I stumbled upon something very delicious this week, entirely by accident. I had leftover blueberries to use up, and didn’t really want to make regular blueberry muffins. I also didn’t feel like any type of cobbler or bar. I did, however, feel like CHOCOLATE. I started thinking about the blueberry flavor combined with the chocolate flavor, and decided to give it a try. Nothing with chocolate could really be that bad, right?
I started with my dry ingredients in a large bowl. I first mixed together my gluten-free flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. I sometimes divide everything up in the bowl as I measure, to make sure I don’t forget any ingredients (usually, I forget to add salt which is pretty essential in baking).
After that was combined, I added white sugar and mixed again. Now it looks like a yummy chocolatey mess!
In a smaller bowl, I mixed together the wet ingredients – milk, unsweetened applesauce, vegetable oil, an egg, and vanilla. It doesn’t look super great but it will turn into something super delicious!
Last, I placed rinsed blueberries into yet a smaller bowl. I grabbed a few spoonfuls of the dry ingredients and mixed it into my blueberries. This just stops the blueberries from sinking down into the batter. You want blueberries throughout your muffin, not just at the bottom!
I combined the wet and dry ingredients together until the batter was smooth and brownie-batter like. The last thing to do was to gently fold the blueberries into the batter.
I lined 12 muffin cups with muffin liners, and scooped batter into each cup, keeping them about 2/3 full each. This made exactly 12 muffins. I always overfill a few cups and have to go back and borrow from the over-full ones to spoon batter into the last muffin cup. I sprinkled some white sugar on top just for a little extra crunch. You can see how glossy the batter is, and the blueberries that are hanging out right on top!
I baked the muffins for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. They came out of the oven perfectly cooked (I have a hot oven, so I always check with a toothpick to make sure there is no wet batter stuck to the toothpick).
These muffins came out deliciously chocolatey and moist. They taste like a rich chocolate brownie, with a sweet punch of blueberry flavor. Super delicious and dessert-like!
Gluten-Free Chocolate Blueberry Muffins
• 1 ½ cups of gluten-free flour blend (needs to contain xanthan gum already)
• ½ cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¾ cup of white sugar (with an additional small amount set aside for sprinkling the tops of the muffins if you want)
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup of applesauce (or you can substitute canola or vegetable oil instead)
• 1/4 cup of canola oil or vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup of milk
• 1 cup (a heaping cup) of blueberries (with a small amount of GF flour/cocoa mix tossed with them)
Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine gluten-free flour blend, unsweetened cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a second smaller bowl, combine egg, vanilla extract, applesauce and oil, and milk. In a third small bowl, toss rinsed blueberries with a small amount of the dry ingredients to coat them, to keep them from sinking to the bottom. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined. Gently mix the coated blueberries into the batter. Scoop batter into 12 muffin cups lined with muffin liners or sprayed with cooking spray. Fill each muffin cup 2/3 full; this will make exactly 12 muffins. If you wish, sprinkle a little extra white sugar on top of the muffins before placing into the oven. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the muffin comes out clean. Cool in pan for a few minutes, then remove muffins to cool on a baking rack.
Gluteny Free 