These Scrumptious Blueberry Lemon Muffins- Gluten Free are wonderfully addicting! Try it out, you’ll see what I mean…
I know in my last post, I said, “I love Cajun food. Blah, blah blah…,” and it’s true! I also love blueberry muffins! Come to think of it, I just love food. It’s really hard for me to not like a good dish and these Scrumptious Blueberry Lemon Muffins – Gluten Free are no different. They turned out amazingly well and man, do I love them!
While I wish every recipe was spot on the first time around, it’s not always so easy when it comes to baking, especially gluten-free. My first attempt at this recipe turned out slightly dry. My second attempt was a bit better, but still lacking. At that point, I entirely trashed my original recipes, and took a new angle and VOILA!
Oddly enough, my neighbor told me she liked the first ones better. I think she’s just being a contrarian or a muffin hater. My original idea was to incorporate goat cheese into the muffins, but it just wasn’t working… In theory, it sounds good and unique, but they kept coming out too… harsh? I’ll probably need to cream the goat cheese before incorporating it. If anyone has any suggestions on adding goat cheese to sweet baked goods, please comment, I’d love to know your secrets!
Features of Perfection for Scrumptious Blueberry Lemon Muffins- Gluten Free
If you’re blueberry lover like myself, you know all the right features of a blueberry muffin. Number one being, having enough blueberries! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had store bought ones and it’s got like, two blueberries in it. I want to believe that I’m getting a half serving of fruit by eating a muffin!
The second most important feature of a blueberry muffin is the moisture. Some pastries are meant to be dry and/or tough, but not muffins. I’m looking for a melt-in-your-mouth muffin with a lighter consistency and enough moisture. You know what I mean… With some store bought muffins, one bite and your mouth is now on par with the Atacama Desert as you search furiously for water.
The third most important feature is flavor. I want a muffin to be delicious! Sweet, vibrant, flavors of vanilla, berries, etc… I feel like flavor goes hand in hand with moisture and density. The drier and more packed together the muffin is, the less flavor it actually has. I’m not quite sure why this is, it seems oxymoronic that more particles doesn’t create more flavor, but it is.
Waste Not, Want Not
When I told you I took a whole different route in the muffin making, my wife looked at me like I was nuts starting up a new batch… But seriously, if it’s not blog worthy then what’s the point? I know that in many ways, being a recipe and content creator seems wasteful. If you make a recipe and it’s not perfect, it’s unfortunately a “goner”. I’m lucky in the sense that I have neighbors that graciously eat up my “good” proofs, but there is still enough that doesn’t make the cut. My Aunt, Chrissy from Cafe Sucre Farine brought up a good point on this topic. She said, “It seems wasteful, but by me testing and proofing recipes I’m saving many others from failed recipes and further waste.”
I bring up this prior point, because I originally based my recipe off of a New York Times Cooking, Jordan Marsh’s Blueberry Muffins. I’m quite versed in tailoring wheat based recipes and turning them gluten free, but this just wasn’t working. The 1-1 flour blend, even with more egg and/or oil will end up flopping. I haven’t tried the recipe with wheat flour, but it has 13,000 reviews with a 5 star rating, so it must be good! After my own trials and errors, I can finally post a Scrumptious Blueberry Lemon Muffins- Gluten Free that’ll satisfy even the harshest GF critic!
What’s The Trick?
Honestly, I’m not sure how I got these Scrumptious Blueberry Lemon Muffins- Gluten Free to be as a good as they are… But I have some suggestions:
Trick One: Heat
Do you suffer from muffin flops? It’s not a medical term, as far as I’m aware, and I promise I’m not being lewd. When your muffins just don’t rise to their fullest potential it can be disappointing! The trick is in the heat: Your oven isn’t hot enough. Preheat the oven to 425°F, then place your muffins in for 5 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350°F. The high heat will activate your baking powder quicker allowing it to bubble before the batter solidifies.
Trick Two: Smash Berries
Want a little more flavor and moisture to your muffin? Smash the berries! Not all of them, but take about 1/4 to 1/3 Cup of your berries and smash them before folding the berries into your batter. The extra liquid will add a little moisture along with extra flavor. The whole blueberries add a little moisture, but not much since they’re essentially sealed in a peel that stays intact until cooked.
Trick Three: Sour Cream
You want your batter to be thick. A thick batter allows for a lighter muffin and also helps with the pronounced muffin tops. If your muffin batter is too thin, the activated baking powder will just bubble away leaving a more dense muffin. Instead of adding more milk or eggs, which will thin the batter, adding sour cream will help keep the batter’s density while adding moisture.
A Bit About Baking Powder
As in most baked goods, this Scrumptious Blueberry Lemon Muffins- Gluten Free has a leavening agent. With breads such as your standard white bread, sourdough, focaccia, or multigrain yeast is generally the agent. In baked goods such as muffins, cakes, or cookies it’s usually baking soda, baking powder, or both!
In this recipe we use baking powder. The rule of thumb is that baking powder is best for approximately 6 months to 1 year before losing some of its potency. This degradation is generally due to humidity and heat. To keep your baking powder performing, store it in a cool, dry place.
Have you ever wondered what Double Acting means on your Baking Powder? Well, baking powder is made up of three main ingredients: Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate), Cream of Tartar (or similar weak acid), and Cornstarch. The initial “Action” is produced as soon as the dry leavening agent hits liquid. As soon as the weak acid and and baking soda commingle with liquids they produce carbon dioxide, which forces your dough or batter to rise.
The second action, in Double Acting, is produce from heat. It again produces Carbon Dioxide, but the heat reactivates the acids and weakens the proteins allowing further gases to develop while in the oven. The whole process stops once the chemical reaction is complete with the byproducts of CO2, water, and sodium acetate. And there is your “Double Action.”
Tips For Scrumptious Blueberry Lemon Muffins- Gluten Free
Is time on your side? By allowing your batter to sit refrigerated overnight, your flour will be able to absorb more of the liquids helping create a denser batter. This will lead to an overall more moist, higher rising, and better texture muffin.
These muffins freeze relatively well – if you used muffin liners, you can place the whole pan in the freezer for a couple hours, then pop them out, bag, and ut them back there. To reheat, place the muffins on a baking sheet and reheat in the oven for about 6 minutes at 350°F.
Hand mix your batter. I know, it seems like a pain to do manual labor, but it’ll keep you from over mixing the batter. Over mixed batter also leads to dense muffins. I prefer using a Flat Whisk like this one to round whisks – it’s such a pain getting blueberries and batter stuck inside!
Share your muffins and let them know you got the recipe from Cakes and Coriander! Everyone loves a good Blueberry Muffin and they’ll be slack jawed when you tell them they’re gluten free!
If You Like Scrumptious Blueberry Lemon Muffins- Gluten Free, Check Out These Recipes:
Scrumptious Blueberry Lemon Muffins- Gluten Free
Course: Baking, Breakfast, Gluten Free (GF), Muffins, SnackCuisine: American16
Muffins10
minutes20
minutesAmazing Gluten Free Moist Blueberry Muffins!
Keep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
1/2 Cup 1/2 Salted Butter-Softened
3/4 Cup 3/4 Granulated White Sugar
3/4 Cup 3/4 Brown Sugar
2 Tbsp 2 Canola Oil
1/2 Cup 1/2 Sour Cream
2 tsp 2 Vanilla
2 2 Large Eggs
1/4 Cup 1/4 Whole Milk (that’s what I use, you can try 2% or skim)
1 tsp 1 Lemon Zest-Packed
1-1/2 tsp 1-1/2 Himalayan Pink Salt
3 tsp 3 Baking Powder
2 Cups 2 King Arthur GF Measure For Measure Flour
2 Cups 2 Blueberries (Smash about 1/4C for moisture)
2 Tbsp 2 Raw Sugar
Directions
- Preheat to 425°F and prep two muffin pans with either muffin liners or grease with Canola Spray.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the softened butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Whisk until creamed, then pour in the Canola Oil and Sour Cream. Continue mixing until homogenous.
- Add the Vanilla Extract and Eggs. Continue mixing.
- Next, add the Whole Milk, mix, then add the Lemon Zest.
- In a separate small mixing bowl, combine the Himalayan Pink Salt, Baking Powder, and GF Flour. Mix the dry ingredients evenly.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and whisk just enough that the ingredients are smooth, then fold in the blueberries.
- Ladle the batter so it’s nearly level with the top of each muffin liner. Fill the empty pan spaces with 2 tbsp water to prevent damaging the pan.
- Sprinkle Raw Sugar liberally on the top of each muffin.
- Place the muffin tins in the oven.
- Bake at 425°F for 5 minutes, then lower temp to 350°F and continue baking for approximately 15 more minutes.
- Test the muffins with a toothpick to make sure it comes out clean. If it does, your muffins are ready to come out.
- Let the muffins rest and cool in the muffin tins for 5-10 minutes before removing.
- ENJOY!
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These muffins are making my mouth water, they look so good! Thanks for perfecting a recipe for our GF family and friends! 💕