Tender and packed with fruit, blackberry muffins are welcome any time of the year. Whole grain oat flour forms the base of these gluten free muffins that are topped with an optional buttery streusel for extra sweetness.
Why You'll Love These Blackberry Muffins
Easy gluten free blackberry muffins are tender and moist, loaded with juicy blackberries, and always in season. A simple oat flour recipe, you'll love whipping up a batch of warm, fragrant muffins whenever the craving strikes. Here's why you'll love this oat flour blackberry muffins recipe:
- Naturally gluten free. Yes! Oat flour is the only gluten-free flour needed to make these muffins. I love a recipe that only needs one gluten-free flour, and this one is a winner.
- Adaptable. Need to switch out the flour? No problem, I've included substitution suggestions lower down. Or, try a different type of fruit or add a little spice. This recipe takes well to all sorts of adaptations.
- Easy ingredients. You'll notice that the short ingredients list is made up of familiar ingredients you can easily grab at your grocery store.
What You'll Need
I’ve outlined what you’ll need for these lovely muffins below. Check the recipe card for the full ingredient amounts and detailed instructions – this is just an overview.
- Butter - I use unsalted butter in my baking recipes
- Milk - Whole milk or 2% milk will work
- Egg and egg yolk - From two large eggs
- Vanilla extract - Pure vanilla extract will give the best flavor. You can omit if needed
- Oat flour - Gluten-free oat flour is a wonderful choice for baking. See substitution options below if you can't eat oats
- Granulated sugar - You can reduce this by ⅓ cup if you want less sweet muffins
- Baking powder
- Salt - I use fine grain sea salt in all of my recipes!
- Blackberries - Fresh in-season blackberries or frozen blackberries work equally well!
How to Make Oat Flour Blackberry Muffins
- Prep: Preheat the oven and line a muffin tin.
- Combine wet ingredients: Melt the butter and whisk in the milk, egg and egg yolk, and vanilla.
- Whisk dry ingredients: Whisk together the oat flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- Combine: Add the wet mix to the dry, stir to combine, then fold in the berries.
- Bake: Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups, let rest, then bake until set.
- Cool: Cool the muffins at least 20 minutes before eating.
Tips & Substitutions
This is a simple recipe, but there are a few best practices to follow to help these blackberry muffins turn out well every time (hint: rest the batter AND the baked muffins). I've detailed them below:
- Rest the batter. Gluten-free flours benefit from a rest to let them absorb liquids in the batter, which makes for a better structured and tender final product. You can rest the batter in the tin while the oven preheats.
- Let the muffins sit. After removing them from the oven, the muffins will be quite soft and tender. Rest them in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn them out on a wire rack to cool for at least another 20 minutes. This will help the crumb to set a bit, making for a sturdier final muffin.
- Try other berries. Use this recipe as a jumping-off point for other flavors! Add blueberries or raspberries instead of blackberries, or try a combination of fruit.
- Add spice. If you wish for a more warmly-spiced muffin, add ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon or ginger along with the dry ingredients.
- Leave off the topping. I've included instructions in the recipe card for making a buttery streusel topping. This is delicious! However, the muffins are wonderful without the topping as well. Note that if you add the topping the will not rise quite as high as without it.
- Fresh or frozen berries. I use frozen berries for this recipe because I have a ton of frozen blackberries from last summer's blackberry-picking! Fresh berries are also wonderful, and I'll use them when they're in season again. Feel free to use fresh or frozen fruit in this recipe.
- Oat flour substitute: Whole grain, gluten-free sorghum flour is a natural substitute for oat flour as it performs similarly to oat flour. Swap in sorghum flour by weight. Or, substitute teff flour by weight for the oat flour.
- Make them refined sugar-free: Easily make this blackberry muffin recipe refined sugar-free by using coconut or maple sugar for the granulated sugar. You could also try ½ cup of maple syrup or honey for the sugar.
- Go dairy-free: Instead of butter, use melted coconut oil plus your favorite non-dairy milk to make these muffins dairy-free.
- Egg substitute: I haven't tried making these muffins without eggs, but you could try using 2 flax eggs in place of the egg and egg yolk.
Serving Suggestions
Muffins are perfect spread with a little butter and served at brunch or simply as breakfast. I love a blackberry muffin as a mid-morning or afternoon snack, either with a hot cup of coffee or a cup of tea. I'll also tuck these oat flour muffins into my kids' lunchboxes for a treat.
How to Store
Here’s how to store your oat flour blackberry muffins:
- Counter – Keep muffins in an airtight container on the counter for up to 3 days.
- Fridge – Place muffins in an airtight container for up to 5 days in the refrigerator. You can eat them cold, let them come to room temperature, or gently reheat them in a toaster oven or microwave.
- Freezer – Put the muffins in a freezer-safe, sealable bag and store them in the freezer for up to 3 months. Defrost in the fridge before serving.
More Gluten Free Muffin Recipes
Oat Flour Blackberry Muffins
Ingredients
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ⅓ cup whole milk
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups oat flour 210 grams
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups fresh or frozen blackberries
Topping
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ cup oat flour 60 grams
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375℉ Line muffin pan with liners.
- On the stove or in the microwave, melt the butter. Let cool slightly, then place in a medium bowl and whisk in the milk, egg, yolk and vanilla.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the oat flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the butter mixture all at one and stir gently to combine. Very gently fold in the blackberries.
- Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups. Let the batter rest while the oven preheats, or about 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the topping if using: in a small bowl, combine all of the ingredients and rub together with your fingers until crumbly. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the tops of the muffins.
- Place in the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes, until the muffins are set and a tester comes out clean. Remove from the oven and turn the muffins out onto a rack to cool. They will be quite soft, so let them cool at least 30 minutes before eating.
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