Oat & Buckwheat Berry Muffins
No eggs needed, little sugar added, nutty, tart, and versatile muffins.
A naturally gluten-free muffin with a perfectly beautiful crumb, speckled with berries and satisfying nutty undertones. For vegan muffins, use a plant-based milk alternative such as oat or almond. The recipe is based on the professional formula for quick bread and sweetened with a ripe banana and just a touch of coconut sugar. You can use any type of sugar you like, or none at all (my first five test batches called for none).
The Story
Eggs are wonderful and I eat and cook with them often. But as a commodity in a concentrated market, their prices fluctuate regularly, notwithstanding any supply chain issues (or excuses). So I set out to create a nutrient-dense option without eggs but with that satisfying, textbook crumb muffin lovers crave. A banana and an extra dose of leavening lend structure. And with a fraction of the sugar of a typical coffeehouse variety, what they lack in sugar overload they make up for in flavor.
Buying & Substitutions
Oat flour. Oat flour is fairly easy to find on the baking aisle, if not you can grind rolled oats in a blender or food processor (sift out any larger oats that remain).
Buckwheat flour. If you can’t find or don’t want to trouble with buckwheat flour (ground buckwheat groats), you can replace it with more oat flour. Add a little more milk to the finished batter as needed, as oats are thirstier than buckwheat flour. Honestly, you could probably use all-purpose or a gluten-free blend and they’d turn out just fine.
Milk. Whole milk is recommended, but unsweetened, pure almond or oat milk works, too. Goat’s milk would add a lovely tang. I didn’t test the recipe with any other plant-based alternatives like soy milk, but they all generally function the same. Look for plant-based alternatives free from any gums like guar or carrageenan and any added sugar. It’s a challenge, but they do exist.
Berries. Frozen or fresh work. I prefer frozen, especially when berries are out of season. A frozen blend of wild blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries proved my favorite.
Banana. For the sweetest muffins, use a ripe banana that has plenty of brown and maybe a few black spots. It will be easier to mash and sweeter, as more of the plant starches have been converted to sugar (the ripening process). You can substitute it with a quarter cup of unsweetened applesauce.
Chef’s Tips
Measure by weight. If the only way to bake was to fuss with measuring cups, I’d never do it. Plopping a bowl on top of a digital scale is faster and more accurate. If your only option is measuring cups, spoon the flour in and level it as you go without packing it down.
Rest the batter. Most gluten-free baked goods benefit from a little resting time before baking. This allows the starch to gel together a bit before the heat of the oven and the leavening reactions force them apart.
Use frozen berries. When baking with berries out of season, frozen are more affordable and sweeter.
To prevent sinking fruit. Spoiler Alert: The old tale of tossing fruit in a bit of flour to keep it from sinking is false and doesn’t work. To keep the berries nicely afloat, first, scoop a thin layer of berry-free batter into the bottom of the muffin cups. This protective base layer keeps the berries where you want them. Then mix the fruit into the remaining batter, and carry on.
The Nutrition Numbers
Just in case you care, here are the nutrient breakdowns for the recipe. Added sugar is not differentiated below from the natural (fructose) sugar in the berries and the banana. If you use the coconut sugar as listed, it works out to about two grams of added sugar for each muffin. A truly unheard-of amount in any processed or bakery product.
Ingredients
8 ounces or about 2¼ cups of oat flour
4 ounces or about ¾ cup of buckwheat flour
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1½ teaspoons of baking soda
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon or any mixed spice
2 tablespoons of coconut sugar, optional (or your preferred sugar)
1½ cups of milk (I use whole milk or unsweetened, gum-free almond milk)
1½ tablespoons of white vinegar
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
¼ cup of avocado or olive oil, or melted butter or ghee
1 medium banana, mashed mostly smooth with a fork
1 cup of frozen blueberries or mixed berries
Method
Preheat and prepare. Preheat the oven to 350° F (180° C) and line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
Whisk the dry ingredients together. Add the first seven ingredients to a large mixing bowl and whisk well to combine and distribute the leavening and spices.
Add the wet ingredients. Measure the milk, vinegar, vanilla, and oil into a measuring glass. Stir briefly to combine then make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour it all in.
Add the banana, mash, and mix. Add the banana to the pool of liquid in the bowl and mash it with a fork or potato masher. With a whisk or spatula, mix the batter just until it is homogenous.
Scoop, add the fruit, scoop again, rest. With a spoon or ice cream scoop, add enough batter to each liner to cover the bottom (this prevents the berries from sinking to the bottom). Add the fruit to the remaining batter in the bowl, and fold it gently wth a spatula until evenly dispersed. Divide the berry-filled batter evenly among the 12 liners (the batter will reach the top of each liner). Rest the scooped batter in the pan for ten minutes before baking for best results.
Bake and cool. Bake for 20 to 24 minutes, until the tops spring back when touched gently and a toothpick inserted into the largest muffin comes out without any raw batter on it. Cool completely in the pan (if you can). Store at room temperature in an airtight fashion, or seal up and freeze.