These Paleo blueberry muffins are the healthy, low-carb gluten free breakfast solution you've been looking for. Made with coconut flour, but they're not eggy, like baked goods made with coconut flour can tend to be.
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These muffins are moist and flavorful, and not at all crumbly or dry. The secret's in the whole cup of blueberries you cook down with 1/4 cup honey before blending it all right into the batter.
Since I first posted this recipe, I have tested it many times with smooth, unsweetened applesauce in place of the cooked blueberries in the batter. The blueberries will turn the muffins, well, bright blue. If you don't like bright blue food, then I recommend using the applesauce instead. :)
I remember receiving an email years ago from a reader, informing me that she and her family loved these muffins—but didn't care for the blue color. It only took nearly 3 years … and I solved her color problem!
These would work perfectly—maybe even better—with frozen blueberries, which are always the most perfect, fat berries you've ever seen. Don't thaw the berries, first, though, or they'll bleed their blue color everywhere.
Paleo Coconut Flour Blueberry Muffins
Equipment
- food processor or blender
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (8.25 ounces) fresh blueberries divided
- ¾ cup (160 g) smooth applesauce at room temperature
- 4 tablespoons (84 g) honey
- 4 tablespoons (56 g) virgin coconut oil melted and cooled
- 4 (200 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs at room temperature, beaten
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup (64 g) coconut flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325°F. Grease or line a standard 12-cup muffin tin, and set it aside.
- In a small, heavy-bottom saucepan, place 1 cup (5.5 ounces) blueberries, applesauce, and the 4 tablespoons of honey.
- Cook, stirring frequently, over medium-high heat. First, the mixture will liquify and bubble up.
- Continue to cook until the berries have all burst and the mixture has thickened (about 5 minutes total, less if using applesauce).
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and set aside to cool briefly.
- In a food processor fitted with the steel blade (or a blender), place the coconut oil, eggs and vanilla, and pulse to combine.
- Add the cooked blueberries, applesauce and honey, and pulse again to combine.
- Add the coconut flour, baking soda and salt, and pulse until well-combined.
- The mixture will be thick and soft, like batter.
- Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, and smooth the tops with wet fingers.
- Divide the remaining 1/2 cup whole blueberries among the cups, placing them in a single layer on top of the batter in each muffin cup. Press them gently into the batter.
- Place the muffin tin in the center of the preheated oven and bake until the muffins are puffed and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (about 22 minute).
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 5 minutes in the tin before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
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Hi, I’m Nicole. I create gluten free recipes that really work and taste as good as you remember. No more making separate meals when someone is GF, or buying packaged foods that aren’t good enough to justify the price. At Gluten Free on a Shoestring, “good, for gluten free” just isn’t good enough! Come visit my bio!
Krista says
Just made these last night. MMMMM! They were so good. I made them into mini-muffins. The batch made about 48. Had to bake them 12-15 mins at 325. I only have 4 people in my family and the 48 were gone before the meal was over. :-) Thank you so much!!
Helena says
Just made these for my daughter’s school snack. Very yummy. Thanks for helping make the transition to paleo a little easier and tastier :)
Christina Wilson says
Sighhhh…you’re just gonna MAKE me buy coconut flour, aincha??! ;)
Jennifer Sasse says
Looks fab – can’t wait to try them! and then of course force my kids to eat them while we are in the car trying to get to school on time! :)
Nicole Hunn says
You got it, Jennifer. Exactly the scene! *sigh*
xoxo Nicole
jena says
I just made mine this morning with strawberries. :) I mashed them as they cooked and had to bake a couple of minutes longer. But they were quite tasty! And PINK! When experimenting with ingredient substitutions, I usually make just a 1/2 batch. This one turned out really well. I plan to experiment with other fruits as well, just to keep it interesting. Thanks for the recipe.
PS- My book has been pre-ordered for a while now. I bought 2. One for me and one for my daughter. When we found out my kiddo and I were Celiac 3 years, we spend a couple of hours on the floor of the bookstore searching through GF cookbooks to buy. We choose yours as a first step and 3 years later I find that yours are still my favorites and your site is my ‘go-to’.
Nicole Hunn says
Thank you so much for the kind note, Jena. And for letting everyone know about your successful substitutions. Strawberries have comparatively little pectin as far as fruits go, so you could try cooking them down more and maybe even adding some more honey to make the jam thicker. Just a thought. But it sounds like you’ve got a good rhythm going!
Thank you so much for your support of my cookbooks, and I’m sincerely honored you have kept me around since those early post-diagnosis days! I will endeavor to keep you around. :)
xoxo Nicole
smellslikeapickle says
Thank you fo delving into the paleo realm. You manage to make paleo “pastries” look and taste delicious.
Nicole Hunn says
Hey, thanks, smellslike. That means a lot to me. An actual Paleo pastry would, indeed, be quite the feat indeed!
xoxo Nicole
Emily K @ Leaf Parade says
I need to try these in a big way! These will be going straight to the top of my post-Whole30 bucket list!
-Emily K
Nicole Hunn says
I need a bucket list, Emily. And a memory palace. I only have muffins. ;)
xoxo Nicole
Julie Hodge says
I plan to give these a try :) Thank you for developing recipes that are dairy free as well. My son loves your granola recipes, and I think he will like this, too. We just found out two weeks ago that he is allergic to milk protein, in addition to gluten. I know you are primarily a gluten-free site, but I already miss a lot of your recipes made with butter. :( So, I am excited when you bring out something that is gf and df. I love all your recipes-the food is good, not just bearable! Your brown rice risotto is my husband’s favorite dinner (EVER). He still puts parmesan cheese on his, too, he just could not give it up :) Thanks for all your hard work.
Donia Robinson says
We are DF, and I try a lot of Nicole’s recipes with substitutions. She understandably can’t test all substitutions. I don’t know if what I make tastes like hers, but if my family likes it, it doesn’t matter! I find that shortening or oil can substitute fine for butter. I use almond milk or rice milk instead of cow’s milk. Sometimes I even use them (with a little vinegar) to substitute for yogurt, since we don’t keep DF yogurt around. Don’t be afraid to play around a little! The results are usually pretty good! :)
Nicole Hunn says
Thanks for jumping in, Donia! A milk allergy really can be tougher than being gluten free, Julie. Hang in there!
xoxo Nicole
Dana Schwartz says
I love how blue these muffins are! My daughter is not a fan of cooked fruit, however, I’m thinking if I skip the whole berries on top and sprinkle just with coconut sugar, she could be tricked into eating a colorful breakfast. Are the topping blueberries necesary? I mean, I’d eat them up in a second but my kid won’t (sigh).
-Dana
Nicole Hunn says
Hey, Dana! The fruit on top is necessary to help keep the muffins moist (awful but necessary word), I’m afraid!
xoxo Nicole
Donia Robinson says
I feel like this coincides well with the release of Smurfs 2. Well done.
I definitely plan on making these. I really dislike coconut flour muffins made with tons of eggs. Nine eggs to 1/2 cup coconut flour! If I want an omelet, I’ll eat an omelet. I also find the paleo “breads” to suffer from that same fate. Way too eggy.
Nicole Hunn says
Thank you, Donia. Nothing like a good movie tie-in.
No way you saw a recipe with 9 eggs to 1/2 cup coconut flour? Ew. I hope you didn’t bother making it. There are other ways to provide the moisture coconut flour needs, like we do in our coconut flour pancakes.
Donia Robinson says
You would be a magician if you could do that!
Kristen says
Nicole, one of my boys and I are allergic to eggs, also. Many of your recipes look awesome, but contain eggs. Do you have any suggestions for successful substitutions in your recipes? Especially this recipe (paleo blueberry muffins). I have been searching and searching for a breakfast that is healthy AND tasty for the kiddos and me! Thanks so much! I make your biscuits all the time, they are great!