I’m in the middle of a juice cleanse, so this will likely be incredibly quick and seriously lacking in adorable banter.
Well, technically I haven’t started the cleanse yet… I suppose in order to be in the middle of a juice cleanse, one needs to have started drinking the juice. For the past 40 hours and counting, I have somehow managed to survive (and moderately function) on black coffee, a bit of herbal tea, lots of electrolyte water, and a very evil (bad bad) detox tea that kicked off my first cleansing day with a debilitating intestinal issue. And that’s all I will say about that.
I suppose that’s one way to get your cleanse on.
So many pretty and colorful cold-pressed bottles of juices are waiting in the wings until I feel like eating drinking juice again. Now I am with heating pad on couch and laptop in lap and herbal tea (i hate tea) to my right.
I actually just came home from my 8 year old daughter’s spelling bee at school. She was one of only a couple 3rd graders (the youngest competing) in her school to make it to this level, and she made it to the second round! And I don’t know if it was the lack of calories, or the fact that I had to be in real people clothes when my body just wants these sweatpants and what’s about to be this nap on the couch, but it was one of the most intense competitions I’ve witnessed. My husband and I (also juicing, but actually drinking the juice) were flop-sweating and on the edge of our seats. So much pressure! Also, our 16 year old dog was in the middle of surgery and we got word she came out of it ok during the 3rd round.
Big day for no food.
OK. Back to THE BEST EVER GLUTEN FREE MUFFIN RECIPE <fanfare>. I’ve said this many times before on this site… If I share with you a recipe for anything ‘non-traditional’ (whatever that means), as in – anything converted into vegan, gluten free, etc., then you know it’s good.
Why?
Because I love animal products and wheat.
So if I’m saying I like it, it’s good.
Don’t trust anyone who’s never had cheese before when they say their vegan mac n cheese is just like the original. Never trust someone who can’t even smell gluten when they say their bread tastes like real bread.
No. You wanna trust the girl who eats all the things.
Back when I first started developing gluten free recipes, and vegan recipes for that matter, there wasn’t a whole lot of ingredient help out there on the market shelves. There was no such thing as gluten free flour at my grocery store. But I had a health food market close by, so I could go and get things like rice flours and starches and xanthan gum and such and make my own gluten free flour for my recipes (see what I believe was my first post on it HERE).
Since then every brand seems to have their own gluten free flour product, so there’s really no need to keep all of those things stocked anymore, but that’s still a solid gf flour recipe in that post up there if you’re interested. Personally, I prefer King Arthur Gluten Free Measure for Measure Flour, and I can find it easily in my grocery store. I like it for the price and also its consistency. Any other brand that you’re able to easily find that says ‘measure for measure’ or ‘cup for cup’ should have similar results… but I can’t attest to them being as great as these. The formula for King Arthur’s blend is very close to the gf flour recipe I came up with years ago. So if you’re using another brand, just be sure the product says it can be used in place of the exact amount of regular flour in recipes… that’s how you know they have the ratio of starches and flours correct in their blend to mimic all purpose flour. Also some products have a greater amount of bean flours in them, and that’s just not my favorite. King Arthur has no bean flours in their blend.
I make these gluten free muffins for my family, friends, also for gifts, keep them in my freezer for houseguests, and everyone who has had them loves them and agrees they are the best . muffin . they’ve ever had. Not best gluten free muffin, but muffin. My goal was to set out to make a kickass muffin… that just so happens to be gluten free.
And I did.
Just so so killer.
And you can sub whatever fruit you have on hand, or whatever is in season for the berries I’m using in this recipe. If you decide to use diced apples, add some cinnamon to your dry mix! They’re also killer with dark chocolate chips instead of the fruit 😉 . Or go for some white chocolate and cranberry for something extra festive… Just get creative with flavors and see what you can come up with.
No matter your gluten preference, you will love these! But for the friends in my life who can’t tolerate gluten? The ones who feel like they have to sacrifice texture and flavor and baked-in-love in order to keep their health in check? These babies put an extra big smile on their face.
And that makes me so very happy.
THE BEST EVER GLUTEN FREE BERRY MUFFINS EVER
Preheat your oven to 425.
Line 2 standard 12 cup muffin tins with muffin liners and grease well… since the amount of muffin you will get varies – depending on the berries you use and how high you fill your cups, I would start with just lining and greasing the 12 and go from there so you don’t waste any greased liners.
Measure out your dry ingredients :
- 2 cups gluten free flour
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
Whisk to combine.
In another bowl, measure out :
- 2 cups of your berry of choice.
I used mixed berries from a bag in my freezer, and was sure to slice up any larger berries to equal the same size as the others. You can go all in on blueberries, raspberries, chopped strawberries, blackberries, a mix of them all, or another fruit of your choice! Note – if you use frozen berries, you do not have to thaw them first.
Toss your berries with about 2 TB of your dry mix. Coat evenly. This keeps the berries evenly dispersed throughout the batter and prevents them from sinking to the bottom of the muffin cups when baking.
In another large mixing bowl, or stand mixer, combine the following wet ingredients :
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp lemon extract (or the zest of 1/2 a lemon)
Mix wet into dry until you have a smooth batter.
Carefully fold in your berries, and any residual dry ingredients that settled in the bowl they were in.
Once your berries are evenly distributed throughout the batter, use a small ice cream scoop to fill your greased muffin cups 3/4 way full with batter.
(If you have empty muffin tin cups, fill 1/2 way with some water before baking to ensure even cooking throughout.)
Place your muffins in the preheated 425 oven and immediately decrease the temperature to 375.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until they are golden brown and a wooden skewer or toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out with no wet goopy batter. Moist crumbs clinging to the skewer is fine!
Allow to cool in the tins until safe to touch, then finish cooling on a wire rack.
Eat warm or room temperature, or cool completely to freeze in zip bags for future muffining!
They also keep well, sealed air-tight at room temperature for 2 days or in the fridge for about 4.
And be very sure to share one with a friend for happy love vibes;-)
…
thanks for reading, y’all. much love x
No Comments