Another Grainless Wonder: Cheddar Bacon Chive Muffins

I miss a good muffin. A good savory muffin. So far I've gone a week without sugar or grain products and am feeling much better. I still miss a good muffin, though. I'm not a big bread eater in general, but some saucy foods just cry out for something to soak up the good juices.

Grain-free Cheddar, Bacon & Chive muffins, pass the butter!

I've been fascinated by these recipes that use plain cooked beans to make cakes and cupcakes. The two batches I've made have turned out perfectly. How delicious would it be to have some sort of muffin  alongside a bowl of chili or a cup of soup? Made with a bean base? Guess what? These are killer. And no grain. They even got thumbs up from my decidedly flour and sugar loving co-workers.

At last, a muffin recipe that's gluten free, grain free, and doesn't have 37 different odd grain flours from 6 different stores in it. And its fast, easy and totally scrumptious. They have bacon in them, after all.

Notes: If you don't quite end up with 6T of bacon fat from cooking the bacon, add enough butter to the bacon fat to make up the difference. A good sized portion scoop will make it easy to fill the muffin pan,  Some white beans, like cannelloni beans, have a stronger flavor than navy beans, which have no discernable flavor in this recipe. If you use another type of bean, let these muffins sit at least 4 hours, and there will be no bean taste to them whatsoever.

A portion scoop keeps me from being my usual messy self.

Grain-Free Cheddar Bacon Chive Muffins
Makes 12

You'll need: paper muffin / cupcake liners, cooking oil spray and a muffin pan with 12 cups in it.  And a blender.

1 15-ounce can of navy beans, rinsed and drained
5 large eggs
2T Granular Erythritol
5 slices of smoky bacon cooked and crumbled (save the fat)
6 T of bacon fat, cooled slightly
1-1/2 packed cups shredded extra sharp cheddar
1/4 cup minced chives
3T coconut flour, packed
3T flax meal
1T sweet paprika
1/8 teas. cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon non-aluminum baking powder (Rumford)
cooking oil spray

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Place muffin / cupcake papers in the muffin pan, and spray with cooking oil spray. In your blender, put the beans, the erythritol, the bacon fat and eggs.  In a small bowl, mix the coconut flour, the flax meal, the paprika and cayenne. Set aside. In a medium bowl, mix the crumbled bacon, the chives and the cheddar cheese, breaking up the cheese with your hands, mixing it all well. Puree the bean mixture until smooth. Add the coconut flour mixture to the blender and puree until well mixed.

Pour the contents of the blender over the cheddar cheese mixture and mix well with a spatula until the chives flecks are evenly dispersed. Scoop into the prepared muffin pan, and bake about 22 - 25 minutes until lightly browned, and a toothpick comes out clean if you test a muffin. Let cool in the pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely. for best flavor, let cool and rest 4 hours. Store covered, or refrigerate.

Can you tell what's in these besides bacon, cheese and chives?
 My tasters couldn't!

Disclaimer: I do my nutrition calculations on a free nutrition website, and am not responsible for inaccuracies; your calculations may differ. Each muffin has approx. 260 calories, 4g usable carbohydrate (96.5g carb - 3.38 fiber) and 12 g. of protein.