This morning I heard a guest on a radio show tell about his mother’s ultimate sacrifice: her life. This guest, Frank Grunwald, was imprisoned in
credit: (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1176903
Auschwitz with his mother, father, and older brother when he was only eleven years old. Although the Indianapolis Star tells Mr. Grunwald’s story in full, it doesn’t tell why Mr. Grunwald and his father survived imprisonment while his mother and brother did not. In the interview I heard this morning, Mr. Grunwald explained that is brother was chosen for extermination because of his disabilities. His mother refused to let his brother go through that experience by himself; she insisted on going with him and dying with him so that he wouldn’t go through the horror alone. Just about every mother in the history of time would make the same sacrifice for her child that Vilma Grunwald made.
I think the radio host of this particular show chose to interview Mr. Grunwald this week to help commemorate Mother’s Day this coming Sunday. During the show, the host discussed his own mother and the sacrifices mothers in general make for their families. Of course the majority of mothers, at least in the United States, are not called to sacrifice their lives on a scale as large as Vilma Grunwald did. Our sacrifices are, for the most part, on a smaller scale. As a mother (and grandmother) myself, I know from experience that no matter the personal cost mothers don’t consider as sacrifices actions that others deem as sacrificial; we do what we need to do for our families without question. Despite our reticence to believe any care we give our families is extraordinary, Mother’s Day exists so that families can recognize the love and care they receive from their mothers all year long.
On special occasions such as Mother’s Day, our family prefers to cook a meal together and eat in so that we can enjoy each other’s company. Last year and this year (we celebrated Mother’s Day a week early), my daughter took charge of the Mother’s Day brunch. Elizabeth is a mother of three, herself. Her orchestration of Mother’s Day brunch is evidence that a mother’s work is really never done! I provided the gluten-free jelly muffins for the meal, though. A little jelly in the muffins makes them extra special! Adding jelly to the center of the muffins allows you to play with the muffins’ flavor, too. Baking these gluten-free cocoa jelly muffins for Mom on Mother’s Day may not be as big a gesture of gratitude as she deserve for the loves she offers her family all year long, but she will appreciate the effort on her behalf and enjoy the treat, especially if she has to eat gluten-free.
*Note: You may make this recipe with 1 3/4 cups gluten-free all purpose flour and 1/4 cup Dutched cocoa powder instead of the blend I use.
**Be bold with your choice of jelly or jam. Let your gluten-free cocoa jelly muffins make a statement! Use a jam or jelly that has some spice or a bite to it. For the muffins in these photos, I used strawberry habanero jam.
Whisk together the dry ingredients. Add 1/3 cup melted butter and 1 + 2 tablespoons milk. Stir until the liquid is well blended into the dry mixture. The mixture will look too thick at this point.
Add the eggs to the thick muffin batter mixture one at a time, blending well after each addition. The mixture will form a normal batter after the eggs are blended into it.
Fill cupcake liners 1/2 full with batter. Place a heaping teaspoon of jelly in the center of each muffin.
Spoon the remaining batter evenly over the top of the jam on each muffin. Sprinkle 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of decorative sugar over the top of each muffin (a step that astute readers will notice is missing in this photo . . . . I forgot to sprinkle the sugar on this batch before putting them in the oven). Bake in a preheated 357 degree oven for about twenty minutes.
Cool muffins in the pan on a wire rack for ten minute. Remove muffins from the pan and place on a wire rack to cool completely. Note that your muffins will be more perfectly formed than the muffins in this photo. I remembered, after they were in the oven about five minutes, to sprinkle the decorative sugar on them. When I pulled out the pan to sprinkle the sugar on the muffins, I accidentally tipped the pan. The batter flowed to one side of the tins, which led to lop-sided finished muffins☹️ Please don’t serve lop-sided muffins to your mom on Mother’s Day!
Wait until the muffins are cooled completely to serve. Sometimes the jelly stays right in the middle of the muffins. Sometimes the jelly spreads some, or melts and leaves a moist little cavity. The type of jam or jelly you use, the texture of the batter, and too little batter on top of the jelly affect the distribution of the jelly inside the muffin. No matter where the jelly ends up inside the muffin, these muffins taste delicious.
Gluten-Free Cocoa Jelly Muffins
Choose whatever jam or jelly flavor you want to complement or jazz up these rich, chocolate-ty gluten-free jelly muffins for a delicious breakfast treat or snack.
Ingredients
- 100 grams almond flour
- 100 grams superfine sorghum flour
- 50 grams Dutched unsweetened cocoa
- 100 grams sugar (I use organic dried sugar cane juice)
- 4 tablespoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Himalayan pink salt
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons milk
- 1/3 cup butter melted
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup jelly or jam
- 2 - 3 tablespoons decorative sugar such as Bob's Red Mill, Wilton, or King Arthur sparking sugars
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line twelve muffin tins with non-stick parchment paper cupcake liners.
In a medium bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients until well blended.
Add the milk and the melted butter to the dry ingredients and mix well. The batter will be thick at this point.
Add the eggs to the muffin batter, one egg at a time, stirring well after each addition. Stir the batter until well blended.
Fill each lined muffin cup 1/2 full with batter. Place 1 heaping teaspoon of jelly in the center of each muffin. Cover the jelly centers with the remaining muffin batter.
Sprinkle 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of decorative sparkling sugar over the top of each muffin.
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Bake the muffins at 375 degrees until the muffins done, about 15 - 20 minutes. Remove the muffins from the oven and cool in the pan on a wire rack for ten minutes.
