These gluten free blackberry muffins are supremely soft and tender with fresh blackberries buried inside and a coating of crunchy almond streusel on top. They're great for breakfast or a snack and are made with healthier ingredients like almond flour and maple syrup!
Bakery treats at home make breakfast that much more fun and these gluten-free blackberry muffins are no different! I can't decide which I love more, the tangy sweet blackberries inside or the almond crumble on top. The textures and flavors together make for perfect fruity homemade muffins you can enjoy on a weekday morning!
My chunky monkey scones, almond flour coffee cake, and almond flour cinnamon rolls are always the hit of the brunch table too!
Ingredient and Substitutions
- Almond flour - This gluten free flour used to ensure super fluffy muffins. The almond meal also provides a subtle nutty flavoring that pairs well with the blackberries. You can substitute both the almond flour and tapioca with 2 cups of gluten free 1:1 flour or all purpose flour if needed.
- Tapioca starch - Combined with the almond flour for the best gluten free flour blend. Substitute with arrowroot starch if needed.
- Maple syrup - The recipe only uses ¼ cup to add a touch of sweetness without being overbearing. You can swap with honey or agave nectar.
- Almond milk + apple cider vinegar - This is also known as "vegan buttermilk". You can use any type of milk and although you can't taste the apple cider vinegar, you can swap that with lemon juice if desired.
- Coconut oil - Any type of oil or melted butter will work in this recipe.
- Blackberries - The stars of the show! Any fresh berries or frozen berries will work but make sure to slice them into smaller pieces if you use larger berries.
- Butter - Used to make the streusel on top. Swap with dairy free butter if needed. You can also use coconut oil but make sure it's chilled and completely solid when blending it into the flour and sugar.
- Sugar - This is also used for the streusel on top. Brown sugar or coconut sugar can be used as well.
How to Make Gluten free Blackberry Muffins
These almond flour blackberry muffins are pretty straightforward to make. You will need a large bowl for the muffin batter and a smaller bowl to make the streusel as well as a muffin tin with muffin liners.
Step 1 : Mix the wet ingredients. In a bowl, whisk the eggs, maple syrup, melted coconut oil, almond milk, apple cider, and almond extract together until well mixed. You can do this with a stiff whisk, hand mixer, or stand mixer.
Step 2 : Fold in the dry ingredients. Add the almond flour, tapioca flour, baking powder, and baking soda to the bowl Gently fold the flours into the batter until the flour is 90% mixed.
Step 3 : Add in the blackberries. If you haven't already, chop up the blackberries into halves and quarters so each piece is about the size of a large blueberry. Gently fold them into the batter with a rubber spatula. Set the bowl aside while you prepare the streusel.
Step 4 : Make the almond streusel. In a separate small bowl, add the almond flour, sugar, and cold butter. Use the back of a fork or your hands to work the butter into the flour mixture. The butter should begin to break apart and look like little clumps of sand.
Add the slivered almonds and mix into the clumps of butter.
Step 5 : Bake! Use a large cookie scoop or spoon to scoop the batter into a muffin pan with liners. Because these are gluten free muffins, you can fill each liner up almost all the way. Sprinkle a handful of the almond streusel over top of each muffin and bake in the oven until golden brown.
Once the muffins have cooled down completely, sprinkle the tops with a little powdered sugar if desired and enjoy!
Recipe Variations
These almond flour muffins are very versatile and easy to make your own! Here are a few ways to switch up the mix-ins:
- Swap the blackberries with strawberries or raspberries for a pop of pink color
- Throw in a handful of fresh blueberries for a blueberry and blackberry combination
- Substitute the blackberries with freshly pitted cherries
- Add mini chocolate chips to the batter for a chocolate covered fruit situation in muffin form
Expert Muffin Tips
- Although this is gluten free batter, you still want to be careful not to over mix. Once all the ingredients are mixed, you will notice the batter begin to thicken up slightly, similar to the gluten in regular muffins. You want to let the batter rest and develop those air bubbles so the muffins don't come out dense once baked.
- Feel free to fill up the muffins liners almost to the top. I do this with almost every one of my muffin recipes that are gluten free. As you probably know, gluten free batter doesn't rise like regular batter so there isn't a big risk of the muffins overflowing.
- Let the muffins cool slightly for no more than 5 minutes and then remove them from the pan to continue cooling on a wire rack. If you leave muffins in the pan for too long, the steam from the heat will seep back into the bottoms of the muffins and make them soggy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes frozen berries will work as well but you want to break them up into smaller pieces so they make well inside the muffin. You can let them thaw and then add to the muffin batter or add them in while still frozen. Add a few more minutes to yuor baking time if using frozen berries.
Let the muffins cool down completely before transferring them to an airtight container or freezer bag. They will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. Let the muffins thaw to room temperature and then heat them back up in the oven at 350 F for 5 minutes or in a toaster oven so the tops can get crispy again.
For more muffin recipes, check out my:
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Gluten free Blackberry Muffins
Ingredients
For the muffins
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup maple syrup - sub honey or agave
- 2 tablespoon coconut oil - melted, or any other oil
- 3 tablespoon almond milk - or any type of milk
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 2 cup almond flour - see notes for substitute
- ⅓ cup tapioca flour - or arrowroot starch
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cups blackberries - halved
For the streusel
- ⅓ cup almond flour
- 2 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoon butter - cold and cut into pieces
- ⅓ cup slivered almonds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, maple syrup, coconut oil, almond milk, apple cider vinegar, vanilla extract, and almond extract until well combined.
- Fold in the almond flour, tapioca flour, baking powder, and baking soda until the four is 90% combined.
- Add the blackberries and fold a few more times to distribute. Set the bowl aside.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the almond flour and sugar. Add the cold butte pieces and press into the flour mixture with the back of a fork or using your hands. Continue to work the butter into the flour until most of the flour is incorporated into the butter. Add the slivered almonds and work into the butter a few times.
- Line a muffin pan with liners and scoop the muffin batter into each liner, filling it almost all the way to the top. Sprinkle the almond streusel over top of each muffin and bake in the preheated oven for 28 - 32 minutes until golden brown on top. Let the muffins cool slightly for no more than 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. This is important! Don’t leave the muffins in the hot pan for too long or you will end up with soggy and wet muffin bottoms.
Notes
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