Blueberry Oat Muffins

What Makes These Blueberry Oat Muffins So Good?

• Perfect blend of flours: Instead of all-purpose flour, these muffins use oat flour, quinoa flakes, and almond flour, giving them a hearty texture while still staying soft and fluffy.
• Naturally sweetened: Ripe bananas, applesauce, and a touch of maple syrup bring just the right amount of sweetness, letting the fresh blueberries shine.
• Moist and tender without oil: Traditional muffins rely on oil or butter, but this recipe skips both while still delivering a perfectly moist and flavorful bite.
• Finished with blueberry icing: A drizzle of naturally colored blueberry icing adds just the right amount of sweetness and a gorgeous pop of color.

What You’ll Need

Here are some notes about the ingredients in this recipe. Scroll down to the recipe card for a printable list.

• Flax egg – If you’ve never made one before, you just combine a tablespoon of flaxseed meal with 3 tablespoons of water.
• Mashed banana – Make sure you use a ripe banana, otherwise it won't add enough sweetness to your muffins.
• Applesauce – Be sure to use an unsweetened variety so you don’t end up sneaking sugar back into your muffins!
• Maple syrup – You could also use an equal amount of agave or honey.
• Non-dairy milk – Regular milk also works, if that is what you have on hand.
• Oat flour – You can purchase this or make your own by grinding oats in a high-powered blender or food processor.
• Quinoa flakes – Quinoa flakes are pressed quinoa grains, similar in texture to instant oats. They provide a soft, tender texture while adding protein and fiber.
• Almond flour – Almond flour is naturally gluten-free and adds moisture, richness, and a slightly nutty flavor.
• Baking powder
• Cinnamon
• Sea salt – Kosher salt also works.
• Fresh blueberries – Frozen also works, but make sure they’re frozen when you add them to the batter. If they’ve thawed, they’ll turn your batter purple!

For the glaze:

• Coconut butter – This isn’t the same as coconut oil! It’s rich, creamy, just a touch sweet, and full of tropical flavor.
• Blueberry powder – If you can’t find this, you can buy freeze-dried blueberries and pulse them in your food processor until they form a powder.

Quick Tips

• Dry the blueberries well. If they still have droplets of water clinging to them when you add them to the batter, they’ll introduce water into it and affect the texture and baking time.
• Don’t switch up the flours. I developed this recipe using these exact flours; swapping them for other gluten-free flours will yield different results.

How to Make Blueberry Oat Muffins

You’re just 30 minutes away from sweet, moist, perfect blueberry muffins! Here’s a quick look at how to make them:

• Prepare. Preheat your oven to 350ºF and either line a muffin tin with paper liners or grease it with coconut oil.

• Mix the wet ingredients. Beat all of the the wet ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

• Mix the dry ingredients. In another bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.

• Combine. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir until they're incorporated. Fold in the blueberries.

• Bake. Divide the batter between the muffin cups and place the muffin tin on the center rack of the oven. Bake for 20 to 23 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
• Cool. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
• Glaze. Melt the coconut butter over a double-boiler, then whisk in the blueberry powder. Drizzle the mixture over the cooled muffins and sprinkle them with additional blueberry powder, if desired.

Why Do My Muffins Come Out Flat?

If your muffins are flat flat, with no dome at all, there are a few potential causes.

• Under mixing: One possibility is that you're not mixing the ingredients properly and not getting enough air into the batter; this is less of a factor when you’re not using eggs. 
• Inaccurate measuring or expired ingredients: Another possibility is that you're using too much liquid or not enough baking powder or soda, which is what makes muffins rise. Your baking powder or soda could also be past its prime and not working like it should. 
• Oven temp: It’s also possible that your oven isn't hot enough, making your muffins under-baked. If you have this problem often, it may be worth investing in a thermometer to pop into your oven to check the temperature.