This recipe is part of my cookbook adaption series, where I adapt one recipe from a cookbook each month to be gluten free. This month’s recipe is for blueberry muffins, adapted from the book Muffins and Quick Breads by Williams-Sonoma
Let me tell you something: with all the baking I’ve been doing lately, I can’t believe I haven’t posted a muffin recipe yet! I love having some basic recipes on hand, especially ones that I can come back to time and time again. Blueberry muffins are just one of those classic recipes I love. Speaking of which, this recipe for gluten free blueberry muffins is sure to be a staple in your home!
This recipe is my monthly cookbook adaption recipe for March. If you haven’t read about it yet, you can learn more about it on my page for Baked Apple Donuts. To quickly review, I adapt a new gluten free recipe every month from a cookbook I find in my kitchen. This recipe originally comes from the “blueberry muffin” recipe out of the book Muffins and Quick Breads by William’s-Sonoma.
What I love most about these muffins is that they are just slightly sweet. I don’t care too much for muffins loaded with sugar… so these are perfect to me. They are light and tender on the inside, and also freeze and defrost really well! Making them the perfect make-ahead snack or for part of your breakfast.
Here are some of the main adaptions I made to this recipe:
Flour and Sugar
I decided to add a few Tablespoons of cornstarch to my dry ingredients. Cornstarch is a great ingredient to add to some gluten free quick breads and muffins, as it provides some extra structure to the finished product. It also can help make a lighter and more tender baked good.
For the sugar, I ended up cutting down the amount slightly to 1/2 cup. I find they are sweet enough with just the 1/2 cup! If you like a sweeter muffin, feel free to add an additional 1/4 cup or try adding another 1/2 tsp of cinnamon instead!
Leavening
I always adjust leavening slightly when adapting recipes to be gluten free, as heavy gluten free flours tend to need additional leavening in order to rise (so they don’t end up too dense). For these muffins, I adjusted the baking powder slightly and added some additional baking soda to help with the buttermilk I added.
Liquids
The original muffin recipe called for plain milk, but I adjusted that to use buttermilk instead. Buttermilk adds such a nice tenderness to gluten free quick breads! Since I didn’t have buttermilk on hand, I made my own… just mix 3/4 cup of ROOM TEMPERATURE milk with 2 1/4 tsp of white vinegar and let sit for 5-10 minutes.
I emphasize using room temperature milk because if your milk is too cold, it may not make a reaction when you add the vinegar. Ideally, your milk will become slightly thickened and may curdle slightly. If you don’t have vinegar or you happen to have buttermilk on hand, just replace the milk and vinegar mixture with store-bought buttermilk instead!
Baking Time and Temperature
I always adjust my oven temperature when adapting a recipe to be gluten free. Ideally, I reduce the temp by about 25℉ since gluten free flour tends to brown more easily than regular flour. This also helps to reduce any incidences of the outside cooking faster than the inside (we don’t want gummy muffins here). Bake these muffins for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Start watching them at about 18 minutes so they don’t over-bake!
Now for the blueberries! Fresh is always best, but you can use frozen blueberries if that’s what you have on hand. Just use them as is without thawing first.
Seriously though, these muffins are so easy to make. Looking for more tips and tricks to adapting recipes? Check out these other cookbook adapted recipes I’ve made!
Gluten Free Baked Apple Donuts
Gluten Free Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
Gluten Free Chocolate Raspberry Cake
Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gluten free flour, spooned and leveled (285g)
- 2 Tbsp cornstarch
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup milk, room temperature*
- 2 1/4 tsp white vinegar*
- 1/2 tsp gluten free vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, liquid or melted (or neutral oil of choice)
- 1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen*
- Turbinado sugar for sprinkling, optional (1-2 Tbsp)
- * See Notes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375℉. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with liners. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, add milk and vinegar together and let sit for 5-10 minutes.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Reserve 2 tsp of the dry ingredients and add to a small bowl with the blueberries, tossing until coated. Set both of the bowls aside.
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and vinegar mixture, vanilla, and coconut oil until combined. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing just until everything is smooth and combined. Gently fold in the blueberries.
- Scoop the batter into prepared muffin tins, filling each about 3/4 of the way full. Sprinkle tops of each muffin with a little of the turbinado sugar, if desired. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let them cool for 5 minutes before removing muffins form the muffin tin and placing on a wire rack to finish cooling.
Notes
*You could also use store-bought buttermilk in place of the milk and vinegar in this recipe.
*If using frozen blueberries, no need to thaw ahead of time! Add frozen blueberries right to your batter.
I only use Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gluten free baking flour, which already contains xanthan gum, so I cannot guarantee that your muffins will turn out the same if using a different flour mixture. If using a gluten free all purpose flour mix that does not contain xanthan gum, I recommend adding some xanthan gum to your dry ingredients (I would try 1 tsp)
Recipe adapted from the book Muffins and Quick Breads
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