Almond Flour Muffins
I have been a huge fan of Michael Ruhlman's book Ratio
So, when my friend Silvana invited me to participate in this month's Ratio Rally, I said yes, even though I have not really baked using ratios and scales. I am definitely a numbers person though, so the concept is not a daunting one. If you don't like numbers and scales, do not read any further. This post is not for you! If you're into making recipe templates that can serve as the basis for numerous other recipes, then proceed. And get out that scale!
According to Ruhlman, "a quick bread is composed of cake batter ingredients that are stirred together." He goes on to say that "muffins are quick breads baked into cups." Hence, my decision to make muffins. Ruhlman's ratio for making a quick bread using wheat flour is 2 parts flour: 2 parts liquid: 1 part egg: 1 part fat.
The ratio I came up with for muffins uses almond flour, and is 4 parts flour: 4 parts egg: 1 part sweetener. After much experimentation, I can say that I doubt these proportions will work with other flours as almond flour is a very unique ingredient.
So why create this recipe at all? Well, it is still versatile in two ways. First, it is a wonderful template for a muffin recipe. You can experiment by adding different flavor combinations including: date walnut, lemon poppyseed, dried cranberries with white chocolate chips, cinnamon raisin, and orange dark chocolate chip. Second, you can scale up the recipe and make as many muffins as you like. Double it for 8 muffins. Cut it in half for 2. It's that flexible.
The ratio for making a basic, lightly sweetened almond flour muffin is (4:4:1), and here is the complete recipe:
- 4 ounces blanched almond flour (about 1 cup)
- 4 ounces eggs (about 2 large eggs)
- 1 ounce agave nectar
(around 1 tablespoon)
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- In a medium bowl, combine almond flour and baking soda
- In a large bowl combine eggs, agave and vinegar
- Stir dry ingredients into wet, mixing until combined
- Scoop about ¼ cup of batter at a time into paper lined
muffin pan
- Bake at 350° for 15 minutes, until slightly browned around the edges
- Cool in the pan for ½ hour
- Serve with butter and raspberry jam
Makes 4 muffins
To make a loaf of quick bread, simply double the above batter and bake it for 35-40 minutes on the lower rack of your oven in an 6-½ x 4-inch baby loaf pan (Luminarc).
My findings? Because almond flour is more wet than wheat flour, I ended up eliminating the 2 parts of liquid that Ruhlman used in his ratios. And because almond flour is more fatty than wheat flour I have eliminated the fat that was part of his formula. Finally, I used equal parts almond flour and egg in my recipe because almond flour is heavy and requires extra leavening, and eggs are a wonderfully simple form of leavening that is high in protein.
I did not have a hypothesis when I began this experiment. I based my ratio on Ruhlman's and started out with liquids, fat and all sorts of unnecessary other ingredients (that I found are not relevant when baking with almond flour). In order to come up with the recipe above, I baked the muffins 4 times before the result was remotely edible, and 5 more times to perfect them. As you can see, when it comes to baking, hands on is the only way to go; guessing does not work.
The winner of last weeks giveaway for a brand new 12-Cup Food Processor from the Cuisinart Elite Collection™ is M. Sieu! I want to thank everyone for participating and sharing your favorite food processor recipes.
More breakfasts and muffins, scones and biscuits you might enjoy:
Oh, this is SO awesome, Elana! I read Ratio just before going gluten-free. Loved it, but had no notion of how to use the concept with my new dietary restrictions. Thank you so much for figuring this out!
oooh- i've been playing with quick-breads this week too. and something like ratios!
must play with muffins. we've settled on soured brown rice flatbreads in a cast iron skillet, and sprouted quinoa in a similar form (quinoa doesn't like to sour)- the only way we eat any grains is after souring them for 24-48 hours. It makes a totally different batter and final product than regular grains.
also playing with coconut and almond flour b/c this site is so amazing and we love the paleo foods!
must make coconut cake soon!
Hi there, i was wondering how do you sour grains? I eat lots of cultured veggies and drink cultured juices, would love to sour grains as well.
Blessings,
Annie
HI Elana,
These muffins remind me of your Irish Soda Bread Recipe minus the raisins. I left a question under that recipe because my Irish Soda Bread did not look like yours...it tasted great, though! Mine was bumpy, but yours looked smooth. Did you mix the ingredients by hand or with a mixer? I did not receive an answer so I thought I would post here. Not sure what the correct procedure is. Also, I couldn't put an x in it because the dough was so sticky. Any helpful hints? I love the recipe and look forward to trying your muffins also!
Stacey,
I answered your comment over on the Irish Soda Bread post.
http://www.elanaspantry.com/irish-soda-bread/#comment-39908
Thanks,
Elana
Simple recipe! This reiterates how important having ratio in our life. Especially in baking :)
Lovely simple recipe, Elana! Great to now this ratio can be used for all kinds of muffins made with almond flour. :-) Love Ruhlman and you! Both of you are very passionate, talented folks inside and outside the kitchen. ;-)
xo,
Shirley
Yippee!! I'm so glad to see measurements by weight. I prefer to cook with my scale. Thank you!
LOVE baking by weight! Thank you.
MMM these look yummy! I will defintely try these because they don't look to sweet and and Id love to add some berries in there. Fabulous recipe!
Teenie Foodie
Elana,
These muffins look amazing. Also being a math person, I love the ratio approach. This is actually how I learned to cook quick breads back when my mother taught me at age 7 or 8. I suspect she was teaching me fractions as well. Love it. Can't wait to taste them. Thanks. Deb
Your site is just indispensable to me and this post is just great!!!!!!!!!
I'm not a numbers person myself, and have never really gotten the hang of weighing ingredients.
Sounds like an intriguing concept though.
I just recently (last week) found out that I'm gluten intolerant, so I think that book would be really helpful in creating new recipes.
Love that you did all of this testing for us! I own Ratio and love it, but haven't really put it into practice, because as we all know, gluten-free flour does not act like wheat flour...and one gluten-free flour does not necessarily act like another. But I love using almond flour and love that this ratio is now here! Now, what type of muffins will I make? :)
Those are beautiful muffins Elana! Thanks for posting these!
Could the 2:2:1:1 ratio be used when baking with coconut flour?
I'm itching to create my own flavor profiles on recipes for cupcakes/breads but am not sure what to use as the springboard
I was just looking into buying a scale. Is there a scale you recommend? Is it better to go digital or the old fashioned kind? I feel like I'm coming across more and more recipes written in grams and ounces rather than cups- any thoughts why this may be?
I got OXO's digital scale with the pull out display (great feature for large items on the scale) for about $50.00 at Bed Bath and Beyond, plus 20% off with a coupon. I love it. It converts easily for pounds to grams and tares very easily.
This scale is recommended by America's Test Kitchen.
Hi Elena - first of all I love your book and site. We had the shrimp fritters for dinner and they are outstanding!!
So I made these muffins after soaking, dehydrating and grinding my own almonds (digestion issues galore) and I did add some sunbutter for a thicker consistency. And...the insides turned bright green!!! Has this ever happened to you? A reaction with the ACV and soda? I'm so curious and bummed to toss them if need be. Hoping you have an answer for me! Thanks so much...Jen
It's safe to eat. Chlorogenic acid (from the sunflower seeds)in sunbutter causes it to turn green when baked, don't worry :D
Love this! Math + food = GREAT!!
These remind me of little cakes my grandmother used to make. Thanks for sharing this - I can't wait to try the recipe!
Vegan -Gluten Free muffin basics:
I've struggled to come up with a Vegan GF muffin that is tasty... using a variation on yours (almond flour) and others I found this is pretty darn tasty...very moist
2 1/2 C JK Almond flour (it is the finest ground of them all- good for muffins - although I like Honeywell for cookies)
1/2 C arrowroot powder
1sp baking soda
1/2 C brown rice syrup (use agave if you prefer - sweeter though)
1 1/2 C applesauce
1 egg replacer - I use enerG and make sure you add it last - needs to go in oven right away.
1 C of your favorite add-in (choc chips, chopped fruit, berries - just be careful you are adding too much moisture - eg:blueberries are juicy so maybe only add 1/2-3/4 cup or lessen applesauce a little).
Cooking these in muffin papers works better - spoon cups full - bake 350 for 30-40 min. They brown nicely.
Double Chocolate Strawberry was our favorite so far - added 1/4 cocoa powder, chopped strawberries and chocolate chips. MMmmmm.
Interesting. I made several batches, too, using different ratios, and came out with some wonderful door stops, dog treats, and odd looking muffins. I did end up with a similar MR ratio, but because I counted the yogurt/sour cream, mashed banana and egg white as liquid. Loved reading about your process - I love the rise on your muffins - nice!
This is what I've been wanting, expect no wanting to waste my almond flour to experiment! :)thank you Elana! Have you ever tried using yogurt combined with baking soda to help the rise.
Ooooh they look wonderful Elana!
lovely Elana! A perfect low glycemic take on muffins! I might have to whip up a batch of these this evening!
I love the concept or starting a recipe with a ratio. With gluten-free baking, I always try to first tweak someone else's recipe, but this ratio idea is intriguing. I'll see what I can come up with. Thank you for posting this :)
Fantastic! I'm so happy you have joined in on this. And I love that you gave a different ratio for almond flour. It's quite different, isn't it? I want some of your muffins.
I made the muffins yesterday and I added pistachios and some dark choc chips and I have to say they were amazing and I also made the vegan chocolate frosting for the first time and it is the closest thing I have come to tasting like real frosting...Thank you Elana
Elana,
I just wanted to THANK YOU for this site and all your testing. I can't eat gluten anymore, and I also eat low-carb as I am pre diabetic. Your site has been a total Godsend to me, and I thank you!
Looking forward to trying this recepie later this week!
hiya- I wonder if anyone can answer a couple of my questions - there are a couple of things about ingredients and ratios that are really puzzling me...
when I first started making the bread mix (from your simple bread recipe) the batter was really runny - and I was able to pour it into the loaf tin...now when I make it, it's so sticky, I can hardly get it off the spoon! What would the difference be in the ingredients or ratios that I'm using? I can't remember if maybe I used to add oil? What would that do to a recipe? or maybe I used more eggs? I just can't remember (now I'm using 2.5cups of almond flour, 3 eggs etc). Any ideas would be much appreciated!
the other thing is, I make almond flour muffins - following a couple of recipes from your book (which I love!) - but I use 2.5 cups of almond flour - and 3 eggs? And they always come out really nicely - what would the difference be if I used 1 cup and 2 eggs as in your recipe here (or 2 cups and 4 eggs), which means there's a lot more eggs per almond flour!
I'm new to baking and would love some advice!
PS. YOur site has kept me going during a very low point in my health with colitis, so thank you very much x
The best part about this recipe is that it only has 5 ingredients. I like to have some recipes that are quick and simple on hand like this one. Great idea for breakfast!
Hi Elana,
Do think it will work if I triple all ingred for the almond muffins to yield 12?
Sincerely,
Scott Belanger
I doubled the recipe, added a container of organic pumpkin baby food and about 1/4 cup of chia seeds and it produced 12 AMAZING muffins... my family wishes it made 24 muffins :) They were gone in no time :)
Hi Elana;
Love your site & your recipes always make me salivate! A quick question about making your own almond milk, as it so expensive in stores, can you re-use the ground almonds after for baking with?
I know this is a bit of a random comment for this recipe!
Thanks
Louise
Hi Elana,
I heard about you a few months ago on the Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen site when they were giving away a copy of your cookbook. I didn't win, so I had to buy it and have been loving it ever since. (ordered 5 lbs of almond flour from Honeyville) I also made a almond flour muffins for the ratio rally - taking inspiration from you and elsewhere.
http://mindfulfood.blogspot.com/2011/04/almond-joy-gluten-free-muffins-vegan_06.html
Almond flour is a miracle food in my book - so easy to use and delicious!
thanks for blazing the trail!
Looks so simple and yet so delicious! Great post!
Made these the other morning and my 2 yr old loved them with a bit of blackberry jam. Next time, I'm trying my muffins with some local honey. Thanks Elana.
Hmm...I definitely thought these needed some salt because they were pretty dense and bland. The denseness makes sense because of the almond flour, but it didn't necessarily make it a tasty muffin. I added some jam, and that was better, but I can't say I was in love with them. I could add some more stuff to them (nuts, cranberries, etc.) but I'm not sure I'm in love enough with the original recipe to deviate from it. :-(
So glad to be a part of this Rally with you. I love this recipe...pure n' simple. Just the way I like it. Thanks Elana; have a great weekend and keep up the amazing gluten-free work.
Thanks for sharing and informations. looks nice ;)
Hi!
I'm new to the gluten-free diet. My roommate was recently semi-diagnosed with IBS/Crohn's and we have him on the Specific Carb Diet. Since Gluten-free is more known, It's easier to find those recipes. And since some of the recipes can be used in the Specific Carb Diet, I took a look at yours =) -Of course, I'm learning what to tweak if needed for the difference between the two.
Last night I attempted to make these muffins. I never weigh ingredients, but noticed that it says 4 oz of the nut flour is about 1 cup. I measured out 1 cup and then 2 eggs. Before mixing the 2, I saw that it looked like it would be too eggy and it wouldn't be equal parts. I then poured the 1 cup of nut flour into another measuring cup and it equals out to 8 oz. So I cut it down to 1/2 cup nut flour. I added some vanilla extract & fresh fruit to the muffins & baked them and they came out really good.
Just checking if the 4 oz. of nut flour should be 1/2 cup or actually 1 cup?
Thanks!
Tiffany,
Thanks for your comment. This recipe is made for using a scale for the exact reasons you state above!
Enjoy,
Elana
Hello I tried this recipe over the weekend (thank you for posting it). For me this turned out very dry and I had to drink something just to swallow each bite - but other than that it was very nice. Is there anything that one could add to make it substantially more moist? I did bake it for exactly 15 min until the top/sides were very slightly browned. Thank you!!
Thank you for a simple NON SUGAR baked item. They turned out great 1st time!
These are the best nut flour muffins I have tried, and I just baked them for the second time. They are so like regular flour muffins! Moist but not greasy like other low carb muffin recipes. I added 4 oz. chopped apple and 1/2t cinnamon and used 2T granulated ZSweet (erythritol/stevia) instead of agave. They are fabulous. Any recipe I have tried of yours turns out perfectly- very like their flour/sugar counterparts. (My husband loves the almond joy "snack cake" and another site had your almond butter olive bread, which was divine!!) Thanks so much!
Elana,
Thank you for joining the ratio rally. It is one area I am not really good in, math. I can do cooking fractions and thats about it! Anyway, I just thought I would let you know that I have tripled this recipe, added a splash extra of vanilla and baked it in a regular size loaf pan. It consistantly turns out a beautiful loaf of Victoria Sponge Cake worthy of any British tea table! Absolutly divine with butter and raspberry jam. I also make this leaving out most of the vanilla and call it our daily bread. It stores well in the fridge. It keeps a soft texture after many days, and the taste is great with everything.
Thanks again!
Hi Elana! I wanted to let you know that I made these, with a few variations, and they were so delicious! I posted my modified recipe on my own blog, but of course I gave you credit for creating the template! Also, my husband pronounced them the best muffins he has ever tasted- and neither of us are strictly gluten-free!
Thanks for another awesome recipe!
I doubled this recipe and added a container of organic pumpkin baby food and about 1/4 cup of chia seeds... it was WONDERFUL!!! Great muffins... the kids loved them and super healthy :)
THANKS Elana for sharing this site... one of our very favs :)
I just made these muffins. I ground the almonds and tried it. It is amazing. I have been doing gluten free for more than a year now and did not know that you could use just simple almonds to bake. Gluten free flours are dense and tend to flop sometimes. This turned out great. Thank you. I am glad I found your site.
My dream is to have a small shop, filled with yummy gluten and diary free goodies.
Thanks You again
Wendy
Made these tonight. Due to some of the comments I decided to add some cinnamon, salt and chopped green apple. They came out good -a bit dense but just how I like them. Next time I'll add a bit more spice. Excellent!
These muffins are delicious. I added chopped frozen cranberries and pecans. Mmmmmm.
I just make these, they did not work at all. What did I do wrong?They taste like they need salt. They are raw in the middle...I followed recipe exactly. Sorry but I think this recipe needs to be modified.
this recipe does not seem to work. I followed it exactly. They need salt, they taste flat. They are also raw in the middle. any suggestion of what I could have done wrong? I think this recipe either needs to be modified or needs more instruction. Sorry Elana.
Just baked these and mine were also raw in the middle :(
I'd like to know what is meant by "ounces" here - this may have caused problems for others who posted that these didn't turn out:
4 oz of almond flour - is this weighed? I assumed so because the recipe says about a cup.
1 oz agave nectar - I assume this is fluid ounces, and not weighed, since it's a liquid.
4 oz of eggs - are the eggs also fluid ounces?
This is one of the many problems with the old Imperial measuring system, that ounces can mean a weight or a size!
I just made these with cranberries and followed your instructions exactly (rare for me...) and they turned out amazing. I'll be stuck at a hotel for the next 5 days for a curly hair event and the menu is not gluten free friendly. I made these to bring along to have a healthy emergency snack. The texture is great and I love that there's only 1T of sweetener in them. Thank you so much, this will be my new go-to muffin recipe. - Jess