These Orange Kale Muffins make a nutrient dense dessert thanks to the hidden kale. This recipe is grain-free, egg-free, paleo & AIP-friendly.
I came up with these orange kale muffins during one of my days off. As it was my vacation day, it felt good to stay in bed a little longer. I took my time preparing a substantial breakfast, which we devoured, and my hubby went to work, ready to conquer the world! Lucky dude had a relatively flexible schedule at that time. I started to think about how to plan my day. It looked like the day would be more on the cloudy side, which I don’t usually mind. I just have to use my vitamin D to compensate for a lack of sunshine, and I can definitely deal with that.
Dealing with the cravings
One thing I have trouble dealing with is my sweet tooth, which makes me crave sweets. To make things worse, I also have a zesty tooth sitting next to the sweet one, so imagine the tortures I had to go through! Citrus-flavoured desserts started to come to mind one by one, including orange muffins that I used to make before I started the AIP diet. I very rarely bought industrial pâtisseries in Vancouver, as I found them overloaded with sugar. So, I quickly made my way into the kitchen in order to end the sequence of torturing images. This switch in activities lessened my cravings and put me in creative mode.
Making my Orange Kale Muffins
The interesting fact is that by mixing several flours, you can create a texture almost identical to that of a gluten-based flour but without the detrimental effects of the latter. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? I grabbed the cassava flour and arrowroot starch that I had at the moment and started to work my way towards the orange muffins, which made me so restless. I like to use hidden veggies in my recipes, which is why my hands naturally reached for a kale salad, and of course, I used citrus zest to bring up flavour. Et voila, orange kale muffins were ready in under an hour. I should mention that at the beginning they were a little bit gummy, but definitely yummy! As practice makes perfect, after several attempts I was pretty satisfied with the outcome.
In the evening we had a quick dinner and decided to go biking, as it was quite a warm spring evening. I wrapped a few muffins and threw them into my bag. We prefer to bike along the seawall, but occasionally we change the itinerary. So, we decided to bike along Beach Avenue towards the Olympic Village. As we were passing by the Cambie Bridge, we noticed a beautiful painting on the boardwalk: water-lily flowers and a dragonfly. Summer was definitely in the air! We decided to take a break and have a bite on my orange kale muffins. It felt great: pleasing view coupled with a flavorful snack makes a happy combination!
- 1 cup baby kale,* packed
- 1 medium orange, zested
- ¼ cup orange juice
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (For strict AIP use ½ teaspoon
- of vanilla powder)
- ¼ cup maple or coconut sugar
- ¼ cup applesauce
- ¼ cup palm shortening, melted
- 1 gelatin egg**
- ⅓ cup cassava flour
- ⅓ cup tigernut flour
- ⅓ cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup arrowroot starch
- 1 level teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- Pinch sea salt
- Coconut oil, for greasing
- Preheat the oven to 300F.
- In a food processor combine the kale leaves, orange zest and juice, ground cloves, cinnamon powder, vanilla extract (or vanilla powder for strict AIP), coconut sugar, applesauce, shortening and process until well incorporated.
- Next add the gelatin egg and process everything together.
- In a bowl add the cassava flour, tigernut flour, coconut flour, arrowroot starch, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt.
- Transfer the flour mixture into the food processor and process until a smooth batter forms.
- Grease the muffin cups with coconut oil, fill in with the batter and bake for 25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Let the muffins cool before serving.
- Enjoy as a part of breakfast or as a snack on-the-go!
* Feel free to use arugula or spinach instead.
**You can use 1 egg or 2 egg yolks instead, if not on the strict AIP.
Variations: This batter can be used to make a pound cake.
P.S.: Do you want to know why kale is so good for you? This article will have you covered Health Benefits of Kale.
Maria is the blogger behind the Zesty Paleo website. As a Hashimoto's patient for more than a decade, Maria has constantly been taking steps to improve her quality of life, including nutrition and lifestyle choices.
Thanks for posting! These are beautiful. I wish somebody sold them somewhere or would make them for me 😉 Quick question, where do you get your cassava flour? (I’ve had trouble finding it since moving to BC.)
I know, I hope that it will become the reality soon! But for now, cooking and eating at home is a huge part of living well with autoimmune disease. I usually buy mine through Otto Naturals @ http://www.ottosnaturals.com/. I haven’t seen cassava flour in Vancouver stores yet. Happy baking!
These look great! Any ideas for an alternative flour for those sensitive to coconut? I know that can be tricky 🙂 Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Thank you! If you omit coconut flour I would suggest increasing cassava and tigernut flour to 1/2 cup each and follow the rest of the recipe.
Hoping to make these! Yum. Any recommendations for subbing tigernut flour? I have some at home and tried it and I think I’m sensitive to it. Can I just increase the coconut and cassava to make up for it? Thanks for such an interesting recipe.
Hi Monika! I would start by increasing cassava and coconut flours. Please also note that the texture will be a bit different. Alternatively use 2/3 cup cassava flour and 1/3 coconut flour. Depending on the dough density you might also introduce a few tablespoons of coconut flakes. I haven’t tried it in this recipe yet, but I think that it should work.
Allergic to apples. Wondering what to substitute. This looks wonderful.
Thanks Jeanette!
You can use pureed banana or sweet plantain instead. Alternatively increase sugar to 1/3 cup and use 2 gelatin eggs instead of one. I think that these modifications should take care of binding the ingredients together.
Can u use anything else besides the citrus fruit ? I’d love to make this but without the orange
Hi Jamie,
I think that you can safely use apple juice instead and I would also increase ground cinnamon, up to 2 teaspoons.
These muffins tasted like Christmas! And I love the extra nutrients from the kale. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for your feedback, I am glad you liked my muffins 🙂