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Paleo Blueberry Muffins are a classic recipe made with cassava flour and coconut flour, with a GAPS diet variation. This recipe also includes a bit of nut flour, and I show you how to use sprouted or activated nuts, if you’d like.
This Blueberry Muffin is the healthy version, always moist, always greeted with enthusiasm by my family, perfect for a Sunday morning or to grab for a lunch or snack.
GAPS diet variation
As mentioned, I give a GAPS diet variation of Paleo Blueberry Muffins that does not include cassava flour — unless the patient is phasing off, in which case cassava provides great resistant starch.
RS is excellent for the colon ecosystem due to its prebiotic properties. (Find cassava here.)
How and why to make homemade sprouted nut meal
Either way, this post gives you bonus instructions, down in the Recipe Notes, for how to make homemade sprouted nut meal, instead of using blanched almond flour.
While almond meal, flour and butter have become common Paleo ingredients in most grain-free kitchens, I share here why it’s wise for us not to overuse almonds.
It’s one of my most-read posts, and that’s because the news is important for all who wish to nurture their digestion; yet it’s surprising news to most, as almond products are always marketed as being in line with the Paleo diet.
If you LOVE almond flour, I’m so glad you’re using this recipe, and it can be used here, as I mention below.
But I hope this recipe will also help you to transition into the healthier alternative of making your own or buying sprouted nuts, flours and butters. They are more TRUE Paleo in every way, even though almond flour provides a convenience for busy lives.
If you do use store-bought almond flour, it’s best to use blanched almond flour, because the outer husk of the nut has been removed, thus reducing phytic acid and making the nut more digestible.
One balanced perspective is to save blanched almond flour for occasional use and to begin (to enjoy) learning about the soaking and dehydrating process. (I give instructions below.)
I also recommend my cookbook, which eliminates the dehydrating process, and makes grain-free baking easy and healthy, with a technique I developed myself for moist and easy-to-digest baked goods that use activated nuts.
Paleo Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 egg pastured preferred
- ⅓ cup lard melted and cooled slightly, or coconut oil, or avocado oil
- ⅓ cup coconut sugar (use honey for GAPS variation)
- ¼ cup homemade sprouted nut meal see Recipe Notes (or use blanched almond flour)
- ¼ cup cassava flour (for GAPS variation, use ¼ cup sprouted nut or seed butter; see Recipe Notes for link)
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup milk of choice
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- ½ teaspoon baking soda, sifted
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ⅓ cup blueberries or preferred mix-in (feel free to use other fruits like diced apple, other berries etc.)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line muffin pan with liners or heavily grease. Set aside.
- In large bowl combine dry ingredients: nut flour, coconut sugar, cassava flour, coconut flour, baking soda and sea salt.
- In medium bowl combine wet ingredients: fat of choice, milk, egg and apple cider vinegar.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir to combine.
- Fold in blueberries.
- Fill muffin tin with batter. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes for larger muffins.
Notes
How to Make Homemade Sprouted Nut Meal
For every 4 cups of raw seeds or nuts, cover with room temperature, filtered water by two inches, and 2 tsp. sea salt. Stir well to dissolve the salt. Leave out overnight at room temperature to soak. Drain them in a colander; and rinse them well. If you suspect old nuts, or possible rancidity, or mold, such as with peanuts, add ½ teaspoon vitamin C powder to the salted soaking water. This will kill any potential mold. (As a side note, cashews have already been heated. Their shells are toxic and a heating process is used to eliminate the chemical poison and to free the nut from its lining. Therefore, no cashew we buy from the store is technically “raw.” Shorter soaking times for cashews are still beneficial; whereas longer soaking times will render them slimy. 2 hours to overnight is adequate for cashews and still helps to reduce phytic acid. Subsequent dehydrating and roasting are also beneficial, as with all nuts and seeds, although roasting can destroy beneficial enzymes.)Dehydrating
Use any soaked nut or seed that has been duly drained and rinsed. Toss with optional sea salt to taste and place in your dehydrator or low temperature-capable oven, 95-145 degrees. For some nuts, such as macadamia or hazelnut, this process of completely drying out the nut can take as long as 72 hours. For smaller seeds, 24 hours may still be necessary. To check your nuts’ doneness, let one or all cool to room temperature. Then eat one. It should be very dry and crispy, no softness or chewiness to the inside. With the exception of walnuts, (which should still be stored in the refrigerator or freezer because their oils go rancid more quickly), the nuts will have a good shelf life and may now be stored in a sealed container in your pantry.To Make Nut Meal
To make nut meal, simply place soaked, dehydrated nuts in blender or food processor, and blend until fine meal results. Do not over-blend or you'll have nut butter. (To make sprouted nut butter, continue to process the sprouted nut meal. This sprouted butter can be used for the GAPS diet recipe variation.) Store in sealed container in fridge or freezer for all future baking needs.For GAPS Variation, find sprouted seed butter here.
Kari Peters says
These look fantastic! I’ve always been careful to limit my amount of nut flours, but I’ve never tried sprouted before, so thanks for sharing about that!
Jean says
So perfect as a breakfast on the go. Love me a good blueberry muffin!
Jo Romero says
They look great! Will give them a go in the week. Thanks for posting.
ChihYu says
Love these blueberry muffins they are so cute and so delicious !
Katja Heino says
Beautiful! Looks like the perfect muffin. I’m going to have to look into sprouted nut flour.
Melissa @RealNutritiousLiving says
I’ve been looking for a clean blueberry muffin recipe! I can’t wait to make these for breakfast!
Oh Snap! Let's Eat! says
What a perfect lookin’ blueberry muffin! Can’t wait to try this!
Kelly @ A Girl Worth Saving says
OMG, I want to eat all of this. Seriously, this recipe looks amazing!
Cristina Maria Curp says
Blueberry muffins are my all time favorite! Yum!
Becky Winkler says
Wow, I’d love to bite into one of these right now!
Danielle Tate says
These are a total win! Made them last week then again yesterday for my mom. Mom spent the night and requested them again this morning! ♥
Jenna says
Love these muffins! The combo of ingredients is perfect! I couldn’t stop eating these! I’ve made these multiple times now! Thank you for your hard work!
Darcy Danielson says
Wow … delayed gratification. I’ve read through this recipe a number of times over the past few years and finally made the muffins! The main holdup was having a dehydrator to make simple the task of drying the soaked nuts. Now that I have it, I chose to make a mixture of walnuts and Brazil nuts for the nut meal. I used lard from Tropical Traditions – using some to grease the muffin tin – and fresh blueberries. Increasing the proportions to double the recipe, the batter fit in a six large muffin pan. Now I’ll play with levels of sweetness and choices of mix-ins. Thanks, Megan, for this wonderful muffin recipe.
Megan says
Hi Darcy, you’re welcome! I’m so happy you made the muffins and got around to dehydrating. I know how that is and have been delayed by that step before myself! Great to make a lot when we finally do it, so we’re set for a while. 🙂 Also, do you have my cookbook? It contains mostly recipes that soak but don’t dehydrate. I teach a new method that’s easier and turns out a great texture. So that’s something to consider. The ebook is very affordable. Cheers!
Darcy Danielson says
Megan – yes, I have the original Eat Beautiful cookbook that I picked up from your café. It has been a wonderful resource over the past few years. A correction from my comment above: I used ethically-sourced palm shortening, not lard. I have a batch of muffins in the oven now and I am trying sliced nectarine and putting a dab of apricot preserves in the middle. Getting fancy!
Looking forward to your soups and stews cookbook. All the best to you and the family.