Blueberry-Orange Muffins

I love this time of year, it's blueberry season! We scored a case of pints from our local CSA, so I wanted to put them to good use. And who doesn't love a good muffin?! These are egg and gluten-free, but still so moist

I added some orange zest to the batter, it gives it just enough punch without overwhelming the blueberry flavor.

I like to use If You Care liners or "grease" the cupcake tin with coconut oil. These freeze well and make a delicious, easy breakfast or snack.

Blueberry Muffins

You'll need…

3/4 c brown rice or whole wheat flour

3/4 c oat flour

(or 1 1/2 c flour of your choice)

1 smashed banana

1 tsp orange zest

1/2 c cashew or other non-dairy milk

3/4 c coconut sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/3 c coconut oil (warmed to a liquid)

1 c fresh blueberries

Let's get started!

Preheat your oven to 375* and prepare your muffin pan. Whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Add in the zest, milk, oil and banana. Fold in the blueberries. Bake for 25 minutes. Makes 12.

Sweet Nut Milk

I use nut milk almost daily. In smoothies (like this one), on granola in the morning, in coffee or herbal tea, and basically anywhere dairy milk would be used. This is a sweet, indulgent milk. I like to use a combo of the nuts mentioned below, but sometimes I just use one. 

You'll need...

1 c raw, soaked and rinsed nuts

(such as hazelnuts, cashews, almonds, macadamia, peanuts or brazil nuts)

3 dates, soaked and pitted***

1 vanilla bean, soaked if necessary (or 1 tsp extract)

cinnamon (optional)

6 c of water

*** Or you can use 1 Tbsp sweetener of choice, such as maple syrup or coconut nectar
*** For an un-sweet milk, just blend the nuts with water

Nut milk bag, fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth

Let's get started!

Blend all of the ingredients in a high-speed blender until smooth. Grab your nut milk bag and a large bowl. Hold the bag open over the bowl and slowly pour the milk in, squeezing when necessary to get the milk out. 

Keep pouring the milk in to the bag, and squeezing the milk out until only dry pulp is left in the bag.

I like to pour my milk back into the blender, to make it easier to pour into a jar. Make sure you label your jar, it wouldn't be very fun to mix your nut milk and your ranch. You can save the leftover pulp and add it to muffins, smoothies, or cakes, or you could dehydrate it into a nut flour.

I just love how you can see the vanilla beans floating at the top.