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This classic Sprouted Blueberry Muffins recipe features homemade sprouted nut flour and butter, which happily replace store bought. When nuts are sprouted, they’re easier to digest and more nutritious — by a lot. Enjoy this “awakened” way of preparing and using nuts, instead of using store bought nut flour. 🙂 Perfect for Paleo, GF and GAPS diets, as well as any ancestral diet which takes sourcing and digestion into account.
How to sprout nuts for Sprouted Blueberry Muffins?
Sprouted nuts can be purchased or made at home.
The simple process does require a dehydrator or an oven that can go as low at 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
To sprout nuts, we don’t actually germinate the raw nuts. We simply soak overnight in salted water — which “awakens” the nuts. Then we rinse and dehydrate. That’s all. The nuts become extra crispy, delicious … and more nutritious and gentle to digest.
Follow this link to sprout your nuts.
Which nuts are best in muffins?
While many Paleo and gluten-free recipes use almond flour or butter, almonds are not the best or most nutritious nut. Almonds are high in omega-6 fatty acids, often rancid and pasteurized, and heavy with glyphosate residue (consumers rarely splurge for organic almond products).
Instead, enjoy a world of variety! Consider for this recipe: hazelnuts, Brazil nuts, pecans, walnuts and even seeds like pine nuts and pumpkin seeds. These nuts and seeds each have different textures and flavors, and all of them make great muffins.
How often to enjoy sprouted nuts?
I don’t know what it is about muffins, but I love them. Next to soup, with hot tea, freshly baked muffins make me happy. When we started the GAPS Diet, grain-free muffins like these made the new diet much easier for all of us.
We had to learn moderation, though. Too many nuts, even sprouted nuts, aren’t ideal for any diet.
Nuts are indeed nutritious, but we have to eat them in much smaller proportion to broth, soup, and the core foods of a healing diet.
If you need more healthy baked goods to include, enjoy my baked goods cookbook, EAT BEAUTIFUL: Grain-free, Sugar-free, and Loving It. All of the unique recipes bear digestion and nutrition in mind (and there’s no almond flour in sight). If you or your kids are having a hard time getting on board with your healing diet, I have lots of tricks I’m eager to share.
In the meantime, bake up a batch of grain-free, refined-sugar-free muffins, and feel the happiness that fresh muffins bring to your kitchen.
Sprouted Blueberry Muffins (with "activated" nut flour)
Equipment
- muffin pan
- bowl
- oven
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups nut flour measured from 2 ½ cups blended, sprouted nuts (use any nut, such as hazelnuts, Brazil nuts, pecans)
- ½ cup flax seed meal
- 2 Tablespoons coconut flour
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking soda (not GAPS-friendly, optional)
- ⅛ teaspoon powdered stevia (if NuNaturals brand; use other brands "to taste" as they vary in strength)
- ⅓ cup dates , packed
- ½ cup coconut oil
- ½ cup sprouted nut or seed butter ("activated" and puréed nuts), homemade or storebought
- ½ cup apple finely chopped fresh, or applesauce
- 3 eggs pastured preferred
- 1 cup blueberries
- ½ cup optional sprouted walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line muffin pan with liners.
- In a medium size bowl, assemble and whisk together the following dry ingredients: nut meal, flax, coconut flour, sea salt, cinnamon, baking soda and stevia.
- Assemble and blend together, in a large bowl or food processor, the following wet ingredients: dates, coconut oil, sprouted nut butter, apples and eggs.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly. Fold in the following: blueberries and sprouted walnuts.
- Drop the batter into lined muffin pan. Bake until muffins are puffed, browned on top, and a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes.
Notes
Find directions for how to sprout your nuts or seeds HERE.
Nutrition
Variations and substitutions
- Chocolate-Peanut Butter-Banana — Use peanut butter in place of other nut butter, use banana in place of the apples, one portion mashed and one portion diced and folded in, add ½ cup chocolate chips (Lily’s makes a stevia-sweetened chocolate chip or here’s a new unsweetened chocolate chip that I love) or nibs.
- Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip — Replace the pureed fresh apple with ½ cup cooked, mashed pumpkin (BPA-free, canned, organic pumpkin is fine), add ½ cup chocolate chips or nibs.
- Substitute the blueberries for ½ cup finely chopped fresh apple.
Tim says
These are sooo good! We love that they’re date-sweetened … and everything else about them!
Megan Stevens says
Thanks!! So glad you love them!! 🙂
Neka says
Wow, Way too involved.
Betty Rawker says
These look delicious!!
Megan Stevens says
THANKS, Betty! 🙂
Erin says
These sound fabulous! And that’s coming from someone who also has a fetish with grain-free muffins. 😉 Definetly making these but quick question. It says GAPS friendly but isn’t flax a no-go for GAPS?
Megan Stevens says
Dr. Natasha does say to consume flax in moderation b/c it has to convert to have its omega 3s accessible, so it’s not an efficient nutrient for our bodies to process. And it’s not Intro. Diet. Hope that helps and you enjoy them!
Raia Torn says
Those are beautiful, Megan! I don’t believe I’ve had a blueberry muffin since going gluten/grain-free years ago!
Megan Stevens says
It will taste like old times. 🙂 But better than the white flour versions.
Lorraine says
These look wonderful! Could you add a print option to your site to those of us who want a paper copy? I
Megan Stevens says
Yes! Thanks for your suggestion!
linda spiker says
My daughter needs to start following you. I can’t feed her forever lol.
Megan Stevens says
I’d love to have her along! 😉
Emily @ Recipes to Nourish says
These look so yummy Megan xo I adore blueberry muffins!
Megan Stevens says
Thanks, Emily! Me too! 🙂
Linda says
Just made them. They are super good!
Megan Stevens says
Yay!! Thanks for the feedback!!
Dorothy says
Do you have any tips for making nut flour? Maybe it’s because our high powered blender is old and our food processor top part is broken, but I can’t get a good consistency with walnut flour. It turns to more like a nut butter with chunks in it. I’m usually taking them from the fridge, so they’re cold, but that doesn’t seem like it should be an issue. Also, is there a reason you have powdered stevia instead of liquid in the ingredients? Thanks for another yummy recipe. It looks like a great go to breakfast or snack option. Your kitchen chemistry is amazing!
Megan says
Hi Dorothy, good question. Yes, I recommend doing small batches in a coffee/spice grinder or using a food processor. Here’s the coffee grinder I have and use: https://amzn.to/2HC04SK I like it extra because it’s all metal, so I don’t have to worry about my food constantly being exposed to plastics. I took a long time to find and choose this appliance and have been very happy with it. Re stevia, you can use either powdered or liquid. You’re welcome! 🙂
Zachary says
Hi I’ve made these muffins a number of times now and they taste good but have never come out looking anything like the picture, more like rock cakes. Is there a video I can follow to make sure I’m following the instructions properly or any tips to make them look more like the picture?
Thanks
Megan says
Hi Zachary, thanks for the request. I’m in the process of making videos for a lot of my recipes, but I don’t know that I can get to this one right away. I’m glad the muffins taste good, and I’m sorry you’re having issues with heaviness. I’ll definitely move this recipe up the list to make a video sooner. Some tips that come to mind are: making sure your baking soda is fresh, scooping your flour with a spoon into the measuring cup, then leveling off with a knife (instead of scooping with the measuring cup), not to pack down any of the ingredients (except the dates) and use the chopped apple option instead of applesauce.