These bakery style gluten-free blackberry muffins are tall & moist, filled with fresh blackberries, and finished with a crunchy sugar top. Made in 30 minutes, they are the perfect snack to have on hand for the week and are freezer-friendly!
These Gluten Free Blackberry Muffins are the perfect snack for berry season! They are tall, moist, and packed full of fresh, juicy blackberries. They have that bakery style taste and texture with their crispy top.
Enjoy for breakfast, a snack, dessert, or on-the-go. These muffins are great to meal prep for the week or to store in the freezer!
They are sure to blow away any gluten-free muffin you've ever made before! Deliberate ingredients and procedures create the best bakery style muffins, fit with a moist fluffy centre and a crispy sugared top, with the perfect amount of berries inside.
This easy gluten-free blackberry muffin recipe is ready from start to finish in just over 30 minutes. Keep reading to learn how to make them!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Bakery quality at home. No need to spend $6 on a muffin when you make them at home! These muffins are moist and fluffy with a bakery-style crispy top.
- Ready when you want them. This whole recipe is complete in just over 30 minutes. They're best when warm out of the oven.
- Allergy-friendly for everyone to enjoy. These muffins can be made gluten-free and dairy-free. They do contain almond flour, which could be substituted for additional gluten-free flour if required.
- Freezes well for later. See below for storage and freezing instructions. These muffins are great to keep on hand for meal prep, breakfast, and snacks.
- Super customizable! Add other berries, nuts, or chocolate to make these muffins your own!
The Science Behind Gluten-Free Muffins
Baking is a science. And gluten-free baking can sometimes feel like a mad science. A carefully curated ingredient list and procedure is created to achieve the perfect desired results, every time.
Here are some reasons why these Gluten-Free Blackberry Muffins work so well:
- Hotter than normal oven. These muffins bake starting at 425ºF, then reduced to 350ºF. This higher than normal temperature causes the muffins to spring up initially, forming a nice crispy top while the middle continues to cook.
- Cold ingredients. Keeping the butter, eggs, and milk relatively cold will keep the batter cool. A cool batter + a hot oven = massive oven spring = tall beautiful muffins!
- Lots of acid. Lemon juice and sour cream provide acid in this muffin batter. This will provide a vigorous lift once mixed with the baking powder and baking soda in the hot oven.
- Bakery flavour. Using lots of high fat dairy like butter, sour cream, and milk give these muffins a rich, moist texture.
- Bakery quality muffin top. Sprinkling the top of the unbaked muffin batter with coarse or raw sugar will result in a beautiful crusty muffin top, worthy of the top spot in a bakery!
Following the methods outlined in this blog post will result in beautiful muffins, every time. This method and ingredient structure can also be transferred to other delicious muffin flavours like my Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins, Pumpkin Banana Muffins, and Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Muffins, Gluten-Free White Chocolate Raspberry Muffins!
Ingredients & Substitutions
Here is everything you'll need to make these healthy blackberry muffins:
- Butter: I use salted. If using unsalted, add an extra pinch of salt to the batter.
- Granulated sugar: White sugar gives a crisp top and that bakery style taste. I love using a fresh lemon in this recipe and rubbing the zest into the white sugar for even more lemon flavour.
- Brown sugar: The combo of white and brown sugar gives these muffins a crisp top with a soft interior. You could use coconut sugar instead.
- Sour cream: Using a high-fat dairy like sour cream gives these muffins the bakery style taste and texture. Substitute greek yogurt if you have that.
- Milk: I use 2%, but any should do. The higher the fat, the better.
- Large eggs
- Lemon juice: The acid helps these muffins rise tall while remaining nice and tender. Fresh or bottled will work.
- Vanilla extract
- All purpose gluten-free flour blend with xanthan gum: I use Bob's Red Mill 1:1 All-Purpose Baking Flour (in the blue bag).
- Almond flour: The addition of some almond flour makes these muffins ultra-moist. If you cannot have almond flour, you can substitute a ½ cup of additional gluten-free all-purpose flour, however the muffins may be slightly drier.
- Cinnamon: Gives these muffins a delicious subtle flavour. They're not overly spicy, but perfectly balanced.
- Baking soda & baking powder: Both leavening agents make these muffins rise nice and tall.
- Salt
- Fresh blackberries: I agree that finding frozen berries is typically easier year-round. However, frozen berries release excess moisture when they are baked, and I often find my muffins are not fully cooked and have a gummy texture surrounding the berries, so I only recommend fresh blackberries for this recipe.
- Coarse sugar: I love the crunch that a coarse sugar topping gives these muffins. I get a large bag from Bulk Barn, or you could use turbinado sugar.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Be sure to read the recipe card below for the full ingredient list and instructions for how to make gluten-free blackberry muffins.
(Prep) Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper muffin liners. I like to take some coconut oil on my hands and rub it over the top surface of the tin to ensure that if the muffins grow over the edge, they will not stick.
If using a fresh lemon, zest it and use your fingers to massage the lemon zest into the white sugar until fragrant. This will add a subtle lemon flavour to the muffins.
(1) Add the butter to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. If you don't have a stand mixer, place the butter in a large bowl and use a hand mixer with beaters.
Beat the butter on medium-high speed for 3 minutes, until lighter in colour. Add both sugars to the bowl and beat for another 3 minutes, until fluffy and completely dissolved into the butter. Stop to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
(2) Wet ingredients: Beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the sour cream and milk. Mix in the lemon juice and vanilla extract. The batter may look curdled but don't worry. See step-by-step photos in the blog post.
(3) Add the flours, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to the same bowl. Gently stir together on top with a spatula, then mix the wet and the dry ingredients until just combined. The batter will be fairly thick. Gently stir in the halved blackberries.
(4) Use a large ice cream scoop (equal to about ¼ cup measuring cup) to fill the lined muffin tin. Distribute the batter evenly among 12 muffins. They should be filled to the top.
Baking Tip: To achieve smooth, round muffin tops, take a spoon and run it under cold water. Dry lightly, then run the back of the spoon over the top of a muffin. This will smooth any rough bits on the muffin top that could burn. Repeat, rinsing the back of the spoon before each muffin.
Add extra halved blackberries to the muffin tops and sprinkle with coarse sugar if desired. This will result in a nice crunchy muffin top.
(5) Bake at 425ºF for 8 minutes, then without opening the oven door, turn the temperature down to 350ºF and bake for an additional 11-12 minutes until a toothpick inserted in a middle muffin comes out clean.
Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes before removing to a wire rack. Enjoy warm or allow to cool completely.
Storage & Freezing
Storage: Muffins are best on the day they're baked. They will keep on the counter for 24 hours. Following that, place in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. If you find them a bit tough, place in the microwave for 20 seconds before eating. After 3 days, freeze any uneaten muffins.
Freezing: Wrap muffins in plastic wrap or aluminum foil and place in an airtight, freezer-safe container. Freeze for up to 2 months. To thaw, either place muffins on the counter overnight, or microwave in 30 second intervals until thawed. Be careful, it may be hot inside.
Expert Tips
Here are some of my top tips and tricks for the best gluten-free muffins:
- Keep the ingredients cold. Remember, cold ingredients + hot oven = magically tall muffins.
- Really cream the butter and sugar together. This technique makes these muffins taste just like they came from a bakery!
- Use fresh berries. I agree that finding frozen berries is typically easier year-round. However, frozen berries release excess moisture when they are baked, and I often find my muffins are not fully cooked and have a gummy texture surrounding the berries.
- To achieve smooth, rounded muffin tops: Take a spoon and run it under cold water. Dry lightly, then run the back of the spoon over the top of a muffin. This will smooth any spikey bits on the muffin top that could burn. Repeat, rinsing the back of the spoon before each muffin.
- For best results, do NOT open the oven door! This would lower the oven temperature and risk your chances of producing gorgeous, tall muffins.
- Putting the muffins in an airtight container will soften the crispy sugared top. Because I like a crisp muffin top, I like to leave the muffins out on the counter for the first 24 hours. After that I do recommend putting them in a closed container, as they will go stale quickly if not.
- If you plan to freeze them, do so right away so they are as fresh as possible.
Frequently Asked Questions
While these gluten-free muffins can be made dairy-free, eggs are an important factor in the rise and texture of these muffins. You could certainly try to use an egg replacer like flax eggs or chia seeds, but note that it is untested with this recipe. If you try it, let me know in a comment below!
In general, almond flour and oat flour cannot be substituted 1:1 for gluten-free all-purpose flour. Almond flour does not absorb as much liquid and is much softer, which will change the texture of the muffins. Oat flour will absorb too much and does not have as much structure. I do not recommend them for this recipe.
The almond flour can be substituted for a slightly lesser amount of additional gluten-free all-purpose flour. See notes in the recipe card.
This recipe is designed with optimal ingredients and methods to ensure beautiful, tall muffins. If your muffins grew nicely in the oven, then sank as they cooled, there are a few things that may have gone wrong.
1) Too much leavening agent (baking powder or baking soda).
2) Over-mixed batter. Remember to gently incorporate wet and dry ingredients.
3) The muffins were not cooked all the way through yet.
These bakery-style gluten-free blackberry muffins are the perfect snack for blackberry season that taste like they came straight from a bakery! Save your money and know it's made with healthy ingredients when you make homemade muffins.
More Snack Recipes
- Golf Ball Cheese Ball
- Italian Marinated Olives
- Viral Chocolate Strawberry Yogurt Clusters
- High Protein Buffalo Chicken Dip
Have you made these gluten free blackberry muffins? I'd very much appreciate it if you leave a 5-star rating & ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review below, and tag me on instagram @fromoliviaskitchen!
Recipe
Bakery Style Gluten Free Blackberry Muffins
Equipment
- 12-cup muffin tin
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter, softened I use salted, if using unsalted, add an extra pinch of salt
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup sour cream or greek yogurt
- ¾ cup milk I use 2%
- 2 eggs, cold
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice a fresh lemon is highly recommended
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups gluten-free all-purpose flour with xanthan gum I use Bob's Red Mill 1:1 All-Purpose Baking Flour (in the blue bag)
- ¾ cup almond flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup fresh blackberries, cut in half
- Coarse sugar for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. I like to take some coconut oil on my hands and rub it over the top surface of the tin to ensure that if the muffins grow over the edge, they will not stick.
- If using a fresh lemon, zest it and use your fingers to massage the zest into the white sugar until fragrant. This will add a subtle lemon flavour to the muffins.
- Add the butter to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. If you don't have a stand mixer, place the butter in a large bowl and use a hand mixer with beaters. Beat the butter on medium-high speed for 3 minutes, until lighter in colour. Add both sugars to the bowl and beat for another 3 minutes, until fluffy and completely dissolved into the butter. Stop to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
- Beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the sour cream and milk. Mix in the lemon juice and vanilla extract. The batter may look curdled but don't worry. See step-by-step photos in the blog post.
- Add the flours, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to the same bowl. Gently stir together on top with a spatula, then mix the wet and the dry ingredients until just combined. The batter will be fairly thick. Gently stir in the halved blackberries.
- Use a large ice cream scoop (equal to about ¼ cup measuring cup) to fill the lined muffin tin. Distribute the batter evenly among 12 muffins. They should be filled to the top.
- Baking Tip: To achieve smooth, round muffin tops, take a spoon and run it under cold water. Dry lightly, then run the back of the spoon over the top of a muffin. This will smooth any spikey bits on the muffin top that could burn. Repeat, rinsing the back of the spoon before each muffin.
- Add extra halved blackberries to the muffin tops and sprinkle with coarse sugar if desired. This will result in a nice crunchy muffin top.
- Bake at 425ºF for 8 minutes, then without opening the oven door, turn the temperature down to 350ºF and bake for an additional 11-12 minutes until a toothpick inserted in a middle muffin comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes before removing to a wire rack. Enjoy warm or allow to cool completely.
Notes
- Can I use frozen blackberries? I agree that finding frozen berries is typically easier year-round. However, frozen berries release excess moisture when they are baked, and I often find my muffins are not fully cooked and have a gummy texture surrounding the berries, so I don't recommend it.
- Fresh lemon: I highly recommend using a fresh lemon so that you can massage the zest into the white sugar for a stronger lemon flavour. If you don't have one, you can absolutely use bottled lemon juice in the recipe.
- Dairy-free: Use dairy-free butter, milk, and sour cream. If you can't find dairy-free sour cream, you could try using dairy-free yogurt or applesauce, but note that the sour cream is what gives these muffins their bakery style flavour and texture.
- Nut-free: If you can't have almond flour, substitute about ½ cup of regular gluten-free all-purpose flour. It will absorb more and the muffins may be slightly less soft.
- Add-ins: Add chopped nuts, chocolate, or sub ½ cup of the blackberries for raspberries or blueberries.
- Storage: Muffins are best on the day they're baked. They will keep on the counter for 24 hours. Following that, place in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. If you find them a bit tough, place in the microwave for 20 seconds before eating. After 3 days, freeze any uneaten muffins.
- Freezing: Wrap muffins in plastic wrap or aluminum foil and place in an airtight, freezer-safe container. Freeze for up to 2 months. To thaw, either place muffins on the counter overnight, or microwave in 30 second intervals until thawed. Be careful, it may be hot inside.
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