Riley's Amaranth Muffins

Hildegard is flying home for the holidays today. Last night she and Riley went to a middle school Jazz concert with the Maestro, while Hildr and I stayed home to read stories about Fish. Before they left, Riley made some muffins with some Amaranth flour that Hildegard had ground.

This is our first experience with Amaranth. Reports have indicated that it is bitter, and requires a goodly amount of sugar. Why would anyone use a bitter flour, I wondered. It turns out that the best way is to use a little bit. This flour was ground fairly course, so it gave a bit of a crunch, like corn meal would. Riley used 1 and 1/4 c the standard 2:1 Sorghum Flour/Tapioca starch, adn 1/4 c Amaranth flour. Not very much. That is enough to provide a considerable flavour and texture without overwhelming either.

Saying something is "Nutty" is a bit over done, so I won't say that Amaranth has a Nutty flavour. I'll say it is dark and husky, and leave it to you to figure out what that means. The texture was quite firm, without being tough. Overall, the effect on texture appears to be similar to brown rice flour, but more so. I think a bit of amaranth is what my pizza crust needs.

Either that, or it was the extra egg, but I don't think so. She started with a different recipe than the one I usually use, and the extra egg appears to be the only difference aside from the changed flour mix. I will have to check this...

Whatever the reason, The Maestro ate 3 and a 1/2 of these for Breakfast this morning.

Riley's Amaranth Muffins

1 1/4 cup 2:1 Sorghum flour/Tapioca Starch
1/4 cup Amaranth Flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp xanthan fum
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp oil
3 eggs
3/4 cup rice milk
1/4 tsp vanilla