Healthy Sugar-Free Fruit Cake Muffins with Flaxseed and Chia

Feeling fruity?

I love these cute fruit cake mini-muffins. They are sugar-free & are virtually fat-free (only a tablespoon of melted coconut oil split between 24 mini muffins!), but packed with flavour. They are portable morsels of goodness making them convenient for grab & go breakfasts, packed lunches, picnics & as pre-work-out snacks. They also look the part for an afternoon tea.

They are a great alternative to dense sugary fruit cake. There is no added sugar as dried fruit & orange juice add enough sweetness to the recipe. By using sugar-free home-made apple sauce you can make this cake fat-free or virtually fat-free too. Clean-eating at it’s best!

The nutrition value of these muffins are boosted by adding ground flaxseed, chia seeds & if you wish, you can exchange 2 tablespoons of flour with 2 tablespoons of protein powder (I use Pulsin’ soy bean or pea vegan protein powder) to boost the protein content. Good for those on a paleo diet!

By using chia seed gel & gluten free-flour, these muffins are suitable for vegans & coeliacs, respectively. *Chia seed gel. To replace 1 egg, simply grind 1 tbsp chia seeds in a coffee grinder & mix with 1/4 cup of water. Allow to soak for 10-15 mins until a gel forms & use this instead of an egg. Milled chia seeds are a convenient alternative.

Preparation time: approx. 25 mins

Makes: 24 mini muffins

Baking time 25-30 mins

Ingredients:

1/2 cup pitted dates

1/4 cup pitted prunes

1/4 cup dried apricots

1/8 cup raisins/ sultanas/ currants

Finely grated zest from 1 orange

1/2 cup of orange juice ,1/2 cup water

1/2 cup of applesauce

1 tbsp coconut oil

2 large eggs or chia eggs*

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

3/4 cup wholemeal self-raising flour (gluten-free if required) (If using protein powder, reduce the flour by 2 tbsp & add for 2 tbsp protein powder instead. Pulsin’ soy bean or pea protein powders work beautifully).

1/4 cup ground flaxseed

2 tbsp chia seeds

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp nutmeg (optional)

1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

To decorate: a handful of flaked almonds

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350F, 180C. Lightly grease 2 mini-muffin trays with melted coconut oil or spray coconut oil.

Cut the dates, prunes & dried apricots into small chunks. Finely grate an orange for its rind. Place all these ingredients & the raisins/ sultanas/ currants in a saucepan along with the orange juice & water & boil for 5 mins.

Add sugar-free apple sauce & a tablespoon of melted coconut oil & mix. The fruit will turn into a mushy-like paste. Set aside to cool.

Mix together eggs, vanilla extract, chia seeds & walnuts. Add to the dried fruit paste.

In a separate bowl, sift the wholemeal flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg & cinnamon, if using. Then add this to the fruit mixture along with ground flaxseed to the fruity paste. Mix thoroughly.