Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffins - Almond Flour

Tender almond flour muffins bursting with fresh blueberries.

Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffin Recipe with Almond Flour

Originally published July 2010.

I used Bob's Red Mill Almond Flour in this new muffin recipe. Finely ground almonds create a delicate, soft gluten-free flour that is light and subtly sweet.

First: 

Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Line a 12-muffin tin with paper liners.

Ingredients:

Whisk together:

1 1/3 cups almond meal
1 cup sorghum flour or certified GF oat flour
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
2 teaspoons Bourbon vanilla extract

Beat in:

1 1/3 cups organic light brown sugar
2 tablespoons light olive oil
1 tablespoon Ener-G Egg Replacer whisked with 1/4 cup warm water till 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. I found this batter a bit thinner than I'm used to (I haven't baked with almond flour in several years).

Add in:

1 pint fresh blueberries, washed and patted dry

Stir gently and briefly.

Baking instructions:

Plop the blueberry muffin batter into the twelve lined cups. You'll probably have some xtra- for a baker's dozen. We made tiny mini-muffins with our extra better. Too cute.

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 by some chance, Babycakes, 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.

These are simply divine warm from the oven. 

Enjoy every bite.

Wrap and freeze cooled muffins for future breakfast treats.

Makes a baker's dozen.

Recipe Source: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

All images & content are copyright protected, all rights reserved. Please do not use our images or content without prior permission. Thank you.

Karina's notes:

If you prefer using eggs in your gluten-free baking, I recommend using two to three organic free-range eggs in this recipe.

*As always, follow your own doctor's medical advice regarding food allergies. Consult with her/him before even contemplating a food challenge- and obviously do not attempt a food challenge without medical advice and supervision.

Gluten-free blueberry muffins. Um. Yes.

Gluten-Free Almond Zucchini Mini-Muffins

Just sweet enough, gluten-free zucchini mini-muffins.

Temptation. A to Z. Almond flour and zucchini mini-muffins sweetened only with pure maple syrup. That's right. No cane sugar. Almond flour and bourbon vanilla bring their subtle, natural sweetness to gluten-free muffin recipes, so why cloak it with a heavy dose of sugar? And adding a lip-smacking kiss of ginger wakes up the zucchini (which tends to fall asleep in baking recipes, due to utter lack of commitment and verve).

I've added quinoa flakes for extra protein, and brown rice flour to round out the whole grains. And a small bit of tapioca starch- to give these whole grain based muffins some lift. Now the only hitch is, don't eat all twenty-four at once, Darling.

Tell yourself you're only going to eat one.

Well, maybe two.

Don't think about three.

Or imagine four.

Because that fourth delectable bite of nary a muffin- really, it's only a tease of a muffin- might stir your desire for a fifth. And the next thing you know, half the mini-muffin pan is empty. And you are standing, wide-eyed and innocent, brushing baby sized crumbs off your chin, when your husband swings around the corner into the sunlit kitchen and inhales, declaring, Sweet Tapdancing Buddha, it smells good in here! What did you bake?

And thinking lickity-split fast you tell him, I made a dozen almond flour zucchini mini-muffins.

Want to try one?


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Best Gluten-Free Pumpkin Muffins

These wheat-free pumpkin muffins feature coconut flour and almond flour.

Favorite Companion

We found canned organic pumpkin on the store shelves this week. So be prepared for pumpkin recipes. I, for one, Darling, can't get enough. Pumpkin is my favorite fall ingredient. Maybe because it cozies up to gluten-free flours so well. It adds moisture and depth to g-free baked goods. It flirts with cinnamon and ginger like the sexiest, inscrutable movie star. You know what I'm talking about. It's not overt. Or blatant. It's not over the top. It is subtle. Secure.

Pumpkin doesn't demand to be admired.

Because it doesn't have to prove itself.

It's not a bully flavor that crushes gentler flavors in its wake. It doesn't bark and claw to be Top Dog 24/7. It doesn't have a deep seated need to own the room, to dominate, to control the ingredients it shares a bowl with.

Pumpkin goes with the flow.

It likes vanilla.

And it likes chocolate.

You could say, it's bi-flavorful.

Which happens to be a quality I admire. Even embody and embrace. Because life is brimming with diversity. Life is rich and complicated, sticky and glorious. And for every preference I may think I cherish, there are sure to be a dazzling array of alternative preferences twinkling beyond my peripheral vision like so many bokeh jewels.


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Gluten-Free Peach Cobbler

Warm from the oven. My gluten-free peach cobbler recipe.

Cobbler Redux

Is Mercury in retrograde? And if so, Darling, do I believe it can wreak havoc with recipes? I started out with a different approach to this peach cobbler recipe, you see. I thought I'd try out the new Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Bisquick mix I bought this week. I imagined a golden topped biscuity crust you could sink your teeth into, a melt-in-your-mouth forkful of shortcake, dripping with warm and sticky-sweet juice.

But what I got was a bone white mound of anemic dough (scarily reminiscent of Play Dough baked into what can only be described as yesterday's mashed potatoes. It didn't even try to turn golden. And it didn't melt in your mouth like a biscuit.

It just sat there on your tongue.

Flavorless.

Bored.

Expecting to be admired without effort.

Like those fame junkies who are famous for simply being famous. They haven't actually accomplished anything to garner their celebrity status. They just nurture a deeper narcissistic ambition than your average high school beauty queen. They expect adulation because they exist.

Like an awful lot of the gluten-free foods churned out by corporate entities.

They expect we'll fall to our knees with gratitude just because it sports two little words on its label. As if the virtue of being gluten-free is enough. Enough to get us to shell out almost seven hard earned dollars for two and a half cups of cheap refined starch and the privilege of convenience.

And don't get me wrong. I get the allure. I do.

I mean, you're standing there in the supermarket. It's late. You're hungry. And it's right there in front of you. Right next to the 40 acres of shiny wheat laden stuff you can't have. Ever. And those magic words: Gluten-Free! They sparkle. Someone up there in the land of corporate giants has heard of us! They validate you and your odd little disease.

We exist!

And hence, we may consume.

They are recognizing us now, Sweetpea, because we constitute a billion dollar windfall. The food industry has awakened to the perky reality TV version of celiac disease. And sure, I know. The argument is, It's all good. Any awareness is positive (even though the gluten-free diet may be in danger of losing street cred because of its faddish status with actresses who subscribe to its hyped promise of weight loss).

Can the drive for GF profit lead to better eating, though?

I'm not so sure. If the tepid taste of Betty Crocker's Bisquick is any indication, we have not come a long way, baby. Big companies use the cheapest ingredients they can to conjure stuff for the growing gluten-free demand. That means there's an awful lot of "old school gluten-free" going on (based on Bette Hagman's twenty-year old white rice flour and starch blend, perhaps?). G-free mixes and packaged foods use predominately refined white rice flour and inexpensive starches. A glut of empty calories.

Like @AutumnMakes tweeted yesterday, "...funny how it seems the big corps are years behind the everyday gluten-free bakers..."

Indeed. We humble home cooks have discovered the soft, lovely crumb of sorghum and almond flour. Gluten-free cornmeal and buckwheat. Our baking isn't dull or crumbly, dry, or without pizazz. Our flour choices reflect a preference for taste, texture and higher nutrition. And I think we're smarter than the average consumer.

So for now I'm going to continue to eschew the walk down the center food aisles (as Michael Pollan advises). I'll focus on my own gluten-free flour blends and eating whole foods daily.

And in a pinch, when some wild craving hits and I'm too tired to deal with three separate flour bags, I'll use a GF pancake mix (both small family companies who have been in our celiac corner from the beginning).

And I'll create my own cobbler topping, thank you.



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Gluten-Free Orange Almond Muffins

A kiss of orange infuses these sunny gluten-free muffins.

Life in short bursts.

Here comes the sun. Baby daylight is yawning herself awake, stretching like a blinking blue-eyed kitten into a brand new year. Little by little we are inching ever so nonchalant toward Groundhog Day, toward snowdrops poking through the crust of winter snow, toward pink horizons and bird calls. But I am not bothering to count the days of winter. And I am not bothering to count calories. I am lingering in my passion for comfort food. For baking. For muffins.

In between bowls of vegan detox soup.

Because I know the deal. I know my body's cycle. I understand that I slow down in winter. I hibernate. I conserve energy. Translation: I put on a few pounds. I have evidence to prove it. But I no longer panic. I have danced around this yearly cycle a time or two. Well. More like fifty-two. Plus five. But who's counting?

Not me.

I dream instead. Of romance. Of ease. Of psychic room to breathe. I imagine an early spring and the scents of almond and orange come to mind- not for any particular reason or culinary logic. It's just whimsy. Or maybe it's because the sweet breezy taste of citrus feels bright and refreshing after all the dense flavors of the season, like pumpkin streusel and cranberry and sweet potato. I ponder iPhone photography apps and process images for Instagram while I stir gluten-free flours into muffin batter (I multitask my yearnings).

Truth is, I follow my cravings. And I honor them. Most of the time. Which sometimes means ignoring them, frankly (cocktail hour can be one long nightmare of an hour, especially in the grip of Midwinter). And sometimes honoring means listening to cravings. Acknowledging them. Validating them. Then grabbing them by the scruff of the neck and plunking them onto the Time Out chair.

And going for a walk- to let them sulk in silence.

But sometimes a craving is as simple and true as a muffin. A gluten-free muffin, thankfully (Goddess knows I lost my taste for wheat years ago). And in the grand scheme of things, a muffin is one craving I can live with.

Today.

And you know me.

I take things one kitten-blinking day at a time.


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Gluten-Free Cherry Almond Muffins

Whole grain, gluten-free, dairy-free... and luscious.

Cherry Cherry Bo Berry

It hit me today as I was walking my morning walk. I've been sugar-free for two months (I even looked it up, just be sure). Eight weeks without sugar. Eight! Ocho. Huit. Osiem. The first week was the toughest. Sugar detox is not for wimps, darling.

First, there is the headache. The roughshod gallop pummeling the interior of your tender, childlike skull, leaving you feeling cracked, and squinting, dodging sunlight like the unholy spawn of Dracula, begging for mercy.

Or at least a tiny, hummingbird nibble of chocolate.

Then there is The Craving. The Craving outlasts the headache (which finally bids you vaya con Dios at the end of day four). The Craving lasts for a week. Maybe two. Or three, now that I think of it. I'm not exactly sure. I stopped counting the days when it all became one big itchy wall-climbing pantry-rifling prowl for something to fill the hole. The hole that is one big long gnawing hunger for something sweet.

Then one blue-sky day I tasted almond butter right out of the jar.

And it knocked my fuzzy pink socks off.

Almond butter! Incredibly sweet and creamy. It tasted like dessert.

And I knew I was home free.

My taste buds had changed. And everything from bananas to cherry tomatoes tasted intensely, deliciously new.

Like candy.

So if you are tempted to try a sugar detox, I am here to encourage you. I did it. I survived. And I even lost a few pounds (I also gave up white starches, like white rice, tapioca starch, and white potatoes). Tenacious Doris is eight pounds lighter. And more importantly, my disagreeable tummy has settled into a more friendly relationship with yours truly.

Sugar Detox Tips: Fats can save your butt, honey. When giving up white starches and sugar, healthy fats can rescue you from intense cravings and general, no good, low sugar feebleness. Whenever I felt hungry and shaky I ate a handful of almonds or pecans, or dabbed almond butter on banana slices. I munched on olives. Avocado spritzed with lime juice was a rich and silky treat. I hard-boiled organic free-range eggs to have on hand for high protein snacks.

Now that my cravings have stabilized, I don't eat as many pick-me-ups.

As you may have noticed with my Blueberry Scone recipe, I've started to bake without sugar, using the same powdered stevia I add to my morning chai, and my ginger root tea. A tiny little bit of stevia goes a long way. (Read more about stevia and other sugar substitutes here.)

I'm pleasantly surprised at how downright killer my sugar-free treats are! Even the sugar indulging men in the house agree. These are darn tasty.

Sweet cherries and almond flour make lovely muffins.

Today's baking adventure involves cherries (why not?). And I did add two tablespoons of pure maple syrup to the batter this time, for taste, texture and sweetness. But if you need (or want) to avoid maple syrup, just sub almond milk instead.

Summer goodness: whole grain cherry almond muffins.

Gluten-Free Cherry Almond Muffins Recipe

By Karina Allrich

Cherries and almonds are a match made in heaven. So fragrant and naturally sweet. I used only a touch of stevia and a small amount of pure maple syrup to sweeten these lovely breakfast treats. If you prefer a traditionally sweeter muffin, feel free to add sugar. A half cup should do it.

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups almond flour
1 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup GF millet flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon powdered stevia, to taste* see notes
3 large organic free-range eggs
2 tablespoons light olive oil
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 teaspoons pure almond extract
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk, as needed
1 cup packed pitted, chopped sweet cherries

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Line a twelve-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (almond flour through stevia).

Add in the eggs, oil, maple syrup, and almond extract, beating until the ingredients stick together. Continue to beat as you add the almond milk, a little at a time, beating until the batter loosens and becomes smooth and slightly sticky. It should look like a thick- but smooth- muffin batter. I added a half cup of almond milk to mine.

Add in the chopped cherries by hand and stir to distribute, saving a few to add to the muffin tops.

Set the batter aside to rest for a few minutes. I like to do this with gluten-free batters. It seems to help the rise.

Spoon the batter evenly into the twelve muffin cups. Stud the tops with a few cherry pieces.

Bake in the center of a pre-heated oven for 20 minutes or so, until domed and golden. The muffins should be firm to the touch.

Little cherry studded gems of deliciousness.

Set the muffin pan on a cooling rack for five minutes. Then gently remove the muffins and place them directly on the rack to cool (this keeps the bottoms from getting soggy), or serve immediately.

These cherry almond gems are heavenly warm and tender from the oven.

Cook time: 20 minutes

Yield: 12 muffins

Recipe Source: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

All images & content are copyright protected, all rights reserved. Please do not use our images or content without prior permission. Thank you. 

Tender and not too sweet, this muffin is the perfect summer treat.

Notes:

The stevia I used is concentrated, and a little goes a long way. Taste test and judge for yourself how much you'd prefer to add to the batter. Remember that too much powdered stevia can taste bitter in baked goods. I plan on trying some of the stevia that is crystallized for baking purposes.

As mentioned above, if you prefer using sugar in your gluten-free baking, by all means use a half cup of sugar and skip the stevia.

For those baking vegan, I have made wonderful almond flour muffins without eggs. Check my Blueberry Almond Flour Muffins recipe and replace the blueberries with chopped sweet cherries, and the vanilla powder with two teaspoons almond extract. Or follow this recipe above using your favorite egg replacer.

As always, I urge you to add the liquid slowly as you beat the batter, using only the amount you need to achieve a smooth, slightly sticky batter- not too thick, not too thin. You may need slightly less (or slightly more) liquid, depending upon your climate. Humidity influences flours and their moisture content.

For easy on-the-go treats, wrap leftover muffins in foil, bag, and freeze.

Gluten-Free Banana Almond Bundt® Cake Recipe

Almond flour makes this banana Bundt® cake gluten-free gorgeous.

Almond Flour Cake Love

Baking weather has arrived. Are you feeling the urge? I am. It's Bundt® Cake time. Time for stirring up gluten-free cake batters with soft ripe bananas,  pumpkin puree, and applesauce, filling the kitchen with the warm sweet scent of cinnamon. Time to tie on your cute little apron and invoke your inner Domestic Goddess. Because the groovy-spooky Fall Equinox is right around the corner, I am sorry to tell you. Summer fun is fading fast, Sweetpea. Your tan lines are disappearing.

Your UGGs are calling.

So paw through your stash of rocket shaped Popsicle molds, drink umbrellas and pool party napkins. Get ready to retire the flamingo adorned lemonade pitcher (unless you happen to live in Boca Raton). Snake your way into the back dark corner of your kitchen closet.

Liberate the Bundt® pan you haven't used since Ground Hog Day.

It's dusty but it cleans up nice.


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Gluten-Free Peach Muffins with Almond Flour

Gluten-free peach muffins baked with almond flour.

Juicy Peach Muffins

Today is Labor Day. And here I am working. Editing photographs of peach muffins and writing up a new gluten-free recipe. No rest for the wicked. Or the self-employed. We bloggers toil at our living daily, working through holidays and oftentimes, dinner. We tend and tweak and pretty much live a nerdy geek life. The opposite of glamorous.

Or maybe it's just me.

There are plenty of extroverted bloggers who travel and attend blogging conferences and hob nob. They dine together and smile brilliantly in group pictures, tweeting breathlessly their mutual squee. And I envy them. Sometimes. Just a little.

But alas, the simple truth is, it is not meant to be. I am destined, you see, to the role of wallflower and geek girl. Because the mere, fleeting snippet of a thought about flying somewhere alone, which, you know, entails the whole going through various x-ray machines and raising your arms for people wielding wands, not to mention, taking one's shoes off and rushing to put them back on so that the person (make that seventeen persons) behind you doesn't get impatient while you fumble with your buckles and your unzipped purse and boarding pass and explain to the squinting security guy that the mystery wad of metal in your bag's side pocket is only dimes and quarters you collect for Santa Monica parking meters as he picks out all thirty-seven coins just to make sure and for good measure keeps your nail clippers (in all the excitement, you didn't confess you were also carrying nail clippers). Thank goddess you packed the vibrator in your checked luggage.

And then there's the whole belting yourself into a hulking metal beast with wings that weighs goddess knows how many megatons, and snugging your pelvis to a polyester burnt orange float-able seat cushion between a shiny headed businessman who obviously ate raw onions for lunch and college professor reading the New York Times who you know secretly wants to discuss Obama's Afghanistan policy. Where is Dr. Jack Shephard when you need him?

Such visions send spikes of fear and loathing down my duodenal canal.

So I imagine muffins.

I fondle peaches at the market admiring their curve and fuzz. I peel them gently and coax out the stone pit. I slice them into jewels that will fit on the tongue and give up a burst of sweet tart juice. I stir almond meal into powder soft flours and squeeze lime juice and sprinkle cinnamon.

I bake.

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Savory Grain-Free Crackers

Gluten-free grain-free crackers.

 

As promised, here is how I made the grain-free gluten-free crackers I took with me to the set of The Canyon. This is a fairly simple recipe with delicious results. A savory garlicky grain-free cracker made with almond meal. Enjoy!

Karina's Savory Grain-Free Cracker Recipe

Originally published May 2007.

These crackers are mighty tasty- especially if you're generous with the seasonings. I used Trader Joe's Roasted Garlic and Organic Italian Herbs to create kick-ass flavor.

Ingredients:

2 cups almond meal

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon minced roasted garlic, to taste

Pinch of dried minced onion

2 teaspoons dried Italian Herbs, to taste

Pinch or two of turmeric or paprika for color

1 teaspoon of fine sea salt

1 teaspoon sugar or raw organic agave

1 cup very finely grated aged Parmesan (I used a microplane grater)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

4 tablespoons spring or filtered water, as needed

1 beaten egg white- or omit for vegan

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line a standard baking sheet with parchment paper or a reusable Silpat.

Combine the ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir until a moist, moderately sticky dough forms. Add more water or oil if you need it.

Taste test. Adjust seasonings to your taste buds. If it needs it, add a tiny pinch of sugar to offset the salty flavor.

Using oiled hands place the mound of dough on the parchment and flatten with the palm of your hand. Use oiled palms and fingers to press the dough out evenly and quite thin. If it cracks, simply press back together with moist fingers.

Bake in the center of a hot oven for 15 minutes or until the dough is set and golden.

Remove and cool on a wire rack. When the dough has cooled, cut the dough into pieces using a pizza cutter. Or break apart for random jagged pieces.

The crackers will be extremely tender and breakable while they are warm. Allow them to cool completely before handling.

Store in an air tight container. They are not super crisp, and are quite tender. And best of all- very flavorful.

If you prefer a crisper cracker, bake briefly before serving. Keep an eye on them so that they don't get too browned.

This made roughly 18 crackers.

Recipe Source: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

All images & content are copyright protected, all rights reserved. Please do not use our images or content without prior permission. Thank you.