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I have recently discovered Agave nectar. Agave Nectar is an organically grown natural sweetener extracted from the Agave Plant of Mexico. The carbohydrate in agave nectar has a low glycemic index, which provides sweetness without the unpleasant “sugar rush” and unhealthy blood sugar spike caused by many other sugars.

I was pretty excited to find that agave nectar can be a healthy substitute for sugar especially in baking so I tested it out in this recipe for healthy wheat free raspberry muffins which I have adapted from Let’s get stupid together.

Raspberry muffins… makes 6

• 1 cup wholemeal spelt flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 70 ml agave nectar (or 1/3 cup sugar)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup organic vanilla yoghurt
• 50 g melted butter
• punnet of raspberries

Method:

1. Mix together the spelt flour and baking powder in a large bowl.
2. Mix together the egg, agave nectar and yoghurt in another bowl.
3. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the liquid yoghurt/egg/agave mixture.
4. Mix in the melted butter.
5. Add a little (1/2 to 1 tbsp) flour to thicken the mixture which will compensate for the extra moisture in the agave nectar.
6. Carefully mix raspberries into the mixture.
7. Divide between 6 muffin cups.
8. Bake at 200°C for 20 minutes. Watch carefully as the agave makes the muffins brown quickly, but you need to make sure they are cooked properly or they will taste doughy!
9. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for about 10 mins and then devour!

Interesting links about Agave:

http://www.allaboutagave.com/index.php

http://www.shakeoffthesugar.net/article1042.html

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