Baking Gluten Free Muffins

Baking Gluten Free Muffins

 

gluten free muffins

Gluten Free muffins are a staple here at Nuflours. What’s not to love about a small, domed quick bread that can be made savory or sweet and taken anywhere?

For those living the gluten free life, muffins are especially versatile and handy to have around. They can be eaten for breakfasts, snacks, desserts, and anything in between.

Are you on the search for the perfect gluten free muffin?

Here we will discuss some of the common pitfalls of baking gluten free muffins, the differences in some gluten free flours, and lastly share one of our favorite muffin recipes.

 

What is The Difference Between Muffins and Cake?

Some like to argue that eating muffins is just an excuse to eat cake for breakfast. To which we reply, what’s wrong with that?

But in all seriousness, muffins and cakes are quite similar.

To put it quite simply, muffins are a quick bread as opposed to a cake.

Technically, there is quite a bit of difference in structure and texture.

Muffin batter can handle added watery components such as vegetables and fruit that would cause a cake to become too moist.

This is why you often see muffins that include fruits and vegetables such as pumpkin, carrots, zucchini, bananas, and blueberries, but don’t necessarily see the same in cakes.

If you are working with a basic gluten free muffin recipe that you would also like to use for a gluten free cake, but are finding the batter too dense, try adding more leavener.

This might take a few tries to get right (like all things made gluten free), but adding an additional 1/2 tsp. of baking soda/powder or an additional egg can help make the batter lighter.

 

What Flours Are Best For Gluten Free Muffins?

Some flours are better to use than others when making gluten free muffins. Ideally you want a blend of flours and starches as opposed to using only one.

(See our post on Using Gluten Free Flour for more on flour blends.)

Here at Nuflours, we use millet and sorghum in our flour blends, but buckwheat and other naturally gluten free flours are perfectly acceptable.

Starches are our friends in gluten free baking. Starches like potato, tapioca, or even rice flour act as a glue in baked gluten free products.

Because of their glue-like nature, it’s important to use them with extreme care in gluten free baking.

If you put too much starchy flour in a batter, the end results can turn out like gummy bouncy hockey pucks. The starches bond together, not allowing the muffin to create a bubble texture while it bakes.

On the flip side, if you use too little starch, you risk having fragile muffins that crumble easily.

To avoid both of these outcomes, add only a small amount of starches when making your gluten free muffin batter. Bake a single muffin, then reassess the recipe and adjust as needed before baking a dozen or more muffins.

 

Some of Our Favorite Gluten Free Muffins

Gluten free muffins are a big part of our daily activities here at the bakery. Though we will sometimes whip up a new seasonal flavor, we have several delicious types of muffins we carry all year long.

Our Gluten Free Muffins Include:

Banana Coconut
Blueberry Yogurt
Zucchini Cardamom
Pumpkin Pecan

When it comes to making your own muffins, you can try the flavors we carry or add some of these other wonderful gluten free muffin ingredients:

  • Cranberries
  • Orange zest
  • Trail mix
  • Chocolate chips
  • Dried fruit
  • Fresh fruit

Try the below recipe as written or substitute any of the above additions for your own specialty gluten free muffins.

Lemon Poppyseed Gluten Free Muffin Recipe:
(Yield: 12 muffins)

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1 cup Sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 cups gluten free flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp poppyseeds

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin tin with paper muffin liners.

In a large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, oil and lemon juice, and together until completely combined. In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. Add the flour mixture in two additions.

Mix until incorporated; small lumps no larger than a small pea in the batter is okay. Scoop batter into prepared muffin pan, filling each muffin section no more than 2/3 full. (If you fill the batter to the top, when it bakes the muffin will expand up and over the top, and you'll have a messy oven!)

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

Cool and enjoy!

If you would like to try some of our other gluten free treats, browse our available online inventory!

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