gluten-free eats

My quest for the perfect blueberry muffin continues. These almond flour muffins from Gluten-Free Goddess are nice and hefty, but have a tender crumb, and a sweet, whole grain taste that's reminiscent of graham crackers. They're full to the brim with blueberries, and bake up with a beautiful dome and a golden crust.

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups almond flour (145 g)
1 cup sorghum flour (130 g) or oat flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch (70 g) or potato starch
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

1 1/3 cups brown sugar, packed (185 g)
2 tablespoons oil (20 g)
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup liquid, could be milk (any kind!), juice, or water (more as needed, up to 3/4 cup)

2 cups blueberries, fresh (rinsed and patted dry) or frozen (defrosted, rinsed, and drained) ~300 grams

Time: About fifteen minutes of preparation, half hour of baking. No special tools required.

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F, and outfit your muffin tin(s) with around fifteen muffin cups.

2. Take the first group of ingredients, the dry, and whisk them together in a mixing bowl. Use the back of your spoon or the bottom of a measuring cup to break up any large clumps of flour.

3. In a separate vessel, mix together all the wet ingredients (yes, this includes the brown sugar), including the 1/2 cup of liquid. You can always add more liquid later.

4. Add the wet to the dry and stir them up. My batter's very thick because I use applesauce and a little water. I usually have to push mine out of the scoop and into the muffin tin with my finger, but the muffins come out great and the blueberries don't sink, so I'm not going to make it much thinner. Put in some (or all) of that extra 1/4 cup of liquid now if you want your batter thinner.

5. Add your blueberries. If you're using frozen blueberries, make sure they're defrosted first. (Yes, I threw my berries in frozen, but if you're new to baking, I don't recommend doing this. Adding frozen fruit to batter affects the way it heats up and can leave mushy or raw spots where the batter didn't get a chance to cook, and that's just really frustrating.)

6. Scoop your batter into your muffin cups. I made 15 muffins with this, with a heaping 1/4 cup of batter each. Smooth the tops a little with your finger and put them on the middle rack of your oven. They cook for 25-30 minutes; be sure to rotate them around 20 minutes in. Mine rise in the oven and get a beautiful dome on them.

7. They're done when you press down on their little heads and they feel firm and not squishy underneath. Also when you stick a toothpick in and it comes out clean, with maybe a few little damp crumbs. Take them out of the oven and let them cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove from the pan and put them on a rack to cool, or in your mouth to eat. These are really great warm.

8. For storage, let them cool completely, then keep in an air-tight container on the counter for up to three days, or in a ziplock bag in the freezer. I love to take a couple out of the freezer, let them defrost on the counter, then warm them up in the toaster oven. Yum.

Makes 14-16 muffins

Notes: Measurements in grams are mine, and I don't know why my almond flour was so heavy that day. Usually I get around 120 grams for that amount, but oh well, I measured by volume and weighted the result. I use almond and sorghum flour, and tapioca starch. For the oil, I use avocado, and I use 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce and 1/4 cup of water for the liquid.

These muffins are on the sweet side, like a bakery muffin. If you'd like your muffins less sweet, that's easily remedied by not putting in the full amount of brown sugar. I'd drop that 1/3 cup, first, and see what you've got.

If your blueberries are tiny, go ahead and use 2 cups, but I had monster blueberries and actually used less than 1½ cups. You can always press a couple of berries into the top of the muffins before you bake them if they're looking low on blueberries.

Variations:

Lemon Blueberry: Take the zest from one lemon (~1 teaspoon), double the amount of lemon juice (2 teaspoons total), and add to the wet ingredients. Proceed as normal, and pow you've got lemon blueberry muffins.

Cranberry Orange: Instead of blueberries, take 1½ cups of cranberries (~170 grams), fresh or defrosted, rinse them off and pick out any baddies. Let them drain. Zest one orange (~1/2 Tablespoon), and juice the whole orange. That's going to be your 1/2 cup of liquid. I added 1/4 cup of applesauce to that to make 3/4 cup of liquid. Put your zest, juice, and applesauce (or other liquid) into the wet ingredients. Proceed as normal, adding the cranberries in at the end.

Egg-free: Karina, The Gluten-Free Goddess, says that instead of eggs you can use 1 Tablespoon Ener-G Egg Replacer whisked with 1/4 cup warm water till frothy. Check out the original recipe for more details.

Questions? Ask 'em!