Dairy-Free Blueberry Muffins

These ‘cafe-style’ blueberry muffins, are completely dairy-free while still being super soft and sweet, bursting with pockets of tangy, juicy blueberries. Exactly what you would expect straight from the glass counter at your local coffee shop. Actually, no, I would say that these are better.

I’m pretty sure, maybe secretly, blueberry muffins are everyone’s favourite. Sure there are chocolate muffins, but if I want to eat chocolate, I’m going to go all in and have a chocolate cupcake. For me, a muffin is all about the fruit. And yes, blueberry happens to be my favourite.

There is really nothing that tastes better than homemade, and homemade muffins to me are the ultimate in comfort baking. I pretty much always have muffins in my freezer, ready for a breakfast or a snack as I’m running out the door.

With so many different muffin flavour combinations, it really is possible to always try something different. But while I love experimenting with different combos, I am a sucker for a classic (books & music included) and find myself always coming back to my good friend the blueberry muffin.

I first created and published this recipe back in 2015, and since then I have made it quite a few times. The recipe holds strong, the only thing I have changed today is that I learnt the baking technique of putting the muffins in a very hot oven for 5 minutes before turning it down to temperature. This causes the muffins to puff up, and just gives a nicer top to your muffin. They are golden with crunchy edges, while the inside remains soft and light.

Over the last 6 months, I have been working on my photography, practising every week and I decided I wanted to reshoot this recipe. It’s not that my original photos were bad, it’s that I felt I could do much better with what I have learnt and I love this recipe so much, that I wanted to feel really proud of the photos when I shared them. I also didn’t want this recipe buried in the archives of my website, so I decided to re-publish it along with the new photos.

Let’s walk through how easy it is to make these muffins.

How to make Blueberry Muffins

These muffins are super simple to make with the batter coming together in one bowl. I also just use a whisk and a spatula meaning you don’t need to get out your electric mixers which of course is less things to clean up afterwards. I’ll take that thank you!

To make these muffins dairy-free, we have substituted your traditional butter and milk with oil and almond milk. I basically only use almond milk in my baking now as I find it is more subtle in flavour than some other nut-based milks, and I love the softness that it provides. Oil is known for adding moisture to baked goods, but it also results in a more open or coarser crumb than a traditional butter muffin would. I find that the combination of these two ingredients create a muffin that is pretty indistinguishable from it’s dairy-filled friend with the texture being both light and soft, with a nice crumb exactly as you would expect.

In your bowl, whisk together your egg, oil, vanilla and sugars until it all comes together. I use both white and brown sugar in this recipe as I love the flavour that the addition of the brown sugar gives. If you want to though, all white sugar will work just as well.

Once everything is together, sift flour directly into the bowl and then using your spatula, slowly fold it through adding in milk bit by bit until combined. You want to mix just until the flour and milk have been incorporated and not more or the muffins will turn out dense and flat. If a few lumps remain in the batter, that is ok!

Finally, add in the frozen blueberries. If you have fresh you can use them, otherwise frozen work perfectly and means you can have blueberries year round. Give the batter a couple of turns with the spatula just so that the blueberries are incorporated, but not too much or the blueberries will bleed leaving you with a blue/purple/brown mess.

Spoon the mixture into a lined muffin pan and bake for 5 minutes at that high temperature before turning the oven down (don’t open the door!) and continuing to bake until cooked through.

Like all muffins these are best enjoyed fresh when the middles are still warm from the oven. But if you feel like maybe 12 muffins is too many for one person in one sitting, than like I said you can freeze these for up to 3 months. To defrost, let the muffins come to room temperature on the kitchen bench (or for me my desk at work). To give it that fresh from the oven feel, zap it in the microwave for just 10 seconds. Just like a fresh one!

There is not too much that can really go wrong with this recipe, it’s kind of why I love it so much. Simple but so so delicious. It’s why I keep making them. And eating them.

These muffins are the perfect, it’s winter so it’s a bit gloomy outside but I want to feel productive, recipe to make as they are easy, quick to clean up, and can be frozen for the week ahead so, practical. Yes you’re welcome to use the ‘it’s practical’ excuse to bake.

Time to make muffins!

Print Recipe

5 from 3 votes

Dairy-Free Blueberry Muffins

These ‘cafe-style’ blueberry muffins, are completely dairy-free while still being super soft and sweet, bursting with pockets of tangy, juicy blueberries.

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time20 mins

Total Time30 mins

Course: Snack

Cuisine: Australian

Servings: 12 muffins

Author: Sally

Ingredients

• 2 cups self-raising flour
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup white sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• ½ cup canola oil
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 cup frozen blueberries

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 220°C. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with patty cases and set aside. 
  
• In a large bowl whisk together egg, oil, vanilla, brown and white sugar until smooth. Sift in flour and stir with a spatula to combine, slowly adding in almond milk until batter just comes together. Be conscious not to over mix, it’s ok if there are a few lumps! 
  
• Add in frozen blueberries folding through mixture, 3-4 times. Do not over mix as mixture will turn purple.
  
• Spoon mixture evenly into the prepared muffin pan and bake for 5 minutes, before turning down the oven to 180°C to bake for a further 15-20 minutes or until a skewer when inserted comes out clean. 
  

Notes

The initial high heat causes the muffins to puff up, giving them that golden muffin top we all love.

More Muffin Recipes:

Raspberry, Coconut & Lime Muffins
Vegan Banana Walnut Muffins

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*Original recipe was published June 8th 2015.