Usually, when people think about baked goods, the picture that comes to mind is cookies, cakes, or other food with high calories and fats that will not only make you gain weight but are also very bad for your health.
However, depending on the ingredients and measurements, many of the baked goods can actually be both healthy and tasty.
Even though most muffins, cookies, and cakes are full of processed wheat, sugars, and vegetable oils like canola or safflower, there are recipes you can follow that will create appetizing baked goods that will make your body healthier instead of instigating diseases.
Although the processed flour and sugar are not the ideal ingredients that your body will benefit from, many vegetables, milk, and spices could be a great addition to the baked goods. One of those healthy vegetables are the sweet potatoes.
They are a highly nutritious vegetable that contains many antioxidants like beta-carotene that can help the body fight oxidative stresses, inflammation, and even cancer. Furthermore, they are also packed with vitamins E, C, and D, and important minerals like iron and manganese.
In addition to the sweet potatoes, coconut milk has many health benefits, such as containing high amounts of medium-chain fatty acids that can improve the metabolism which can help you lose weight.
It is also rich in other nutrients such as Vitamin E, C, B-complex, iron, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and selenium. All of these are hearty features of coconut milk which by working together they can help the bones strengthen.
Another wonderful ingredient that you can use to bake is the coconut flour, which is a great substitute for regular flour. Perfect for diabetics, this flour is naturally sweet and can help the intestinal tract, as well as lowering cholesterol.
Last of all, ginger and turmeric are greatly known for their anti-inflammatory properties as well as helping the body against bacteria, diseases, viruses, and even reducing cancer risk. In some cases, they have been recognized to be as effective as pharmaceutical drugs in fighting inflammation that is pain related.
This recipe combines these ingredients to make one extra tasty and extra healthy muffin that fights off diseases and reduces inflammation.
- One roasted organic sweet potato (about 1 cup)
- 3 tablespoons of ground flaxseed in half a cup of water (substitutes your egg; let the flaxseed sit for ten minutes in the water)
- ½ tablespoon Himalayan salt
- 2 tablespoons of organic olive oil
- ¾ cup of organic coconut milk
- ½ cup of pure maple syrup or unpasteurized honey
- ¼ cup of organic coconut flour
- 1 cup of organic brown rice flour
- 1 tablespoon of Aluminum-free baking powder
- 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon
- ⅛ tablespoon of ground nutmeg
- ⅛ tablespoon of ground cloves
- 1 tablespoon of ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon of ground turmeric
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Using a skewer, make a dozen holes in the skin of the sweet potato, and after cook it in a baking try for about an hour, until it gets soft.
- After the sweet potato cools, cut it in half and scoop the inside of it into a bowl. Add the maple syrup, flaxseed, olive oil, and coconut milk in the bowl. Mix them until they become smooth.
- In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients and later add them to the sweet potato mix. Stir them until they have been combined properly.
- Put oil on the muffin tray thoroughly with the coconut oil and then pour the mix equally into the tray having each one about ⅔ full.
- Cook for 30 to 35 minutes.