Currently celebrating all the flavors Springtime brings to the northeast. Starting with these Lemon Muffins Swirled with Blueberry Jam.
These muffins are made using only paleo-friendly ingredients such as coconut flour and coconut sugar, but coconut flavor certainly does not dominate here. Just the tangy sweetness of the blueberry jam and the bright lemon. It's all you could ever want in a healthy, satisying muffin recipe!
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Homemade Paleo Blueberry Jam
Making your own jam at home is super simple. And making paleo-friendly jam is just as easy. I decided for this lemon muffin recipe to use jam instead of whole blueberries in the batter. I prefer the way they look and the way they taste.
The blueberry jam captures the full essence of the blueberries because the jam spends time reducing and, thus, concentrating the blueberry flavor.
To make paleo blueberry jam, start with either fresh or frozen blueberries. If blueberries are currently on sale at your local grocery store or farmer's market, definitely take advantage of the freshness, price, and availability by going for fresh.
But, if it's not the season for blueberries, you'll get much more value and just as good of flavor by using frozen blueberries. I used frozen when I tested this recipe and the resulting muffins were so good.
Make this jam by adding blueberries and paleo-friendly sweetener (see Tips section below for my thoughts on paleo-friendly choices) along with some lemon juice to a pot, allowing the blueberries to warm through.
Then, using a potato masher, mash the fruit to extract the juice. Allow it to boil then reduce and thicken for about 20 minutes.
This is the part where the jam magic happens, so allow it time to do its thing. Once the jam has reduced by almost half, stick it in the fridge to cool while you prepare the muffin batter.
How to Make Paleo Lemon Muffins
Besides the blueberry jam, one of my favorite parts about these muffins is that they are made using simple gluten-free and dairy-free substitutions for common muffin ingredients.
And since my family is nut-free due to an allergy, there is no almond flour or butter in these paleo muffins. Instead, I used coconut flour and tapioca flour to create the batter.
Coconut flour absorbs a ton of moisture in recipes, so you'll see that only ½ cup is used plus ½ cup of tapioca flour. These lemon muffins do have a faint coconut flavor, but they definitely don't taste like coconut muffins.
The brightness of the lemon juice and zest come through really well. And the tanginess of the blueberry jam brings the whole muffin to life!
Tips for Making Paleo Lemon Muffins with Blueberry Jam
- I recommend spraying the muffin pan with coconut oil cooking spray for this recipe rather than using muffin liners. I found the muffin liners stick too much to these muffins and you end up sacrificing too much of the muffin when removing the liner
- For this recipe, you can use either fresh or frozen blueberries. I used frozen blueberries because that's what I had on hand. Frozen may be cheaper and more convenient as well, especially if you choose to make these in an off season for blueberries
- For the paleo blueberry jam, you can use coconut sugar or honey. Use the amount as a guide - you may prefer more or less sweet. You can also choose to leave the jam unsweetened if you would like the tartness of the blueberries to shine through
- As I've written in the recipe, I suggest preparing the blueberry jam first, allowing it to cool then using it in the muffin batter. This cooling time will allow the jam to thicken and achieve the right jammy consistency before using in the recipe
- Like many of my muffin recipes, I recommend starting the bake for these lemon blueberry muffins at a higher than normal temperature for a few minutes then lowering it for the remainder of the baking time. This allows the muffins to rise and develop a bit more of a dome than they would if you baked them at 350ºF (177ºC ) for the entire baking time
Useful Kitchen Tools for Making Paleo Lemon Muffins
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Looking for more Paleo-friendly recipes? Give these a try:
Ingredients
Paleo Blueberry Jam
- 4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
- ¼ cup honey or coconut sugar
- 2 tablespoon (30 ml) lemon juice
Lemon Muffins
- ½ cup coconut flour
- ½ cup tapioca flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ½ cup non-dairy milk such as almond, coconut, cashew, soy, oat
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice juice of one large lemon
- 3-4 teaspoons lemon zest zest of two large lemons
Instructions
- Thoroughly wash the blueberries in cold water and remove any stems and leaves.
- In a medium pot set over medium heat, add the blueberries and stir in honey or coconut sugar and lemon juice.
- After a few minutes, once blueberries have warmed through, use a potato masher to press down on the blueberries and release their juices.
- Bring the mixture to a boil and remove any foam that may form on the surface.
- Reduce heat to low and continue cooking until jam thickens and reduces by about half, approximately 20 minutes.
- Scrape into a bowl and place in the fridge to cool while you prepare the muffin batter. You should have about 8-10 ounces of jam.
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF (220ºC) and spray a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside
- In a large bowl, whisk together the coconut flour, tapioca flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, maple syrup, milk, honey and lemon juice.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir together just until combined.
- Stir in the lemon zest. Spoon batter into muffin tins, filling each cup ½ way.
- Spoon about 1 teaspoon blueberry jam on top of batter in each cup, swirl it in gently with a toothpick (you may have some jam leftover)
- Bake the muffins at 425ºF (220ºC) for 5 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350ºF (177ºC) and bake for another 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
- Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes then tip out onto a wire rack and allow to cool.
Notes
- Store cooled muffins in a ziplock bag or airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- Muffins may be frozen for up to 3 months. Wrap each one in plastic wrap and place inside a freezer-safe ziplock bag. Allow to thaw at room temperature for about 30 minutes or warm gently in the microwave on 50% power for 30-60 seconds
Nutrition
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