powdered dextrose, some maple flavored extract and a touch of cinnamon. Oh yum!
My new favorite breakfast is a warmed-up sorghum muffin with maple butter and scrambled eggs. The perfect comforting, winter breakfast! Plus, it gives me so much energy to get through those busy mornings at work. I’ve eaten one of these muffins for four days in a row with no issues. Yay!
Low-Fructose Sorghum Muffins
makes 12 muffins
Ingredients
1 cup sorghum flour
1 cup blanched almond flour
1/2 cup powdered dextrose
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups milk (cow’s, almond, soy, etc.)
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
- Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease or paper-line a standard 12-count muffin tin.
- In a large bowl, combine the flours, dextrose, baking powder and salt. Stir in the milk, melted butter, egg and vanilla until well-blended.
- Fill each muffin cup about 2/3 full. Bake for about 22 to 24 minutes, or until muffins test clean with a toothpick. Serve with Low-Fructose Maple Butter (recipe below).
Low-Fructose Maple Butter
Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/4 cup powdered dextrose
1/2 teaspoon maple flavored extract
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt (if using unsalted butter)
Directions
Combine all ingredients until smooth. I like to use an electric mixer, but it’s easy to mix up by hand. Ideally, this butter should be kept in the fridge, but I leave it out on the counter, covered for up to a week to keep it soft.
