Sweet Potato Cinnamon Muffins

You will be amazed by these Vegan Gluten-free Sweet Potato Cinnamon muffins with Sweet Potato Caramel. They are just 8 ingredients, dairy-free and oil-free. These are light, fluffy, moist and refined sugar-free. 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/4 cups almond flour (140 g) (for nut-free, see notes below)
• 1/2 cup potato starch (80 g, not potato flour) (see notes below for sub)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar (96 g)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1/2 cup cooked mashed sweet potato
• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup low fat canned coconut milk (237 mL)
Sweet Potato Caramel (makes about 6 tablespoons)
• 1/4 cup cooked mashed sweet potato
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons lite canned coconut milk, shaken well first)
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 4 tablespoons coconut sugar (do not sub with another sugar)
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
Note
• For the very best results, follow the recipe ingredients above for super soft, light, moist muffins. I can't stress how different results can turn out if you sub ingredients, as this was one of my most tested recipes to date. Each ingredient I chose because of the effect it gave in the final result. I provided a few alternatives to try to make this available to anybody, and they all work, but the best result was the above. So, please don't try subbing any other ingredients than the 4 versions I have already provided.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. First, cook your sweet potato by placing a large sweet potato (with skin on) on foil and roast for 50-60 minutes at 405 degrees. You want it to be overcooked basically and incredibly juicy and tender, so it mashes very well. Let it cool before preparing the muffins.
2. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a muffin pan with foil liners. I use Staybrite by Reynolds because they keep muffins really moist and do not stick at all like the paper ones. Add the almond flour (or sunflower), potato starch, baking powder, sea salt, coconut sugar and cinnamon to a large bowl and whisk very well, breaking up any lumps from the starch. Tip: when measuring potato starch, it tends to leave gaps in the cup, so make sure you are patting it down and leveling off with your finger.
3. In a small bowl, peel the sweet potato and mash it very well, so no lumps remain. Measure out 1/2 cup, making sure to fill the cup and then level off with your finger, so there is not excess potato. Add the potato to a small bowl with the vanilla and coconut milk and whisk or blend really well. You want it 100% smooth so there aren't unmixed chunks of potato.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir with a spoon until well mixed and thickens some. The batter should be similar to the consistency of cake batter, not thin, but not as thick as traditional muffin batter. However, if you are subbing with oat flour in place of the potato starch, the batter will be thicker. Just gently smooth out the tops.
5. Divide the batter between 8-12 muffin liners, depending on how tall you want them to be. Bake for 22 minutes (unless you are baking with the oat flour, which it will be 20 minutes) or when a toothpick comes out with a few dry crumbs still on it (but not wet batter) and it lightly springs back when touched. When the muffins come out, they will still be slightly under-cooked, but will finish cooking over the next 20 minutes. So, do NOT eat them until they have cooled at least 20 minutes. They will then be incredibly soft, light and moist.
6. I use a vegan buttercream or cream cheese frosting on top