Moist and tender Paleo muffins made completely flourless with cashews, applesauce, eggs and honey. Add your favorite mix-ins, like blueberries or chocolate chips!
If you love flourless recipes like I do, you're really going to get into these flourless Paleo muffins with mix-ins. Unlike most flourless muffins, they don't have a strong background flavor, like chocolate or peanut butter (or both!). I adore peanut butter, chocolate too. And they're lovely together, of course.
But the flavor of any mix-ins you might like to add alongside chocolate and peanut butter will get lost in all that competition for your taste buds. And these happen to be Paleo, too—something peanut butter could never be. Do those distinctions even matter any more, though?
One of the most important innovations of this particular flourless muffin, though, is that you can add blueberries to them. Cashews are the tree nut with a close-to-neutral flavor, so baking with cashew butter is kind of dreamy.
Cashew butter is just so expensive to buy, though, so I include instructions below for making your own in a blender or food processor. I buy raw cashew pieces at Trader Joe's, since there's no sense spending extra cash on whole cashews just to blend them.
Are you wondering whether these can be made with peanut butter or almond butter anyway? Well most of my exhaustive recipe testing for this muffin was done with peanut butter ($), some of it with almond butter ($$), and only the last with cashew butter ($$$).
And yes, the recipe works perfectly well with all of those smooth nut butters. I don't recommend putting blueberries in the peanut butter muffins, though. For flavor's sake. Or really almond butter, for that matter.
Make them ahead, and these naturally gluten free muffins make a weekday breakfast of champions. They also make a protein-packed, low sugar after school snack. I'm in love with them, and so are my children!
Links:
How to make cashew butter
How to make cashew cream
Flourless Paleo Muffins—With Mix-Ins
Ingredients
1 cup (256 g) smooth cashew butter*
2/3 cup (163 g) smooth applesauce, at room temperature
2 eggs (100 g, weighed out of shell), at room temperature
1/4 cup (84 g) honey
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup mix-ins of your choice (fresh blueberries, chocolate chips, chopped nuts) (optional)
*You can your own cashew butter, which is what I usually do since cashew butter is so expensive to buy. Simply place about 1/2 pound (8 ounces) raw cashew pieces (you can use whole cashews, but they’re much more expensive) in a high-speed blender or food processor, along with 1 tablespoon virgin coconut oil or nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening and blend or process until smooth (about 5 to 6 minutes).
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 325°F. Line 9 wells of a standard 12-cup muffin tin and set the tin aside.
Place all of the ingredients, in the order listed, in a blender or food processor and blend or process until smooth. The batter will be relatively thin. Fill the prepared wells of the muffin tin about 3/4 of the way full with the batter, and scatter a few of your chosen mix-ins in each well. Press the mix-ins down a bit into the batter. Place in the center of the preheated oven and bake until the top springs back when pressed gently and the muffins are very lightly golden brown, about 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow the muffins to cool in the baking tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely before serving. The muffin liners will peel off easily once the muffins are cool. Store in a sealed container at room temperature, or seal tightly and freeze for longer storage.
Alison Stevens says
Trying to source Cashew nuts that have not come already salted is a nightmare where I live, wherever I choose to purchase they are not fresh. Need to find somewhere to purchase here on the Canary Island and maybe try a few recipes and then order in BULK..Love trying new recipes. I have your Gluten Free on a Shoestring Bakes Bread book. Some of the breads seem to be such a messing around with items I sadly either do not have or cannot afford to purchase, so am trying to find a good bread that doesn´t fall apart, from the crust or doesn´t just crumble.
Sue Glace says
I would love to copy and paste your recipes into my laptop but for some reason your site won’t let me do it, unlike others that will. Is there a reason for this?
Alison Stevens says
Hi, I noticed a while ago that doing this was not possible, I am assuming this is because of either copyright rules and laws, also the fact that Nicole has taken her time out to share some of them for free, and so as she has invested her time and effort maybe it is good to purchase her books, although I am only assuming this. I would love to purchase a flourless book of her recipes so am searching for this, however am wondering if the content is included in one of her other books.
Hope you receive an answer from Nicole.
Rachel Somars says
I am violently allergic to eggs, can I use egg replacer in this recipe?
Alison Stevens says
I am not sure on doing this for Nicoles recipes however I have made egg free cakes for someone that was allergic and I replaced with Flax seed powder. I suggest typing into google the quantities of powder against how many eggs.
Dr Josh Axe has a few egg substitutes and how many of which for eggs.
Hope this helps.
Am sure Nicole may answer this as well.
Jennifer Fäldt says
Can I replace the apple sauce with something different??
HadsL says
Hello,
Just want you to know that I love ur blog!!! This is my first time ever commenting but whenever I want a new gluten free recipe I always check ur site 1st! Your chewy granola bars, thick and chewy oatmeal cookies, and flourless peanut butter cookies (which I just tried today) are some of my favorites!
I made this recipe with peanut butter instead of cashew butter and for some strange reason, the muffins sank in and didn’t fully cook. The same thing happened with a different gluten free recipe I’ve tried which contains peanut butter, bananas, honey, egg, baking soda, salt, and choc chips. They still taste great, but do you know why this happened?
Jan P says
I can not eat cashews and peanuts but I can do almonds, have you tried almonds and if so do they turn out as good??
Angie (Military Mom of 6) says
Have you ever tried freezing the batter so it could be ready made? I have 6 kiddos so early morning prep is sometimes out of the question ?
Ps-thanks for all that you share! The other recipes I’ve tried have been amazing and even fooled my husband who is not pleased with the gluten free switch. You’re amazing and appreciated!!!!!
Nicole Hunn says
I haven’t tried that, Angie, no. But I have baked, cooled and frozen these many times. They defrost easily at room temperature overnight. So glad you’ve been enjoying the recipes. I really appreciate the kind words!
Lauren Morra says
Cashew Butter makes EVERYTHING amazing! Now I just need to make some and then I’ll have these gorgeous muffins!
Joy Marie says
Nicole, these sound interesting and your photos are always mouthwatering. Do you find “going paleo” and flourless superior to gluten free substitute flours?
Nicole Hunn says
This is such an interesting question, Joy Marie, and I’ve actually given it a lot of thought before answering. I definitely don’t find baking flourless superior, per se, but I do really enjoy doing it on the blog for a number of reasons. First, I find it to be a fun challenge for recipe development. Second, when I eliminate a rice-flour blend from a recipe, it eliminates a barrier to gluten free baking for some people who either can’t have rice, or are just getting started baking gluten free and want to bake right away—without ordering anything special online. Finally, it tends to be easier to make healthful (not always, but often). All that being said, I do still love baking with all purpose gluten free flour and don’t plan to stop any time soon! ?
Joy Marie says
Thank you for the reply. I have baked black bean brownies, and challenged anyone to tell me they were not delicious. Everyone enjoyed, no one detected beans (though I told them), however, they were filling. They were fudgy and felt like a meal and after 1, I’d be satisfied. I find with GF foods, nothing leaves me wanting more. 1 piece, I’m good. 1 bowl of gf pasta (which I rarely eat anymore) and I’m good. I guess there really is something to the addictive nature of wheat/gluten. Thanks for what you do here, and in your books, and the occasional video. You are a treasure; would be great to see you on Food Network weekly. :)
Joy Marie says
These sound interesting, and your photos are always look so delicious. Just curious, are you “going paleo” a lot more these days? Do you find the no flour route appealing?
Mare Masterson says
I adore you, Nicole Hunn!
Nicole Hunn says
I figured you’d be into this one, Mare. :)
Mare Masterson says
I am “into” all of your recipes! Just because I currently can’t eat them, doesn’t mean I don’t follow them and other’s making of them…and covet them!
Ramona Michetti says
I love the sounds of this recipe. Since I have a sensitivity to cashews and almonds, do you thing hazelnut or walnut butter would work as well?
Nicole Hunn says
I know for sure that this recipe works well with peanut butter, Ramona, but of course that has a strong flavor and suddenly it’s a PB muffin. I bet sunflower seed butter would probably work, but you’d need to use half as much baking soda (here that would be 1/4 teaspoon) and add 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar so the muffin doesn’t turn green. Hazelnut or walnut butter might work. I’ve baked with hazelnut butter, but it does have a pretty strong taste. Walnuts are really waxy, so I’m not as optimistic about them. Hope that helps!
Ramona Michetti says
Thanks for you thoughts on this and I will definitely give it a try.