Don’t worry, I have not suddenly gone paleo and eliminated all of the grains from my diet. I am Italian, after all. However, I have recently really developed an affinity for grain-free baking! And not because I have issues with grains, but because a muffin made with almond flour and coconut flour is so much higher in nutrition than a muffin or cookie made with wheat flour, and especially refined white flour. Making a muffin that is made with a base of almond flour and coconut flour means that it is filled with healthy fat, protein, and fiber, amongst other things, which wheat flour couldn’t hold a flame to.
Another major bonus with grain-free baking is that the muffins maintain their taste and texture much longer than a regular muffin. I have kept these muffins and other grain-free baked goods in the refrigerator for days and they stay perfectly light and fluffy with a nice moist crumb. And to be honest, when I make regular muffins, no one has too much interest after the first day.
In my classes, I often times will encourage my students to adapt recipes they love- swapping in and out different ingredients and spices to mix it up a bit. However, I have found myself discouraging them slightly from playing around with swapping out grain-free flours for standard grain flours, because it is not so cut and dry. For example, if you were to take a basic muffin recipe and swap the white flour for coconut flour, you would end up with a complete disaster. And that is no good because not only do you have a failed muffin batter on your hands, but grain-free flours are much pricier than others, so I don’t want anyone to be wasting expensive ingredients.
However, this is a great base recipe that you can tweak and add different flavors to come up with all sorts of combinations. For example, you could add in fresh blueberries for a blueberry lemon muffin. The poppy seeds here are really just for fun, although I do love the bit of texture that they lend, but if you do not have them on hand or don’t want to buy them, the muffins will still be delicious without. Or, how about omitting the lemon and poppyseed and adding some cinnamon, nutmeg, and diced apple? Anything really goes here as long as you are keeping the same ratio of flours, eggs, and fat.
I’m going to make these for my nieces and nephews this week while I am on Long Island. I think they will love them. My kids and husband did as well and now that it’s August (yikes!), I may want to consider a back-to-school plan and make some muffins to freeze for later. Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves though. I’m just trying to get through this week!
Grain-Free Lemon Poppyseed Muffins Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups blanched fine almond flour, not almond meal
- ¾ cup arrowroot powder, look for Bob's Red Mill which sells this inexpensively in 16 ounce bags
- 3 Tablespoons coconut flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 Tablespoon poppy seeds
- grated zest of 1 medium lemon
- 6 large eggs
- ¾ cup pure maple syrup or honey
- 6 Tablespoons melted unrefined coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard muffin tin with 10 unbleached parchment liners.
- Place the almond flour, arrowroot powder, coconut flour, baking soda, salt, poppy seeds and lemon zest to a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine. (If you're almond flour is clumpy, I would do this entire recipe with an electric mixer.)
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, maple syrup, coconut oil, and vanilla.
- Pour the egg mixture into the large bowl with the dry ingredients and combine well.
- Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling each cup to the top. I like to use a very large glass measuring cup to do this.
- Bake until lightly golden and when a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 26-30 minutes.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!
My go to to recipe!
this is an oldie but such a goodie!!
I found a Keto friendly sweetener, it’s by Whole Earth and is allulose baking blend, a plant based sugar alternative. Have you tried it?
It says to sub equal parts thus for granulated sugar. Would it be the same ratio for syrup?
Thanks
I haven’t tried it. You may not be able to swap 1:1 in recipes that use a liquid sweetener as it can very depending on the recipe. For instance, cookies tend to be more sensitive to the type of sweetener you use, whereas cakes can be more forgiving. I would refer to the company’s suggestions, but it’s definitely worth experimenting.
My kids don’t love the flavor of coconut. I haven’t tried it yet, but how do you feel about substituting ghee for coconut oil in general? Thanks!
I don’t taste the coconut in this recipe, but if you would like to substitute with ghee, you have to like the flavor of it since it will likely come through. Or you can use an olive or avocado oil for a neutral flavor.
I’d love to make almond poppyseed muffins. How much organic almond extract would you recommend?
Start slow! It’s really potent. I would try 1/8 teaspoon.
Apparently it doesn’t work with arrowroot flour, I tried a few times!
It came out like rubber.. any other reason it came out so strange? I followed the recipe exactly 3 times. Besides for arrowroot
Hi Tamar, Sorry you had trouble with this recipe. I’ve made this recipe no less than 50 times and the combo of almond flour, arrowroot and coconut flour is my go-to grain-free blend. What, if any, substitutions did you make?
I used arrowroot flour instead of arrowroot powder. Could that have been it?
I tried 3 times..
I think arrowroot flour and powder are the same thing. What was the brand you used? Did you use almond flour, not almond meal? Blanched, not “natural”?
I am so sorry, but if you made no other substitutions, I can’t explain why the texture is not like mine. Like I said, this is my go-to grain-free flour combo that I use in most of my grain-free recipes.
I used Anthony’s premium arrowroot flour.. I’ll try Bob mills instead.
Thank you!
Love these muffins!! Thank you Pamela for the recipe and helping us enjoy delicious desserts that are healthier!
Quick question for you – is it possible to substitute eggs with “chia eggs” in this recipe?
Normally, I would say try a flax egg or aquafaba, but I have a hard time finding a swap for so many eggs in a grain-free recipe. You can try either of those swaps, but I have never done it before.
I made these with the lemon and poppyseeds and loved them! I’m planning to try them as mini muffins for a baby shower I’m hosting in a few weeks too! I also love the idea of the apples and spices as a variation. Do you have a recommendation on amount of spices and apples to try?
I would try 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon + a pinch of nutmeg and a pinch of allspice. Cardamom could be nice, too! I like Honeycrisp and Pink Lady apples. 🙂
Thank you! I’ll try and report back!
I love poppy seed and lemon and would love to try this recipe. I am curious as to the difference in outcome between using the combination of flours and arrowroot powder as opposed to using regular flour? Does it produce a lighter muffin? I prefer a moist muffin to a dry one and am curious to know and if it would be ok to add some lemon juice??
Thank you for the recipe!!
I think adding lemon juice would be fine. This recipe is designed to be a grain-free recipe and cannot be changed to use a wheat flour just by subbing it in one-for-one with the almond flour, etc. Grain-free baked goods tend to last longer and maintain more moisture than grain flour ones.