Blueberry flax muffins

I recently took a trip to my local book store to find some dairy free baking books. Unfortunately my local bookstore did not have exclusively dairy-free baking books, so I settled for some allergen-free baking books instead. I picked up three books: The Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook by Cybele Pascal, Learning to Bake Allergen Free by Collette Martin and The dairy-free & gluten-free kitchen by Denise Jardine. These three books have been extremely helpful to me. I'd recommend them to anyone with food allergies, especially the first two.

Myself do not have a gluten allergy but I do know a few people that are either celiac or full-on allergic. After the aforementioned books I've learned it's not that difficult to make a recipe gluten free so I will do my best to include the variations in my recipes from now on.

Blueberry muffins are and absolute favourite of mine. This recipe offers the deliciousness of a blueberry cupcake with enough nutrition and fibre for a healthy breakfast. This recipe is simliar to one I found in the previously mentioned allergen-free baker's handbook. Enjoy!

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Ingredients:

1 cup dairy-free milk (almond milk is my favourite and when I bake I do like to use almond milk. If you have a nut allergy go with soy or rice milk)
1 Tbs lemon juice (freshly squeezed is best)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp lemon zest (use a bit more to give these a bit more zip)
2 cups whole wheat flour (gluten-free sub: 2cups gluten-free flour 3/4tsp xanthan gum and 2 more tsp of baking powder)
3/4 to 1 cup flax seed meal
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup fresh blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. In a small bowl combine the lemon juice and dairy-free milk. What this is doing is mimicking the sourness of buttermilk.

3. In a large bowl, or your stand mixer bowl if you have one, combine the egg and sugar and mix on medium until creamy, about 20 seconds.

4. Add the milk/lemon juice mixture and remaining wet ingredients (vanilla, oil and lemon zest). Mix until combined well.

5. In a separate medium bowl, combine the flour, flax seed meal, baking powder and salt.

6. Add the dry ingredients to the wet until just combined, only about 20 seconds. The lemon juice will act fast on the baking powder. Fold in the blueberries.

7. Using an ice cream scoop with the scrape arm inside, spoon the batter into lined muffin tins. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown. You may choose to rotate the pan halfway through. Try to not over cook these as they'll dry out and become quite bland. Makes approximately 12 muffins.

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I think these beauties would be best popped in the microwave for 15seconds right before you eat them with a tiny bit of vegan margarine on top.

Can't resist fresh blueberries

Happy Baking!