Jardan Marsh's Blueberry Muffins (made Gluten Free!)

Happy Tuesday! If you follow my blog closely, you're probably wondering why I'm posting the same recipe as last Thursday. While yes, this recipe does result in the same end product; today, I'm sharing the adjustments I made to the recipe to make it gluten free.

First, I can't share this recipe without giving major props to America's Test Kitchen: How Can it be Gluten Free Cookbook. The recipe is not from this cookbook, but I consulted this cookbook to make Jardan Marsh's muffins gluten free. This cookbook helps me get it. Because this cookbook is like an encyclopedia paired with a cookbook, it really guides you through making recipes gluten free - I love it!

You can consult my original post HERE. I'll share the recipe below, but for the step by step pictures and procedure I suggest referring back to my post last week. This is the original recipe...

JORDAN MARSH'S BLUEBERRY MUFFINS
yield: 12 muffins

ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 cups blueberries (1/2 cup mashed & 1 1/2 cups whole) - fresh or frozen
*you can sprinkle some sugar over the tops of the muffins if you so desire :)

directions
1. In a medium mixing bowl, cream softened butter and sugar together. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Then, mix in the vanilla extract.
2. In a small, separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Alternate between adding some of the dry ingredient mixture and the milk to the butter/sugar/egg/vanilla mixture until everything is well incorporated.
4. In a small, separate bowl mash 1/2 cup of the blueberries. Then add in the mashed blueberries and the rest of the blueberries, whole to the muffin batter. Fold the blueberries in.
5. Line a muffin tray with cupcake liners and fill each muffin cup to be full (not just 3/4 of the way full! Fill them right up!).
6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and bake the muffins for 30-35 minutes until the tops are golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
7. When the muffins are done, let them sit in the muffin tin for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool longer.

You can follow this recipe pretty closely, you'll only need to make two little changes - substitute the flour for Gluten Free flour (I'll share the ATK gluten free flour blend below) and add in 1/4 teaspoon of Xantham gum to the dry ingredients. That's it! Substitute the flour and add xanthum gum. Easy, right? Then, you can follow the rest of the recipe and the muffins will turn out great!

I made these last Wednesday during the day then left for various evening activities - coaching, skating, errands. I packed a muffin to have as I was running around and they were so good! I knew I needed to make them gluten free so my mom could enjoy one! I was so excited about these that I made a gluten free batch as soon as I got home that night (yes, at 9ish at night!). As a result, I have tried these as gluten free and not. I have to say, they were totally comparable and good! Not just tolerable as a gluten free substitute, they were really good!

My family has tried several gluten free flour blends - all ok but America's Test Kitchen is by far our favorite! So, I'll share that recipe here too!

We keep all of our gluten free flour related stuff in the freezer. The actual flour bend is stored in a doubled up ziplock bag and all of the other GF stuff (think psyllium husk, xanthum gum, rice flours...) is stored in a separate ziplock bag. You can find the original flour blend recipe HERE.

America's Test Kitchen Gluten Free Flour Blend
yield: 9 1/3 cups of flour

ingredients 
4 1/2 cups + 1/3 cup white rice flour
1 2/3 cups brown rice flour
1 1/3 cups potato starch (not potato flour!)
3/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk powder

directions
Combine all of the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Store the flour in an air tight container. Keep the flour in the freezer and store for up to 3 months.

Let me know if you have questions! I'm off to try making some gluten free bagels!