Monday Muffins: Cinnamon Roll Muffins

You know you're worn out when escaping to the bathroom to pluck your eyebrows is a quiet luxury.  That's just how my week has been.  I was really looking forward to getting the kids to bed early on the weekend and having some quiet time with my husband.

Friday night, as he was finishing up bedtime with one of the girls, I was laying on the couch thinking how divine graham crackers with frosting would be.  Having just made my delicious graham crackers, I had plenty of those.  But I didn't have any frosting and I felt kind of silly getting up to make it just to satisfy my late night craving (and no, I'm NOT pregnant!).  It seemed like one of those feelings that might pass if I distracted myself.  So, I flipped on the tv and tried not to think about it.  But it didn't work and my thoughts kept going back to creamy vanilla frosting.  And then, wonder of all wonders, my husband walked in and said, "I sure wish we had frosting to go with these graham crackers."  My hero.

Five minutes later I had us a fresh batch of frosting.  We plopped down on the sofa determined to watch a movie.  Every once in awhile I have a hankering for a good old Western flick.  I'm not sure if Gunfight at the O.K. Corral qualifies as "good," but it had 3 1/2 stars on Netflix so we decided to give it a go.  Halfway in and my sugar rush failed me.  I crashed and headed to bed.  Maybe tonight we'll get to the end.

Now about these muffins....they are heavenly.  My kids love them, but my husband is the one I have to keep my eye on.  Since I made mini muffins along with regular ones, they are so easy to just grab and pop in your mouth.  Seems like every time he's passing through the kitchen, he's got another one in his mouth.  I can always tell something's good when he goes back for more.  Though my kids are both picky eaters, they inherited that gene from the master, their daddy!  These are great with vanilla frosting, too.  :)

Gluten-Free, Vegan Cinnamon Roll Muffins

2 cups basic gluten-free flour blend

½ teaspoon xanthan gum

1 1/2 teaspoon Egg Replacer + 2 tablespoons rice milk

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1/2 cup brown brown sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 cup rice milk

1 tsp vanilla extract 

Cinnamon sugar mix:

3 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1.  Preheat oven to 350 and grease or line a muffin tin

2.  In a large bowl combine flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. 

3.  In a medium bowl mix egg replacer with sugar,  applesauce, milk and vanilla. 

4.  Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until combined.  

5.  Pour muffin mix into muffin tins until they're around 3/4 full. 

6.  Sprinkle cinnamon sugar mix over the top of the muffins, and swirl sugar mixture with a toothpick.

7.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer removes clean and the edges have pulled in from the sides.