The Best Paleo Blueberry Muffins

My friend Mónica and her husband were visiting NYC last weekend, so we planned to have them over for a relaxed brunch at home before they left town. Since her husband can't eat gluten, I decided to use the opportunity to play around with some gluten-free and paleo brunch recipes so that he could enjoy them along with everyone else.

The results of that experimentation were these perfect little paleo blueberry muffins made with almond flour, coconut palm sugar, eggs, and a bit of tapioca starch. The starch is the secret key ingredient that gives these muffins their perfect texture. Unlike other almond flour baked goods that can come out a bit damp and spongy, these are absolutely perfect because the starch absorbs the excess liquid plus adds a tiny bit of chew that mimics what you'd find in a regular non gluten-free muffin.

If you've never tried combining almond flour with starch, you should give it a chance; it really makes a world of difference!

I love cinnamon with my blueberries, so a teaspoon of that gave these muffins a special added touch.

For a bit of crunch on top, I added a tiny sprinkle of raw sugar crystals to the tops of each muffin (similar to the kind you'd find on Dunkin' Donuts blueberry muffins, which were always my fave growing up). Note that this garnish is not strictly paleo, so you can skip it or substitute it with some toasted almond slices or slivers on top.

So about that brunch? Unfortunately, it actually ended up never happening! Turns out there was a scheduling mix-up and my friends had to leave town earlier than anticipated so we had to cancel.

I was worried at first that I'd be stuck with a bunch of muffins I had to eat myself, but it turns out that Eugene--who NEVER likes my gluten-free baked goods--was a fan! The muffins kept well at room temperature for about 3 days, which was just long enough for us to enjoy them all.

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Loved this recipe? Here are three other gluten-free recipes you might like:

• Flourless Pistachio Oatmeal Muffins
• Giant Flourless Chocolate Cashew Muffins
• Gluten-Free Cinnamon Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies

And let's connect so you can find out the next time I post! Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest, become a fan on Facebook, or sign up to receive my once-a-week e-mail updates.

Thanks so much for reading!

Paleo Blueberry Muffins
I’ve included substitution ideas if you’re not strictly paleo. If you’re baking for someone with gluten issues, please be sure to check the label on all ingredients to make sure they’re gluten-free.

Yields 1 Dozen

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups almond flour
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon tapioca starch (substitute corn starch for non-paleo)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
4 large eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup milk (almond, coconut, or whole)
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil or melted butter (preferably grass-fed)
3/4 cup coconut palm sugar (substitute white granulated sugar for non-paleo)
2 teaspoons gluten-free vanilla extract
1 tablespoon raw sugar for topping (optional)
2 cups blueberries

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

Whisk together flour, tapioca or corn starch, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, oil, sugar, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined evenly. Fold in the blueberries, then divide between the 12 muffin cups.

Sprinkle with raw sugar (if using), and bake approximately 20 minutes, or until risen, golden and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let muffins cool on a wire rack before serving.

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Flourless Cashew Oatmeal Cake (Gluten-Free)

A few weeks ago, I went on a bit of a nut buying binge. I'm not sure what prompted it, but at the height of craziness I looked around and realized I had pounds and pounds of nuts in my kitchen. I was like a squirrel saving up for winter.

I've slowly worked my way through most of them, except for a lonely bag of raw cashews that was just sitting in my refrigerator door.

At first I was going to make a cashew cheese dip with it (it's something I make regularly for the vegan yoga groups I cook for up in Vermont), but then realized that I also have a fridge full of real cheese, so what the hell would be the point of making fake cheese?

(Answer: there would be no point. Absolutely NO point.)

So a little non-vegan baking was clearly the way to go.

I decided to make a nut meal by grinding the cashews up in the food processor, then using them the way I'd typically use almond meal. Combined with a bit of ground gluten-free oats, they made a beautiful base for this cake. I love how the cake has a bit of a crunchy crust while staying moist and slightly crumbly on the inside.

Olive oil instead of butter. Crunchy turbinado sugar. A real vanilla bean scraped in and flecked throughout the batter.

Seriously. So much good stuff going on here.

And if you eat paleo, you can easily adapt this by subbing in coconut palm sugar and quinoa for the oats. Now everybody can enjoy!

The final cake is a perfect tea time cake.

Or coffee time cake.

Or breakfast time cake.

Or The Mindy Project is about to start in, like, two minutes and I need something sweet time cake.

(That happens to you guys, too, right?)

A little sprinkle of powdered sugar on top using my super cool new powdered sugar wand which you can kind of see in the top left of the above photo (Say what? Seriously!), and this lovely one-bowl baby was good to go.

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Flourless Cashew Oatmeal Cake (Gluten-Free)
Makes 1 9" cake (about 8 servings)

Ingredients
2 cups coarsely ground raw cashews
1/3 cup coarsely ground rolled oats (use gluten-free oats to make this cake GF) OR rinsed and toasted quinoa
1 cup turbinado sugar (such as "sugar in the raw") OR coconut palm sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 large eggs, beaten well
1/2 cup olive oil
1 whole vanilla bean, scraped OR 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pure orange extract (optional)

Confectioner's sugar, for garnish (optional)

Directions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9" round spring-form pan and layer the bottom with a round of parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the cashews, oats, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the beaten eggs, olive oil, vanilla bean seeds, and extract(s), and beat well to combine.

Add the batter to the prepared baking pan, and bake 25-30 minutes, or until golden and fully cooked. (Note that the top will look a little bubbly--that's OK!)

Let cool in pan 10 minutes, then use a knife to loosen from the sides and remove. Transfer to a rack to cool completely. Serve dusted with confectioner's sugar.

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Cauliflower Dirty Rice with Andouille Sausage (Paleo)

Last month, I went up to Vermont to cook for a gluten-free retreat hosted by fellow blogger Brittany Angell. There were quite a few grain and dairy-free diners at the retreat, so I used the opportunity to play around with some easy paleo recipes.

One of everyone's favorite dishes ended up being this Cauliflower Dirty "Rice" with Andoille Sausage.

The dish contains absolutely no grains, because the rice is actually made from cauliflower florets that have been ground up into fine little pieces that resemble rice or couscous.

Cooked quickly on the stove, they can then be mixed with any number of herbs, seasonings, or vegetables to create a satisfying savory dish.

It's a great way to enjoy a starchy-like dish if you're following a grain-free or low-carb diet.

This inspiration from this particular dish came from the sausage.

Whenever I'm up in Vermont, I buy a few packages of this delicious local pork sausage in a variety of flavors (generally chorizo and andouille) to use in my recipes. I wanted to feature the spicy andouille in something, and so the dirty rice was conceived!

Real dirty rice is made with chicken liver or giblets, the dark meat giving the rice a dark or "dirty" appearance. For mine, I only used the sausage along with the rest of the New Orleans cooking trinity: peppers, onions, and celery.  (Though I subbed in orange peppers, because I'm not a fan of green ones!)

The vegetables and spicy sausage cook together in a bit of broth, then are mixed with the cauliflower to create a filling savory dish.

(Another bonus is that, unlike real rice, which can be subpar on the second or third day--cauliflower rice reheats beautifully, so you can enjoy it all week long!)

Fun Stuff: Want to join me in Vermont next time? Click here to read about my upcoming culinary retreat this summer--and how YOU can snag a spot!

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Love Always Order Dessert? Let's connect! Follow me on Twitter or Pinterest, become a fan on Facebook, or sign up to receive my once-a-week e-mail updates. And if you ever need any entertaining or cooking advice, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. Thanks for reading!     

Cauliflower Dirty Rice with Andouille Sausage

Recipe by Alejandra Ramos | AlwaysOrderDessert.com

A paleo recipe for cauliflower dirty rice with andouille sausage. A great low-carb and grain-free side dish or main course.

Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 head cauliflower, thick core removed and chopped into florets
• 1/2 Spanish onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 1 pound smoked andouille sausage, sliced
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne
• 1 tablespoon smoked spanish paprika (sweet)
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 bay leaf

Directions

1. Place 1/3 of the cauliflower florets in food processor with blade attached, and pulse until florets are finely ground about the size of cous cous. Pour ground cauliflower into large bowl, and repeat with rest of cauliflower, in batches. Set aside. 

2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a medium skillet over medium heat, and add the onion. Saute until translucent, then add the garlic, celery, and peppers. Saute for 5 minutes, then add the sausage, and continue to cook for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables are tender and the sausage is browned. 

3. Stir in the spices, seasoning, and broth, and add the bay leaf. Reduce heat to low, and let simmer 10 minutes, until the liquid is reduce by 3/4. 

4. While the vegetables simmer, heat the rest of the oil over high heat in a second large skillet and add the cauliflower. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until it is cooked, but still firm (no mushy cauliflower!). 

5. Transfer cooked cauliflower to a large bowl, and add the vegetable and sausage mixture (minus the bay leaf!). Mix well to coat, stir in the parsley, and season with salt and pepper, to taste. 

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Giant Flourless Chocolate Cashew Muffins

While I'm not making any specific promises, you should know that there is a chance that these Giant Flourless Chocolate Cashew Muffins might help you live forever.

Here's the story:

A couple months ago, Eugene read a story in the news about a new Harvard study that showed that people who eat a handful of nuts a day live longer than those who don't. The report said that for the benefits to work, one has to eat a serving of nuts at least 7 times a week.

We conjectured that since a handful of nuts can help you live longer; eating MORE than a handful will probably make us live forever. We're already big nut eaters in this household, but since then, it's become something of a slightly-morbid joke for us.

Anytime one of us wants a snack or just happens to eat something with nuts, we'll say "Eating nuts--going to live forever!" Or "I ate more nuts than you today; you better catch up so you don't die."

We also chase Hudson around and feed him almonds and hazelnuts so that he can live forever, too.

(He loves nuts, so he's a fan of this game.)

With this (admittedly flawed) theory in mind, I created these delicious muffins so that we can all live forever in delicious style!

These muffins are made with no flour or refined sugar. The base is cashew butter, which you can make by finely grinding cashews until it turns into a smooth, buttery paste (you can also buy it, of course!).  This is mixed with eggs, cocoa, maple syrup, a little vanilla, salt, and baking soda, and then baked into giant puffy muffins.

I love to make these in giant muffin pan (that holds 6 instead of the usual 12) for a fabulous oversized muffin (for maximum live-forever-properties, you see), but you can also make it in a regular muffin tin or even a loaf pan.

These are fantastic on their own or warmed slightly and spread with butter. They keep well for a few days (thanks to those glorious life-giving nuts!), but can also be made and frozen.

Enjoy these muffins. I'll see you in a 100 years!

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Love Always Order Dessert? Let's connect! Follow me on Twitter or Pinterest, become a fan on Facebook, or sign up to receive my once-a-week e-mail updates. And if you ever need any entertaining or cooking advice, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. Thanks for reading!      
 

Giant Flourless Chocolate Cashew Muffins
Makes 6 giant muffins (or 12 regular muffins)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups smooth cashew butter (substitute almond, pecan or other nut butter, but make sure it's a very smoothly ground butter--nothing course or crunchy), slightly warmed until easily stir-able
5 large eggs
2/3 cup maple syrup (substitute honey; do not use agave)
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions
Preheat oven 350 degrees. Grease an extra-large muffin tin (or use a regular muffin tin).

Beat together cashew butter and eggs with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Beat in maple syrup, cocoa powder, vanilla, salt, and baking soda. Mixture will be smooth, thick, and glossy (like a brownie batter).

Divide batter into prepared muffin tin. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until puffed up and cracked on top. A tester inserted into the center should come out clean. Remove from oven and let cool in pan about 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

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