Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffins with Almond Flour

I’ve never been much of a baker, however once I made the decision to avoid all processed foods entirely, I knew with that choice came the fact that I would have to start experimenting with baking if I wanted to enjoy any baked goods again. Thankfully, there are many lovely gluten-free bloggers that have done a lot of the experimenting part for me and I can play around with their recipes. See for me, the problem with baking is that you can’t wing it the way you can with cooking. If you change a measurement or try a different flour, you can’t taste it as you go and tweak it, you have to completely bake it and wait to see what happens, if it’s wrong there is no fixing it. You either have to suck it up and eat said ‘failed experiment’ or start over.

Last week was the start of blueberry season locally and I came across this recipe while searching around. It sounded and looked so good, that I decided to just go for it and make a double batch. This way we can freeze one batch and take it with us on our road trip to Chicago this upcoming week.

I am so incredibly pleased with these muffins. I believe my exact words when I took the first bite were “HOLY F*CK THESE ARE AMAZING”. Seriously, not only are these the best gluten-free blueberry muffins I have ever had, these may be THE best blueberry muffins I have ever had. They plumped up perfectly, so light and airy. They have a delicious nutty flavor from the almond flour and the blueberries just burst in your mouth. This is the first time I have baked with the almond flour and I am very pleased with it. I can’t wait to try out more stuff.

Karina of Gluten-Free Goddess (who created this recipe), recently adopted being vegan on top of her already gluten-free diet, so her recipe used Ener-G Egg Replacer instead of eggs. Since we have been buying the beautiful organic free-range brown eggs direct from the farmer, we used those instead. If you are vegan, use Karina’s original recipe and make these muffins, you won’t regret it.

Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffins with Almond Flour
makes a baker’s dozen
adapted from Gluten Free Goddess

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners.

Whisk together:

1 1/3 cups almond meal (I used Bob’s Red Mill Almond Flour)
1 cup sorghum (or brown rice flour, if desired)
1/2 cup tapioca starch or potato starch (not potato flour!)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

Beat in:

1 1/3 cups organic light brown sugar
2 tablespoons light olive oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 organic free-range egg whites (depending on the size, you are looking to get 1/4 cup of liquid), beaten until frothy
1/2 cup warm water, more as needed, up to 3/4 cup
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Beat the batter until it is smooth, like a slightly thickened cake batter.

Add in:

1 pint fresh blueberries, washed and patted dry

Stir gently and briefly.

Plop the blueberry muffin batter into the twelve lined cups. You’ll probably have some xtra- for a baker’s dozen.

Bake in the center of a preheated oven for 23 to 25 minutes, until golden and firm to the touch. A wooden pick inserted into the center should emerge clean.

Cool the muffin pan on a wire rack for five minutes. Gently pop the muffins out to continue cooling on the rack (don’t cool them in the hot pan- they’ll get soggy).

If your muffins are soggy or slightly underdone– due to unforeseen oven temperature variations– place them back into the warm oven directly on the center rack for five minutes or so.

Wrap and freeze cooled muffins for future breakfast treats or road trips 😉