Light, sweet, moist and tender lemon blueberry muffins that are completely Paleo and nut free. They’re made with a blend of coconut and tapioca flour for a healthy breakfast or snack! Gluten free, dairy free, kid-approved and easy.
Three has become the magic number for me lately, at least when baking is involved. I feel like a broken record each time I tell you that I tested something 3 times to have 100% faith that the recipe works (and hey it could be worse – 3 is way better than 10 – I shudder at the thought!)
So luckily, the third-time’s-the-charm phenomenon is exactly what happened with these lemon blueberry muffins. I’m certain now that you’ll love them – Paleo or not, these are quite the tasty little breakfast treats, it’s confirmed!
My goal with these muffins was to keep them completely nut free, with coconut flour as the “main” flour. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to bake something with just coconut flour and ultimately wound up disappointed. Chalky, or crumbly, or just plain odd in texture, I’m not sure I’ve made even one recipe I liked where it stands alone.
That said, coconut flour is awesome when it has the support of a “friend”, in my opinion, I like to pair it up with tapioca flour quite often with great success! Aside from being nut free, both coconut and tapioca flours are relatively lower in cost than other paleo friendly flours, so I try to use them whenever I can. Believe me, I LOVE almond flour, but, as you probably know already it’s not at all wallet friendly! Pick and choose, pick and choose our almond-flour moments 🙂
But, rewinding to that first try with these muffins. I honestly have NO CLUE what I was thinking. Do you ever try something new (doesn’t have to be baking!) sort of knowing it’s stupid but feel compelled to do it anyway? The measurements themselves that I used weren’t that off, though I did use less coconut flour than I should have. The real problem came when I though using “almost thawed” and not-all-that-well-drained frozen blueberries and wound up with a soggy mess.
Tip – if you absolutely MUST use frozen blueberries, definitely make sure they’re completely thawed and drained. Especially in a paleo recipe with coconut flour, because paleo baking can be that much less forgiving!
The second stupid thing I did also involves the blueberries. I must have had a blueberry mind block when I made these – I just don’t get it. I decided to not actually mix the blueberries into the batter, but rather just sprinkled them on top. I don’t know what I was thinking – maybe recipe burnout? Anyway, the muffin tasted great but the blueberries were only on top – duh – and it wasn’t working for me.
Third time, I just mixed the darned fresh blueberries into the batter before baking like any normal person who’s ever baked anything, ever, would do without thinking. And YAY! They were great. And yes, we had two batches to kill and everything disappeared within 2 days. The kids and Adam loved them! And I re-learned coconut flour baking 101. And, blueberry baking 101, apparently. So silly.
Anyway, are you guys ready to bake these Lemon Blueberry Muffins?! Let’s go!
Lemon Blueberry Muffins {Paleo & Nut Free}
Lemon Blueberry Muffins {Paleo & Nut Free}
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup full fat coconut milk from a can - it helps to blend first before adding
- 6 tbsp raw honey
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- Zest of 1 small/med lemon
- 3 tbsp coconut oil melted and cooled
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 cup tapioca flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup fresh blueberries*
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and prepare a 12 cup muffin pan by lining with muffin liners (I love these!)
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In a large bowl using an electric hand mixer, blend together the eggs, coconut milk, honey, lemon juice, zest, vanilla and coconut oil.
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In a second bowl, combined the coconut and tapioca flours, baking soda and salt. Slowly add this mixture to the wet ingredients, blending on low speed until just combined.
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The batter will be thick, this is normal for coconut flour recipes! Lastly, gently fold the blueberries into the batter. Using a large spoon, fill each lined muffin cup 3/4 of the way up. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean.
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Allow to cool in the pan a couple of minutes, then remove each muffin (still in the liner) and allow to cool completely on wire racks. Enjoy! Store leftovers in the refrigerator for 3-4 days or freeze for later use.
Recipe Notes
*If you only have frozen, thaw and drain well prior to adding.
Nutrition
Recommended Products to make my Lemon Blueberry Muffins:
Want more delicious Paleo and nut free muffins and breads? Try one of these!
Banana Blueberry Breakfast Bread
Chocolate Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
Tell Me!
Do you prefer baking with coconut flour or almond flour, or a combo?
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Oh my goodness, Michele. Blueberry muffins are kind of my favorite thing and adding lemon? I want to make a batch of these before I go on a Whole30 tomorrow!! ?
Light and moist and tender is always the best way to go for muffins; I’m glad they worked on the third time!
Lemon and blueberry make such a great pairing! Even though it took you 3 times to perfect these muffins, at least they look, and I’m sure taste, perfect now! They look so light and yummy! ? Can’t wait to try these!!
Do you do carb counts?
Yes, also need carb counts.
Typically I don’t calculate nutrition, however there are good online calculators that allow you to enter recipe ingredients and servings to get a full nutrition profile. According to this calculator: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/calculator, each muffin has about 20g total carbs, although since coconut flour is so high in fiber the “net carbs” would be different. If you need a free nutrition calculator though for recipes, this is a good one to keep bookmarked 🙂
I need to be egg-free. Do you foresee any issue with using “flax eggs?”
I haven’t tried these myself, however, from what I’ve heard there is typically no issue subbing 1 or 2 eggs for flax eggs, but considering this recipe contains more, I’m not sure it will give you the desired effect. If you’ve tried subbing this many eggs before and wind up testing, let me know how it turns out 🙂
Manini’s flour Seattle based flour is fantastic
Gluten free, nut free etc.
Denise
OMG! These turned out amazing! I NEVER write comments but I wanted t let you to know that I look forward to you email, every day,(I open yours 1st!) and have made many of your recipes, including this one. I appreciate the dairy-free recipes along with the Paleo ideas. So these muffins – WOW! I thought they would be more coconuty flavored, but they aren’t at all. They are light and fluffy, lemony and just plain good! And easy to make. Thank you, Michele, and keep up the good work- Jan
That’s so great to hear Jan, thank you for letting me know! I agree it’s pretty cool how the coconut flavor seems to disappear in this one 🙂
Hi Michele, I tried making scones with coconut flour and they were awful, fell apart and extremely dry. Do you have any recipes or tips for scones using this flour? Thank you!
Ooh that’s a tough one! I haven’t even attempted that but doing a quick search it seems that many people have your problem with coconut flour scones. I’m going to link to a recipe using a combo of coconut and arrowroot flour from Balanced Bites that looks promising: http://balancedbites.com/content/nut-free-paleo-lemon-blueberry-scones/
Coconut flour is really tricky to work with since it needs a perfect ratio of liquid and I can see where scones would be difficult since they’re supposed to be on the drier side to begin with. If you wind up trying that recipe, let me know what you think of it 🙂
I made these for my husbands birthday yesterday as he loves blueberry/lemon muffins. I am wondering what size eggs you use for baking? My batter did not look like yours at the end so I am either thinking it was the large farm eggs or the other thing I was wondering is…..do you sift your coconut flour before measuring as I know you said that was important with almond flour? They were moist and delicious regardless. My husband said he could taste the coconut flour and as he and my kids are super new to paleo I can see why. 🙂 Thank you!
Hi! It could be the eggs, although I use the standard large size, versus the coconut flour. Coconut flour brands vary, and yes sifting or not sifting can make a difference. Rather than an actual measurement issue it might just be the brand. Was your batter thicker or thinner? Coconut flour produces a pretty thick batter for muffins and breads, scoopable rather than something you would pour. If your batter was too thick, you can try 1 or 2 tsp less next time, and if it was too thin add 1 or 2. With coconut flour a little can go a long way.
The batter was too thin. I did order the Anthony’s baking products when I was led to your site and made my first recipe. So, I know I have some good product. It must of been the size of the eggs. I will go with your advice on adding 1 to 2 tsp of the flour either way. Thanks again, I appreciate you Paleo baking wisdom.
Awesome recipe! Most paleo baking is too eggy for my liking but the consistency of these is great. My husband begged for me to cook bacon and chop it up to add so this last time I made them I used fresh picked, mountain huckleberries and bacon! ?
That sounds too good! I’ll have to try it 🙂
These were delicious! I didn’t have any lemons, so I used 1/2 tsp lemon extract instead. Plus, my son and I are no sugar, so I put in 10-20 drops of stevia and 3 TBS of homemade applesauce. Will definitely be making again!! Thank you!
That sounds great! Thrilled they worked out for you!
I am completely sugar and sugar substitute free. Do you think I could omit the honey? I saw where someone used apple sauce and Stevia. Maybe I could just sub in apple sauce for the consistency?
Can you freeze these?
Yes I think that would be fine 🙂
Just wondering what a substitution might be for coconut milk! Tree nut allergy here so I can’t have coconut milk, coconut oil etc.
I don’t think this is the right recipe fro you then, since it contains coconut flour too! Sorry!
If i use lemon essencial oil do I need to replace the liquid amount of the lemon juice with something else that is liquid
Yes, also the lemon acts as an acid to help the rise with the baking soda, so perhaps raw apple cider vinegar or something of that nature 🙂
I was so excited to see a recipe that did not call for almond flour as I can not eat nuts. I get your daily recipes and everything looks so delicious and then I do a disappointed sigh when I see the words “almond flour”.
I am new to gluten free baking and anytime that I bake with coconut flour the results are too soft and mushy. I made these muffins today and though they are very tasty, they are mushy. Any idea what I am doing wrong?
Thank you for any help you can provide. I must bake without gluten, dairy, corn, soy, nuts, and gums. It is a bit overwhelming for this newbie.
Hmm, I’m not sure what’s making these mushy, unless the brand of coconut flour you’re using requires you to use a bit more than the recipe calls for. You also want to make sure your coconut flour is sifted well before measuring to ensure it’s evenly distributed in the batter.
All that said, coconut flour recipes are a lot different in texture than traditional baking recipes, so I’m not sure if the “mushy” is actually normal for coconut flour or not. It’s tough to tell! You might want to try another one of my coconut flour recipes and see if you have the same issue. I would recommend my banana blueberry bread or double chocolate banana bread and see how they go.
This was my first coconut flour bake and it turned out really well! The batter was a bit runny so I added two tablespoons of coconut flour and it thickened up. I also used xylitol instead of honey and cornflour instead of tapioca flour – I’ve never seen this flour in our stores. I loved the taste and texture, thank you.
sounds great!
Are these the mini muffins or the big ones?
Regular size 🙂
Are you able to substitute the coconut oil for a different oil (avocado maybe)?
I haven’t tried it, I’d say melted ghee or grass-fed butter would work, and probably avocado oil 🙂
Hi, I make this recipe on a weekly basis and absolutely love it! Have you ever thought of trying a savory muffin (cheese, peas, carrots, spinach) with this flour combo? I’m trying to find a similar flour combo recipe with Koran of veggies for my toddler!
Not Koran ? Lots of veggies**
These muffins are delicious-so moist and the perfect flavors of blueberries and lemons. I only put 4 Tablespoons of honey in the batter, but added 2 more Tablespoons of coconut milk to equal out the liquids. After they were baked and still warm I put a teaspoon of soft coconut butter/cream on top of each muffin. The perfect touch!
I will definitely keep this recipe. Thanks!
Delicious! Thrilled you enjoyed them 🙂
The only change I made is instead of four eggs I used two eggs plus two egg whites, and it still came out really well.
These muffins are good! I used mostly stevia for the honey (only used 1T honey & 3 packets of stevia). I’d consider mine 4 star = We’ll definitely make them again. I gave yours a 5 start rating, knowing that they’d be tastier as suggested.
Thank you, Michele, for your efforts. I’ve followed you for a while, enjoying many of your almond flour recipes. Now in my 50’s, I’m all of the sudden allergic to tree nuts, so I’m glad you have nut-free recipes, too! This was my first to try. If you have coconut flour favorites, let me know. 😉
We have recently started eating Lectin Free and these muffins are amazing! Lasted 5 minutes in the house and had to make another batch that afternoon!