Bakery-Style Almond Flour Muffins

By Nicole Hunn | Published: January 20, 2023 | Posted In: Breakfast & Brunch, Muffins, Paleo

5 from 46 votes

Prep Time : 10

Cook Time : 17

These big, beautiful almond flour muffins are the perfect buttery-tasting, nutty, and tender grain free muffin that you're searching for. Sweetened only with pure maple syrup and natural applesauce.

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These almond flour muffins are just like the generous muffins you see in a bakery, but way lower carb and only lightly sweet. Make them with chocolate chips, whatever mix-in you like, or nothing at all!

What makes these almond flour muffins special

My kids really, really love it when I bake with almond flour. They don't know Paleo from Schmaleo. They just know what they like. And these almond flour muffins keep my kids full all morning when they have them for breakfast.

My family likes that these muffins are sweet, tender and filling. I like that they're lightly sweet, packed with lots of healthy fats and low in simple carbs. I consider these a true breakfast food, and they also double as a great afternoon gf snack.

These almond flour muffins are, in fact, compliant with the Paleo diet, but I find myself less and less concerned with labels like that. I've tried eating every which way (low carb, Mediterranean, Paleo, sugar-free grain-free, you name it), and I mostly feel best when I eat mostly plants, some protein and healthy fats, like these grain free muffins.

Notes on almond flour muffins ingredients

Almond flour – This recipe can be made only with finely ground, blanched almond flour. Blanched almond flour is just almond flour that is made with almonds that have had their outer skins removed. Your almond flour must be finely ground, and never coarsely ground almond meal, or your muffins won't hold together or even look much like muffins at all. I really like Honeyville brand, Wellbee's brand, and nuts.com sells a nice version. Just be sure it's finely ground and blanched.
Tapioca starch/flour – Tapioca starch (also known as tapioca flour) helps balance the high fat content of almond flour, lightening the batter, and helping hold the muffins together without being too crumbly.
Baking soda – This is the only chemical leavener in these muffins, and it gets activated as soon as it's added to liquid, so work quickly to get the muffins into the oven after you make the batter. Baking soda also helps baked goods brown in the oven.
Salt – This balances the sweetness and brightens all the other flavors.
Pure maple syrup – The only added sweetener, pure maple syrup adds sweetness and tenderness to these muffins. Plus, that caramel flavor of real maple syrup adds real depth of flavor.
Applesauce – Make sure you're using smooth, unsweetened applesauce, since we are already sweetening these almond flour muffins with maple syrup. Chunky applesauce won't have as much moisture as smooth, and it won't mix into the batter as well. If you're using homemade applesauce, puree it well.
Virgin coconut oil – This is the kind of coconut oil that's solid at cool room temperature (in warm weather, it's usually kind of soft in the pantry). If you're at all concerned about coconut flavor, be sure to use a triple-filtered kind of coconut oil, which removes any trace of coconut.
Eggs – This recipe calls for 3 eggs, which provide structure and help these muffins rise in the oven. The weight measurement I provide is really just for those readers who use farm-fresh eggs that haven't been sorted into sizes. I use large cage free eggs.
Miniature chocolate chips – I really love Enjoy Life brand miniature chocolate chips, since they're dairy free and gluten free (and also free of all top 8 allergens) and they're also dark and rich and are never white with the bloom that can appear on lesser quality chocolate chips.

Tips for baking the perfect almond flour muffins every time

Mix your almond flour with tapioca starch

Almond flour mixed with tapioca starch/flour is my current favorite mixture for baking things like our recipe for almond flour cookies. Finely ground, blanched almond flour is already pretty versatile in baking, and adding tapioca absorbs some of the fat, leading to more even baking and lighter baked goods in general.

Avoid using almond meal

Almond meal is made from coarsely ground almonds that haven't been blanched to remove their skins. Since it isn't finely ground, like our almond flour, it doesn't blend into the tapioca starch, or into the rest of the muffin batter, fully. It tends to make crumbly, oily baked goods.

Make sure your ingredients are at the right temperature

Ingredients that clump when they're cold, like coconut oil and even almond flour (all that healthy fat!), won't blend well into the other ingredients in the batter. So make sure your applesauce, eggs, maple syrup, and any other ingredients you store in the refrigerator come to room temperature before you combine them into the batter, or they'll cause ingredients that tend to clump to do just that! If your eggs are cold, try floating them in a bowl of very warm (not hot) water right from the tap for about 15 minutes.

Be sure to use full sized muffin tins

The batter is relatively loose and thin, but the muffins rise quite a bit and rather quickly. There's not a lot of chemical leavener in these muffins, but there are 3 eggs in just 12 muffins and that means a fair amount of rise, so make sure your muffin tins aren't on the small side.

Don't bake your almond flour muffins too hot

Almond flour baked goods have a tendency to burn in the oven, which is why we bake these muffins at only 325°F. We don't have the option of baking first at 425°F to get the muffins to rise into a nice dome like we do with our gluten free applesauce muffins, or the bottoms and sides would burn. Most ovens run hot, so be sure to gauge your oven's temperature using a standalone oven thermometer and adjust your oven's dial accordingly.

Almond flour muffins variation suggestions

You can leave out the chocolate chips, or swap them for another mix-in, like chopped nuts or dried fruit. Just be careful not to mix in anything with too much moisture as that will change the entire balance.

If you'd like to add some warm spices to your almond flour muffins, try adding 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon to the batter, and then a mixture of cinnamon-sugar to the tops of the muffins before baking. I'd probably leave out the chocolate chips entirely in that case.

FAQs

Can I freeze these almond flour muffins?

Yes, these almond flour muffins freeze quite well. Just wrap them tightly in freezer-safe wrap, or place them in an air tight freezer safe container with a tight-fitting lid. They won't freeze solid, and you can defrost them on the counter overnight or in the microwave quickly on low power.

Are these almond flour muffins Paleo?

Yes, these almond flour muffins, made without grains, dairy, or refined sugars, are appropriate to eat on a Paleo diet.

Can I make miniature muffins with this almond flour muffins recipe?

You can try to make 24 mini muffins in a light-colored muffin tin with this same recipe. I would make sure the wells are full-sized, and really watch the baking time because they're even more likely to burn than the full-sized muffins.

Almond flour muffins ingredient substitution suggestions

Since these muffins are already compliant with the Paleo diet, they're gluten free, grain free and dairy-free. Here are a few words about the other possible ingredients you might like to substitute in this recipe. Please keep in mind that these are my educated guesses, but I haven't tried these substitutions so you'll have to experiment!

Can you make these almond flour muffins egg-free?

Since this recipe has 3 whole eggs, it's more difficult to replace them with a substitute. Generally, my go-to egg substitute is a “chia egg” (1 tablespoon ground chia seeds + 1 tablespoon of lukewarm water, mixed and allowed to gel), but I'm not really sure it would work in this recipe. I do not recommend Ener-G egg replacer.

Almond flour muffins without coconut oil

If you'd like to replace the virgin coconut oil, I recommend trying Spectrum brand nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening. I do not recommend Earth Balance buttery sticks in this recipe, as they have way more moisture.

Almond flour muffins without applesauce

These muffins do not taste at all like applesauce, as it's a relatively neutral flavor in baking. If you can't have it, you can try replacing it with mashed bananas, but the end result will taste like bananas. You'd probably be better off with our almond flour banana muffins recipe!

Almond flour muffins without almond flour

If you can't have almonds, you can try finely ground cashew flour or even finely ground blanched hazelnut flour. It should work great. To avoid nuts and nut flours entirely, but still go grain-free, I recommend trying my Paleo Blueberry Muffins, as they're made entirely with coconut flour. If you'd like to try sunflower seed flour, feel free to experiment, but know that the baking soda in the recipe can react with the chlorophyll in the sunflower seeds and turn your muffins green!

Can you make almond flour muffins without tapioca flour/starch?

Generally, tapioca starch has no proper substitute as it's unique in its behavior in baking (in all the best ways). But I have a sneaking suspicion (read: I have not tried this!) that arrowroot might work in its place here. You might also try superfine glutinous rice flour, also known as sweet white rice flour.

Almond flour muffins without maple syrup

Maple syrup is considerably thinner and less viscous than honey, so I don't recommend using honey in its place here. But I bet agave syrup would work just fine.

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