Like you, I’m not a fan of the gummy muffin. You know the kind; especially if you’re gluten-free, egg-free or vegan. The uncooked center, hard exterior – it’s anything but a muffin.
I want that pull apart gluten-filled consistency, the crisp, slightly crystallized sugar exterior and a fluffy inside… now that’s a muffin my friends.
Sadly, I haven’t had one of those muffins in a long, long time. The gluten-free muffins I’ve created on the blog are great, but they don’t feel like exactly like the real thing. That, and they each have at least 1 common allergen. Before this week I would have told you that creating the perfect gluten-free, grain-free, nut-free, dairy-free, egg-free, vegan, refined sugar-free muffin was impossible but boy did I prove myself wrong (after 8 attempts at the recipe but that’s beside the point).
To start things off, I went with a base of almond flour but after 5 attempts and countless gooey muffins I decided to switch to chickpea flour. Now before you start saying, “but chickpea flour makes everything taste bitter and gross” bear with me. You’ll notice that there’s a crap load of vanilla extract in this recipe, that and cinnamon. Those two combined alongside the cranberry sauce and you’ll be hard-pressed to notice the chickpea flour in these tiny mounds of deliciousness. Just don’t go and taste the raw batter. If you do, don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.
Okay, lets feast on these muffins, shall we?
Just LOOK at that consistency.
You’re excited. I know it.
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- 1½ cup chickpea flour
- ¾ cup arrowroot starch/flour/powder
- ½ cup + 1 tablespoons freshly ground flax seed
- 4½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1½ teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
- 1½ teaspoon gluten-free baking soda
- 1½ cup leftover homemade whole berry cranberry sauce
- ¾ cup coconut sugar
- ½ cup + 1 tablespoons non-dairy milk
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
- 4 tablespoons pure gluten-free vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 350F and line a 12 cup muffin pan with standard-sized muffin liners. Set aside.
- Combine dry ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Whisk wet ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Add dry ingredients to wet and mix until incorporated.
- Divide muffin batter into prepared muffin cups.
- Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until tops are lightly cracked and golden and toothpick inserted comes out clean. I found that the toothpick held a bit of gumminess due to the cranberry but left to cool, they firmed up perfectly to the consistency of a real, gluten-packed muffin.
- Remove muffins from the pan and place on a cooling rack to cool.
- Muffins can be stored for a few days at room temperature. Keep in the fridge to prolong time, or freeze in an air-tight container for up to 3 months.
Begin by combining your wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls.
Add dry to wet, lightly stir to combine (just until mixed or you’ll end up with hard muffins), and drop into your prepared tins.
I filled the muffin tins about 3/4 of the way up as you can see.
I’m sure these muffins could be frozen but I doubt they’ll be in the house long enough to find out.
Now, to figure out what we do with the 7 batches that didn’t work…
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{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
The 8th time’s a charm!!!
You did a GREAT job on these Leanne, and I totally admire your persistence! The shot of the muffin broken in half is gorgeous. Oh, and tons of vanilla and cinnamon? That’s why there’s Costco. 
Thanks Ange
I’m so happy I ended up switching to chickpea flour. What a great call that was! Costco, *sigh* <3
These sound and look amazing! I just need to track down some cranberries now! They disappeared fairly quick sharp in Ireland after Christmas!
I’m sure you could use other fruit purees if you can’t get your hands on cranberries!
That is always my one downside to cooking with chickpea flour: no tasting of the batter! yuck. These muffins look amazing, though. Ever since you made your banana pancakes with chickpea flour, I’ve been hooked on using it in more recipes.
The worst is when you forget that you’re baking with it and go to take a big lick of the spatula… AH! I did that at least twice while I was preparing this recipe. Sheesh. I’m so happy that you’re hooked on the flour. It takes some getting used to; what with changing the spices and such to accommodate, but it’s quite awesome, right?
Do you think this would work with coconut flour?
Hi Connie – I’ve tried countless attempts at making vegan coconut flour muffins and cakes and have failed miserably every single time. I honestly don’t think this recipe would work with coconut flour but hey, if you give it a shot and it works, I’d love to hear about it! Good luck
These look great Leanne! I could totally go for one of these right now….as for what to do with the leftovers, I would suggest…Kevin? Or compost? Or what I normally do is bring the failed attempts to work and let the men eat them up – never heard a complaint yet!
I am very excited! I too know the frustration of the hard/gummy muffin and I can’t wait to try these!
Ah yes, the hard muffin. I didn’t even get into that one! Nothing worse than thinking the batch is good, letting it sit out for a couple of hours and returning to large, hard masses of muffin. Ugh.
This is so exciting! I miss good muffins. Chickpea is Garbanzo flour right? If so I’ve used it before and find it slightly sweet. I really can’t get over all the ingredients that went to waste from the 7 previous batches. That’s just sad! However great for all of us in the long run. I’m looking forward to trying this recipe and some others with different fruit sauces
This is definitely a great success Leeanne. Congrats on bringing back muffins with great texture to us all!
Chickpea and garbanzo = same thing!
Yes, tell me about it. Luckily, chickpea flour is cheap… but cranberry sauce is not. But now that we have a nice tasting batch, it made all the legwork totally worth it!
I love your cranberry props. Totally gorgeous!
Also, I have never used chickpea flour before. 2013 may have to be the year I break that streak! These muffins look divine. Thanks for going through 8 trials, Leanne!
Thanks Jessica! I purchased them from Superstore a couple of years ago and a couple from the Dollar Store. Two places I just couldn’t live without, really.
Oh you must give chickpea flour a try. It’s so versatile, high in protein, and easy on digestion. I’m head over heels in love with the stuff!
Looks so good, can’t wait to try.
How do you think tapioca would work as a substitute for arrowroot (I have tapioca in the house but not arrowroot) ?
Hey Chelsea – I’m pretty sure it would work okay. The two are pretty interchangeable but I didn’t test the recipe with tapioca so I can’t be 100% certain. I’m about 90% though, so that’s gotta count for something!
I’d really like to make these this morning. I have coconut sugar but it’s pricey and I try to use it sparingly–do you think I could sub the coconut sugar in this recipe for agave?
Hi Kat – so sorry that I’m only getting to you now. If you’ve made the muffins already, what sugar did you choose to use? If not, a dry sugar would be best (like demerara sugar), just because I didn’t test it with agave or other liquid sugars. You may be okay with subbing it, but I haven’t tried.
Ok so conveniently I had cranberry sauce in my freezer when I read this recipe! I normally would have changed the flour to almond flour (it has worked best for most baked goodies) but I took your word for it and used garbanzo bean flour… turned out delicious! However, I didn’t take your word for the batter flavor and did try it (regrettably) HA! They are wonderful with some coconut butter on top! Now onto those twix bars…
Ah! Well, you’ll never make THAT mistake ever again, believe you me. So happy that you liked them! Can’t wait to hear what you think of the Twix!
I may be too late for this muffin trial but….. I once made a complete flop of a banan bundt. It never seemed to completely bake through. Never before had that happened. Nor since! But the ‘flop’ made the BEST bread pudding I’ve EVER HAD! Just a thought…!!!