Tomato Muffins with Pesto Streusel - Take One

Todays muffins were inspired by a tomato rosemary muffin at myaspergersgirl.blogspot.com, and the pesto recipe I saw in a friend's Williams Sonoma cookbook.  Both needed some changes.  On the base muffin:

• I'm a firm believer in the value of organic eggs over flax goo.
• I needed to use up some BRM all-purpose gf blend a friend had given me.
• I'm not a huge fan of rosemary. 
• Spouse is not a fan of rice milk.
• Spaghetti sauce is more interesting than plain tomato sauce, and less likely to have BPA.

Other than that, I followed the recipe faithfully.

Seriously, if you want a bunch of really yummy GFCF recipes, with gorgeous photos, go to myaspergersgirl.blogspot.com. 

On the pesto, I combined ideas from several pesto recipes, and then tried to make it thicker so it could function sort of as a streusel.

Pesto Streusel

About 1.5 to 2 cups of rinsed, dried, de-stemmed organic basil leaves (not that anyone really measures)
1/4 C raw pine nuts
6-8 Tbsp olive oil
1/8 to 1/4 tsp garlic powder, to taste
a few grinds of sea salt
1/4 C pecorino romano

Pulse everything in the food processor attachment of a stick blender on low until the basil is finely chopped, but not emulsified.  Pesto should be very thick.

Tomato Muffins

Dry Ingredients
2 C Bob's Red Mill GF flour blend (or any GF blend with bean flours)
2 Tbsp organic turbinado sugar
2 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp xanthan gum
3/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
A few grinds of pepper

Wet Ingredients
1 egg
1/8 C Fearn soya powder + 1/2 C water (or 1/2 C unsweetened soy milk)
1/2 C organic pasta sauce, plus a little extra
1/3 C olive oil

1. Line a 12 cup muffin tin and preheat the oven to 350 (f).
2. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
3. Whisk together the wet ingredients in a small to medium mixing bowl.
4. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
5. If the batter looks too dry, stir in a little extra pasta sauce.
6. Fill muffin tins evenly, then smooth tops down with dampened fingers.
7. Top each muffin with about 3/4 tsp pesto streusel, spreading it evenly over the muffin top with your fingers.
8. Sprinkle a few pine nuts on top of each muffin, then press in so they stay.
9. Bake for about 15 minutes (test after 12).

Thoughts for next time:

• I'll add more pine nut and pecorino to the streusel, and maybe use a little more on each muffin.
• I think the batter needs more salt, and maybe more garlic. Some chives might be nice.