Now that it’s midterm season, I’m officially on the baking wagon. Everyone knows that there is no better way to procrastinate than by filling your kitchen with the glorious smell of baked goods.

After enviously eyeing a friend’s Starbucks coffee cake, I decided it was time to take matters into my own hands.  I found this standard muffin recipe and systematically changed almost all of the ingredients to make it suitable for the IBS-afflicted among us.

Tailoring a recipe to make it healthier and allergen-free isn’t too hard. I substituted wheat flour for gluten-free (rice flour), vegetable oil for olive, dairy milk for almond milk and regular sugar for natural maple syrup (you can also use honey, but I’m loving maple these days!). I also added in some flax seeds for good measure and… voila!

Ingredients:

– 1 cup rice flour (can also use coconut, quinoa or almond flour). I actually used a mix of various flours.

– 1 1/4 cup of gluten-free whole oats (oats are naturally gluten-free but can be cross-contaminated with gluten-containing products in the factory where they’re packaged)

– 1/4 tsp salt

– 1 tbs baking powder

– 1 cup almond milk

– 1 egg

– 1/4 cup maple syrup

– 1/4 cup olive oil

– 1 cup of frozen or fresh blueberries, strawberries and raspberries (or the berries of your choice).

– 2 tbs flax seeds (optional: 1 tbs chia seeds)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Mix the dry ingredients (oats, flour, baking powder and salt) together in a large bowl.  Add in the almond milk, egg, maple syrup and oil.  Fold in the berries and the flax seeds.  Separate the mixture into a muffin tin (makes 12 muffins). Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool and just try to keep your hands off ’em!