I have never had a better blueberry muffin in my life. Not with dairy, not with eggs and certainly not with gluten.
Now, the fact that I was on the modified elimination diet when I made them may have had a teeny tiny influence on my lust for these beauties, but I really don’t think so. These are just some damn good muffins. They are so good that I really don’t want to label them “free” of this and “free” of that because if you don’t live a food allergic lifestyle, then I can image you might think a gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, corn-free, soy-free, xanthan/guar gum-free and refined sugar-free blueberry muffin can’t possibly taste good if it’s missing all of those ingredients (hey, wait a minute, since when did blueberry muffins contain corn anyway?). 😉
Now, go make these. Right now.
Then come back and leave a comment telling me how much you love me.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Almond Flour (I highly recommend using Honeyville, I cannot guarantee the muffins will turn out as well with a different brand)
- 1 1/2 cups Superfine Brown Rice Flour
- 1/2 tsp. Sea Salt
- 1 tsp. Corn-Free Baking Powder
- 1 tsp. Baking Soda
- 1/2 cup Agave Nectar
- 1/4 cup Coconut Oil, melted
- 2 Chia ‘Eggs’ (mix 2 tsp. ground white chia seed with 6 Tbs. warm water, set aside for about 5 minutes until mixture thickens)
- 1 tsp. Corn-Free Vanilla
- 1 cup Unsweetened Applesauce (I use Eden Foods Organic Applesauce)
- 1 cup fresh, Organic Blueberries
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. and line a muffin tin with paper liners.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine agave nectar and melted coconut oil. Beat on high speed until thoroughly blended.
- Add in chia eggs and vanilla, beat well.
- Meanwhile, sift together the almond flour, superfine brown rice flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
- Add half of the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, blend well.
- Add half of the applesauce, blend well.
- Repeat with remaining flour mixture and applesauce.
- Fold in blueberries.
- Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tin and bake for 22 – 25 minutes. Check for doneness by inserting a toothpick or touching lightly on the center (the muffin will be firm to the touch).
- Allow muffins to rest in the pan for about 10 minutes then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
This is a thick batter and you can fill the muffin liners all the way to the top without fear they will spill over in the oven.
We literally lived on these during the modified elimination diet (M.E.D. for short) we had to do before going to see Dr. Vikki Petersen at HealthNOW Medical Center back in February. I even baked up 3 dozen and packed them in my suitcase for the flight to California (my kiddos inhaled them), so if you are one of my many readers who have decided to visit HealthNOW too, know that these muffins are MED approved and pack well in your suitcase (in a large Tupperware type of container, not just tucked between your underwear). 😀
This recipe is linked to March Muffin Madness over at Gluten Free Easily, be sure to check it out for more delicious gluten free muffin recipes! 😀
And welcome to my blog!
Whether you're here looking for advice on how to go gluten free (with delicious kid-approved recipes of course!), or to read some of the latest medical research on celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivity...or even to read about one woman's rise from the depths of gluten-free despair to a place of downright enthusiasm, it makes no matter. The point is, you are here now so let's have some fun!
You are completely saving my sanity with these amazing recipes! I don't know what I would do if I didn't have your awesome cooking skills and ideas to rely upon. Thank you so much!!
Jana,
That is one of my chief responsibilities as a self-diagnosed "glutadoodle", to help save others from the same crazy fate, LOL!
Hi, Heidi!
I didn't want to wait until I taste your blueberry muffins (though I plan to make them right away) to tell you I love you! Your site is my gluten-free "bible" of sorts – I visit you every day! Having gone to HealthNow Medical Center myself, I feel a bit of camaraderie with you, and I appreciate all you are doing to help newbies to this gluten-free world (like me). Thanks so much for everything. You can rest assured that I will be back to let you know how my muffins turned out!
Aw, thanks KathieLea, you have no idea how much that means to me! I'm glad my site has been helpful, it's such a steep learning curve when first going gluten-free (and free of other foods), and it can be a lonely time as well if you don't have a bunch of support around you…so I hope my site can help provide a little of each, inspiration and friendship. We can do anything if we all work together! 😀
I've been adding blueberries to my smoothies all week, so I don't have enough to make these muffins right this second. But I'll pick up some blueberries and get busy. (It's actually cooler today–woohoo!) Since I can't do chia seeds right now (crazy, right?), I'll make these with eggs. Will report back, dear! Oh, and I agree with everyone else, you totally rock, dear! 🙂
xoxo,
Shirley
Oh, Shirley, that would be great if you could try these with eggs for me, I'd love to know how they turn out! Luke is doing pretty good with eggs in baked goods, but I try to limit how often I give it to him…slowly biding my time until he turns 5 and his gut closes up (that was one of those interesting tidbits I learned from Dr. Rick (Dr. Vikki's husband), babies are born with highly permeable intestines and they don't "close up" until around the age of 5, assuming nothing else is going on. That's why you often read that many children outgrow their food allergies after age 5).
xoxo,
Heidi
I can't try these beautiful babies due to the almond flour, but you know I love you regardless! They look delicious by the way 🙂 I am feeling the baking mood come upon me here in the mitten state. Baking will be happening after the garden canning.
Oh man, I'm sorry Michelle! Actually, you know what? I got the inspiration for this recipe from one that originally called for adding 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts to the batter (which I turned into almond flour). I would seriously recommend trying the recipe without the almond flour altogether and see how that turns out. In fact, I will try that the next time I make these for the boys (I don't eat grains anymore so I can eat the muffins either) and report back on the results!
I'm heading into canning season too, just ordered a pressure canner yesterday…that thing is a little scary looking, LOL!
Ohhhh a pressure cooker. Green eyes of jealousy here! Although I am scared to death of those things. I guess it is from my parents canning and telling me to get away from the thing. I seriously need you as a neighbor to share devices with. I just told my sister in law we need a share bank for stuff rarely used. When using them and our husband asks whose they are we can say the other person, lol. Just where to store them? Enjoy your canning. I didn't get enough to do a lot but I may hit a farmers market today to get more stuff.
I forgot about the rice flour in these. Maybe I will play around and add 1/2 coconut and 1/2 something else to replace the almonds~walnuts are also an issue 🙁 XOXO
I can't wait to make these, but I only have frozen blueberries. Also, you mentioned they're Guar Gum-free, please don't tell me this also has corn in it! I had just bought some Guar Gum yesterday to make gluten/corn-free artisan bread: http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/2010/01/05/glut…
Hi Suni,
You CAN make these with frozen blueberries, but they have a tendency to "bleed" blueberry juice and might turn your muffins a lovely shade of blue-green. If you use frozen blueberries, don't thaw them first, keep them in t he freezer until right before you add them to the batter and that should help reduce the bleed off.
No, there is no corn in this recipe (as written). Iodized salt and baking powder are the only ingredients that would be derived from corn so as long as you use sea salt and corn-free baking powder, there won't be any "corniness" to the muffins. 😀
I love you anyway. But these sound/look fantastic! I have to get some brown rice flour, or maybe I'll try subbing in some coconut flour (less, of course) since I have that and almond flour.
I owe you a big email. I am doing much better 🙂
No eggs! Did I ever tell you how awesome you are?
Thanks, Heidi. These look wonderful….we have lots of fresh blueberries!
I love how you emphasize the positive, not what's missing!
oh yum! cannot wait to try these…go figure, the only thing I don't have is the blueberries, lol, but that's easy to get & I've been wanting to find a really good blueberry muffin recipe!!
Made these today and just ate one. I made them as written except I used eggs and they came out great. Not super sweet (good thing). When I ate it I slapped my knee just for you:)
I just came across your website & looking forward to taking a look at your recipes & seeing what will work for us & what I might have to tweak. (my ds is allergic to gluten, eggs, & corn as well as bean, rice, nuts, & soy plus a handful of other low food items.)
i was reading the comments & just wanted to fyi…. xanthum gum can have traces of corn. It is actually from bacteria frementing on corn sugar (at least here in the USA– where EVERYTHING has corn.) Not all corn-allergic people have to avoid xanthum gum, but some do & are sensitive to it. Right now my son can't have xanthum gum…….
which is why i can't wait to look at your recipes, especially breads & baked goods. For the past 3yrs i've had a really hard time getting a noncrumbly, flat or dense baked good. not having gluten, eggs/egg replacer, soy, corn, gums, flax seed makes it very hard. 🙂
thanks for sharing!!!
We so enjoy this recipe. My boys request these muffins. Thank you for putting this altogether and making it available. So appreciative.
Hi! I'm excited to go to the clinic but not excited to start my m.e.d. tomorrow. I'll try your recipe this week! How did you get food on the plane?
Hi April!
I feel your pain, that was a tough mental adjustment for me! I took our food in a backpack cooler: http://www.amazon.com/Picnic-Time-Insulated-Coole… (just remember, no liquids). I got stopped at security once and they looked through everything, but then waived us on through.
I hope everything goes well for you and that you find some answers!
Hugs,
Heidi
Last night my 10 year old asked for muffins for breakfast & I knew exactly what recipe to try. Already free of gluten & dairy, this week she discovered she can't eat corn either & has been feeling a little blue. Her smile when she came downstairs this morning made up for getting up @ 5:30 to make them and my husband said she inhaled them on the way to school! Thank you!
Also wanted to share: I didn't melt the coconut oil, just creamed it with the agave. I also didn't sift the dry stuff, just whisked it well & broke up any clumps with my fingers. Finally, obviously it's no longer blueberry season so I used frozen blueberries instead. It's easy to overlook the slight discoloration once you take a bite. 😉 Yum!
I just made these and had one with the Vegan butter. These are so yummy! I didn't use superfine rice flour, just regular Bob's Red Mill Brown rice flour. Also, I used Dowd & Rogers Almond flour and frozen, thawed & drained blueberries. I coated the blueberries in a little coconut flour so they wouldn't sink to the bottom of the muffins and used 2 regular eggs, because I don't like the taste of Chia. Even my 6 1/2 year old granddaughter likes these! Very tasty, nice and moist, probably because of the applesauce, very flavorful!
What a pleasant surprise these are! These are my new favorite GF baked item.
I've been GF, dairy-free; soy-free; corn-free; peanut free for about 15 months now and am still in the learning process. This is a great site! Thank you for posting these wonderful recipes. I've tried this and the vegan butter, which is REALLY good on the muffins! Thank you for all your hard work! I appreciate what you are doing! God bless you. 🙂
My husband and I are on a detoxifying diet right now and are very limited to what we can eat for 4 weeks. No dairy, sugar, eggs or gluten. I found your recipe and made them this morning…….they are unbelievably wonderful!!!!! Thanks so much for posting them. I didnt have chia but used ground flax instead for the egg substitute and they turned out just fine.
I just found out that my stepson is gluten free, corn free, dairy free along with nuts and red fruit allergies..how and what in the world do you bake for such a specific diet; we're going to spend a week together and I'm looking for a baked item to have as snacks. This site looks interesting.
I was soo excited to make these recipes that I doubled the recipe so I could bring some to work and have at a Ladies Lunch! The ingredients are superior to most muffin recipes. The flavor of the muffins were fantastic! But for some reason my fresh blueberries mainly sunk to the bottom and the muffins were a little too moist. I am not sure if it is because the chia eggs were too watery?? I am not too sure. The wet mxture was thick but maybe it could have been thicker. Does anyone have advice because I Want to attempt them again ASAP 🙂
I listed this recipe on my “favorite recipe finds” post today! I want me readers to see this yummy one! 🙂 http://vegetarianmamma.blogspot.com/2012/04/favorite-recipe-finds-week-of-41612.html
Cindy 🙂
These look (and sound) incredible!
Yummy! My son cannot have nuts, so I ground up some raw sunflower seeds and used sunflower seed meal instead of the almound flour…turned out great!! I also used 1/4 cup honey instead of agave because I didn’t have any! Thanks for the delicious recip!
I love your recipes! just one quick question, would these work with regular eggs as opposed to Chia “Eggs”?
Thanks!
I am about at the end of my rope!!! The Dr. wants my son (9 yrs.) on a dairy, egg, wheat and nut free (already know he is allergic to all nuts and peanuts) but every stinkin recipe has a nut ingredient or coconut which they prefer he not have because some nut allergy people have problems with this! What’s a mom to do????
I will have to try this with the teff (if I can find it!) my son is allergic to nuts as well.
Thank you for all of your wonderful recipes! I made these muffins this morning with eggs and I substituted sorghum flour because I ran out of brown rice flour. The finished product is not the perfect texture I imagined, but they are still pretty good…I also have a problem where I can’t wait until things are cooled to try them, so perhaps I will be pleasantly surprised when I eat another one later on 🙂 I’m wondering, how would you go about storing these muffins? Better to keep in the fridge or countertop?