Each Thursday, Emily Vikre (a.k.a fiveandspice) will be sharing a new way to love breakfast -- because breakfast isn't just the most important meal of the day. It's also the most awesome.
Today: Chocolatey, almond-y gluten-free muffins, perfect for a sunny morning.
There is something about muffins that says sunny Saturday morning to me. Scones can be eaten in any sort of weather. Croissants should be eaten on a park bench in the afternoon. But muffins are for sunny weekend mornings. And therefore, when it was sunny -- and even warm for the first time in 7 months -- this last weekend, it was time to bake muffins.
Muffins are a tricky little pastry. They’re so cute and perky, you’d never know they can be so devilishly hard to make really good. There are a lot of meh muffins out there and very few excellent ones. I like muffins to be tender and fragile, so tender and fragile that their crumb barely holds together around the juicy bits of fruit in them. It makes them ethereal and wonderful to eat (though tricky to remove from a muffin tin if you have no paper liners -- and I never seem to have paper liners, so I frequently wind up with delicious muffin crumble). This is my go-to muffin recipe, and it has never let me down. But I have so many gluten-free people in my life, I’ve been on the lookout for a great gluten-free muffin to add to the repertoire.
I found it in this recipe. These muffins are made with almond flour, so they bake up intensely moist and fragrant. If you want to split hairs, they come out a little more like a financier than a muffin. But, when has a financier ever been a bad thing? Financiers -- especially if you add chocolate and fruit -- are quite lovely for a sunny weekend morning as well.
Makes about 9 muffins
2 cups almond flour (I use Bob's Red Mill brand)
1/2 cup rolled oats (you can replace these with more almond flour if you'd like grain-free muffins)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup olive oil or melted coconut oil
1/4 cup coconut milk (or milk, buttermilk, or other milk alternative)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup finely chopped dark chocolate
1 small pear (or other fruit), cored and diced into small pieces
See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.
Photos by Emily Vikre
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