Rice Flour Muffins - Gluten Free!

Another gluten free test recipe, another success!  This recipe is based on one I found on the Bob's Red Mill website.    I've always been happy with their products, and there are lots of recipes - gluten free and otherwise - on the site.  My favorite muffin recipe uses yogurt, so I decided to try it in the gluten free recipe, and was really happy with the result.  The texture is a little different from a wheat-based muffin - not quite as fluffy, a little moister, and very light.

I used honey almond Greek yogurt in my muffins, but you can choose any flavor.  Use lemon yogurt, omit the cinnamon, and add 1/2 c blueberries for blueberry muffins.  Next time I think I'll make a gluten free streusel with white rice flour, turbinado sugar, and butter to sprinkle on top.

Rice Flour Muffins

• 1 c white rice flour


• 1 tsp GF baking powder


• 1/2 tsp baking soda


• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar


• 1/2 tsp salt


• 1/2 tsp xantham gum


• 3 T sugar


• 1 egg


• 6 oz GF yogurt (2/3 c)


• 1/4 c unsweetened applesauce


• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°.  Butter or line 6 muffin cups.

In a large bowl,  mix the dry ingredients.  In a small bowl, beat the wet ingredients.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined.  Divide batter among muffin cups and bake 16-18 minutes, until tops are beginning to brown.

Ricotta Pancakes

I don't often get excited about breakfast.  If we have eggs on a weekday, you can bet we're out of milk.  I do usually cook breakfast either Saturday or Sunday, but more to get the family together at the table than because I love breakfast so much.  Give me coffee and the paper, and I'm set.

I had a gigantic tub of ricotta in the fridge (see Butternut Squash Lasagna and Spinach & Ricotta Gnocchi), and some blueberries in the freezer, and so I went on an Internet quest to find a recipe.  Most I found called for whipped egg whites, and I'm sure they make a beautiful, fluffy, light-as-air pancake, but whipping egg whites in the morning, on a weekend, requires way too much in the way of dishes and effort for people who are just barely awake.  So the quest continued until I found a recipe that did not require more than one bowl, or electrical equipment, and we were quite pleased with the results.  The blueberries (or any fruit, really) are a great complement to the pancakes, but certainly not necessary.  In fact, if we hadn't been out of maple syrup, there would be no blueberries.

Ricotta Pancakes w Blueberry Compote

• 2 c fresh or frozen blueberries


• 1 T lemon juice


• 1/4 c sugar


• 2 T cornstarch


• 1/2 c whole wheat flour


• 1/4 c + 2 T flour


• 1 tsp sugar


• 1/4 tsp salt


• 1 tsp baking powder


• 1/4 tsp baking soda


• 1/2 tsp nutmeg


• 3/4 c ricotta cheese


• 1 egg


• 1 egg white


• 1/2 c buttermilk

In a small saucepan, mix the blueberries, sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch.  Heat over medium-low heat until boiling.  Boil one minute until sauce is thickened and berries burst, then reduce heat to low and keep warm until pancakes are finished.

Meanwhile, mix flours, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and nutmeg.  In a separate bowl, whip together egg and egg white, ricotta, and buttermilk.  Add the liquid ingredients all at once to the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed.

Heat a griddle or saute pan over medium heat.  Brush or spray with vegetable oil.  Pour 1/4 c batter for each pancake, and cook until bubbles form all over the surface.  Flip and cook other side.  Serve with blueberry compote.

Blueberry Muffins

Best Blueberry Muffins

• 2 c flour


• 1/2 c sugar


• 2 tsp baking powder


• 1/2 tsp baking soda


• 1/2 tsp salt


• 2 eggs, slightly beaten


• 1 c yogurt (lemon or vanilla - or experiment!)


• 1/2 c vegetable oil (or unsweetened applesauce)


• 1 c fresh blueberries, rinsed

Streusel Topping

• 1/4 c flour


• 1/3 c sugar


• 2 T butter

Heat oven to 400°.  In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.   In a seperate bowl, whisk together eggs, yogurt, and oil.  Add egg mixture to flour mixture all at once, and stir until just moistened.  Fold in blueberries.  Fill 14-16 lined muffin cups.

For streusel, combine flour and sugar.  Cut in butter until mixture resembles small crumbs.  Top each muffin with about 1 T streusel.  Bake 18-20 minutes, cool in pan 10 minutes.

Alternatively, preheat the oven to 375°, grease a 9x9 baking dish, and bake 25-30 minutes to make blueberry coffeecake.