Best Ever Paleo Blueberry Muffins

You'll never believe these scrumptious blueberry muffins have no added sweeteners!

For the printable recipe, click here.

A delicious history

When I was in culinary school, the final for my very first baking class was making blueberry muffins. Truthfully, it was a little more complicated than it sounds because it was mostly a test on figuring out bakers percentages. Executing the "solved" recipe was almost a bonus. 

The thing I remember most was that those blueberry muffins, while pretty straightforward, were the best I'd ever had. 

For a while I saved the exam so I could recreate them at home, but eventually it got lost in the shuffle of papers and messes and moves. What I can tell you for sure about that recipe is that it was loaded with refined sugar, butter, milk, and all purpose flour. While definitely delicious, they were certainly not healthy blueberry muffins. 

Paleo Blueberry Muffins

​When I set out to make these paleo muffins, I wanted to create something that would be a nod to the scrumptiousness of my culinary school final, with just the right amount of natural sweetness and no added sweeteners. 

This is an especially great recipe for when you're rolling off a Whole30 and want to get back into baking without bringing those previously off-limits ingredients back into the house. 

When we say no added sweeteners, this goes beyond simply added sugar to include extracted sweeteners of all kinds. So while this paleo blueberry muffin recipe has no refined sugar, you also won't find artificial or natural non-caloric sweeteners, or even common paleo pantry staples like pure maple syrup or coconut sugar.

For a healthy, whole-food dose of sugar, we turn to dates. Dates are indeed a dense sugar source, so these muffins are probably not what you're looking for on a keto diet. Still, the sugar in dates is not extracted like table sugar, so it comes wrapped in a package of fiber and micronutrients like iron, magnesium, potassium, and Vitamin B6. Not too shabby for something that tastes like brown sugar. 

Dry ingredients for the best paleo blueberry muffins

If you're looking for gluten-free blueberry muffins, you've come to the right place! 

However, while some gluten-free muffin recipes use things like rice flour or oat flour, we are going for grain-free muffins here. 

These are primarily almond flour blueberry muffins, with a sidekick of cassava flour and an assist from coconut flour. 

The cassava and coconut are more absorbent than the almond flour, but the almond flour keeps the muffins from being too gluey or too dense. The trio creates a great texture and balance of flavor. 

I prefer blanched almond flour here over almond meal that is ground with the skins on. 

Secret ingredients for the best blueberry muffins

 Aside from nailing the structural and textural components for the base of the batter, there are two items that can make all the difference in a blueberry muffin recipe.

1. Lemon: I like to use a little lemon juice in the wet ingredients to react with the baking soda and approximate buttermilk. Apple cider vinegar makes a good substitute if desired. However, I ALWAYS add either lemon zest or a few drops of lemon essential oil to my blueberry muffin batter. Lemon brings out the best in blueberries like salt brings out the best in everything. I do not consider lemon an optional ingredient here. 

2. Frozen blueberries: Of course you could make this recipe with dried, freeze-dried, or fresh blueberries (and you might be able to cut down just a hair on the cooking time), but I prefer frozen because I love the way they streak and swirl the batter with their deep blue hue. I do try to make sure I don't overmix (turning the entire batter a blue-gray) but just fold them in gently for best effect. The other benefit to frozen is that you can buy in bulk and have them perpetually on hand so that you can whip up a batch of paleo blueberry muffins whenever the mood strikes, not just during blueberry season.

Picking your muffin tin

When I make these muffins for the monsters, I almost always do a full pan of standard-sized muffins and make mini muffins from the remaining batter. This works out to about 12 big ones and 12 little ones. 

The big ones I reserve for breakfast, and the little ones are a little lunchbox treat. 

Depending on your muffin tin situation, you could make about 15 full-sized or 60 mini if you go all one way or the other. Mini muffins will take roughly 5 minutes less time to cook than standard size. 

Of course, all this depends on how full you fill your muffin cups. I use a small (1 T) scoop for the mini muffin tin and a large (1/4 cup) scoop for the standard size.

If you want to use a jumbo (Texas) muffin tin, it's safe to say the yield will be less and the cook time will be more, though you will have to figure out the specifics for yourself. 

These paleo blueberry muffins are one of the most popular recipes with my whole family. We hope they will be a hit with yours as well!

Here's what you'll need:

• 15 dates, pitted

• 1 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk, coconut milk, or milk of choice

• 1 tsp lemon juice

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 tsp lemon zest or 1-3 drops lemon essential oil

• 2 eggs

• 1/4 cup coconut oil

• 1 1/2 cups almond flour

• 1/2 cup cassava flour

• 1 T coconut flour

• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp fine salt

• 1 cup frozen blueberries
  

Here's what you'll do:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line one standard 12-cup muffin pan and 1 12-cup mini muffin pan with muffin liners. 

2. Check your dates for pits. You may want to slice them in half just to be sure. In a heat-safe bowl or Pyrex measuring cup, cover the dates with boiling water, and allow to sit for at least 10 minutes. 

3. Meanwhile, use a fork to stir together the wet ingredients (almond milk-eggs) in a small bowl or Pyrex measuring cup. Set aside. 

4. In a small-medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (almond flour-salt). Set aside. 

5. Strain the hydrated dates, place them in the food processor, and process till almost smooth or very finely chopped. Add the coconut oil and process till smooth.

6. Add the wet ingredients and process till smooth. 

7. Add the dry ingredients and process till smooth. 

8. Stir in frozen blueberries, and scoop batter into prepared muffin liners. Bake standard-sized muffins for 25-30 minutes or till cooked through and just beginning to get golden on top. Bake mini muffins for about 20 minutes. 

9. ​Allow muffins to cool about 5 minutes in the muffin pans, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container in the fridge (I go with the fridge because of the added moisture in the juicy blueberries).

For the printable recipe, click here.

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy these paleo recipes:

• Paleo Crepes

• Whole30 Granola

• Homemade Paleo Jello

• Paleo Carrot Cake Cupcakes

• Paleo Pumpkin Spice Biscuits

• Paleo Bienenstich Swirl Bread