Lemon Muffins with Lemon Frosting

I know I haven't posted for a while.  I've had some issues to deal with lately. I'm recovering from losing most of my recipes in a software crash.  That's right, my MasterCook software for some unknown reason got totally wiped out.  I shut down my computer one night and saw that I had forgotten to close my MasterCook so it was forced to close and my computer shut down.  I thought nothing of it.  But when I went to open it the next day I found everything in it had been wiped out.  No recipe books, nutrition info, or any other information that was in there was there.  It was an empty shell.  All was gone.  I had a bit of a meltdown you might say.  I couldn't bring myself to think about recipes for a week.  I had to unstress and get my perspective in order.  But recipes continued going through my head and I continued to cook none-the-less.

I finally got my new software installed and now I'm in the tedious process of trying to find any of the recipes I lost on my blog, on forums, wherever I may find them, to add once again to my new MasterCook.  It's especially frustrating since I'm in the process of writing my cookbook for volume 3 of Low Carbing Among Friends, and I could not continue until I got my recipes in there, with nutrition info.  That means adding again all the products and ingredients I use into the ingredient list which is also a tedious process.

However.  I did make some headway today, and I should move right along now with the newest recipes I've recently done.  I've done several things lately, like low carb gluten free "noodles", cannelloni, Mexican tortilla pie, all low carb and gluten free.  But those will be in Vol. 3 of the book.

Last night I made some lemon muffins that have been churning in my brain lately, and they came out pretty good.  This is a versatile recipe that can be used with variations.  You can use your imagination.  It also uses Jennifer Eloff's Splendid Gluten Free Bake Mix which is also in Volume 1 of Low Carbing Among Friends along with her wonderful recipes.

These rose so nice...

They were not flat like so often low carb muffins can be.  They have a wonderful lemony flavor.  I would have added poppy seeds if I had had them, but you can do that if you like.


    Lemon Muffins with Lemon Frosting

1 cup  Jennifer's Gluten Free Bake Mix
1 cup  flaxseed meal, golden (you can use brown if you like, I prefer the taste of     golden)
1 tablespoon  baking powder
12 packets  Truvia -- or 1/2 cup equivalent
1 teaspoon  lemon peel
1/4 teaspoon  salt
1 teaspoon  lemon extract
1/2 cup  Torani Vanilla flavored sugar free syrup
1/4 cup  coconut oil, melted
4 large  eggs, beaten
    Lemon Frosting
3 ounces  cream cheese -- softened
3 tablespoons  butter -- softened
1/3 cup  powdered sugar substitute
2 tablespoons  lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon  lemon extract

Muffins:  Preheat oven to 400 F.  Spray 12 muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray.  In a medium sized mixing bowl, stir together bake mix, flaxseed meal, baking powder, truvia, lemon peel, and salt.  Make a well in the middle of dry ingredients and add lemon extract, vanilla sugar free syrup, coconut oil, and eggs.  Mix together well.  Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned.  Remove from tins onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Frosting:  In a small bowl, add cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar substitute, lemon juice, and lemon extract.  Beat with electric beater until smooth and creamy.  Frost each cooled muffin.

Variations:  Add poppy seeds for lemon poppy seed muffins.  Add dried cranberries for lemon cranberry muffins.  In place of lemon peel and lemon extract in muffins use orange peel and orange extract for orange muffins.  Use orange extract in frosting in place lemon extract and skip the lemon juice.

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12 servings/Per Serving: 207 Calories; 17g Fat (72.6% calories from fat); 6g Protein; 9g Carbohydrate; 5g Dietary Fiber