Gluten-Free Orange Almond Muffins

Breakfast Rut–Two words no one wants to hear during the work week. But every now and then, they roll around and it’s time to look for new recipes or inspiration. Breakfast can be challenging when you’re not a morning person. I usually try to meal prep breakfast the night before so I can just reheat it in the morning.

One of the more challenging aspects of trying to minimize gluten in a lifestyle is the lack of quick and easy breakfast foods that are gluten-free.

Lately, I’ve been getting tired of my usual go-tos like home fries and sausage, bacon and eggs, hash browns and ham steak. I usually add in fruit too and the occasional kale salad if I have left overs from dinner. And we all know I love a good avocado toast, but that means keeping avocados on hand pretty frequently.

I do keep gluten-free sliced bread in the freezer, occasionally gluten-free bagels, and frozen waffles, but I miss being able to just pour a bowl of cereal and call it breakfast (I’ve tried GF cereals and don’t love them enough to keep them around). To be honest though, cereal was never filling and I do tend to like savory breakfasts over sweet.

So, I decided to dust off an old cookbook and tried out these Orange Almond Olive Oil muffins from Giada De Laurentiis’ Feel Good Food cookbook.

Per usual, I made some additions and adjustments to make the recipe my own. My biggest change was using the King Arthur All Purpose Gluten-Free flour to make these muffins gluten-free friendly.

All that to say, these muffins exceeded my expectations and I will definitely be making them again.

Check out the original recipe here and keep reading below for my own take on it. My adjustments are in purple text.

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup sugar in the raw
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• Grated zest of 1 medium orange
• 1/3 cup fresh orange juice, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon pure almond extract
• 1 cup King Arthur Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour
• 2/3 cup almond flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon flax seed
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds
• 1/3 cup gluten-free steel cut oats
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon sugar

Instructions:

1.) Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

2.) Using a hand mixer on medium speed, in a medium bowl, beat the sugar and eggs together until well combined, about 2 minutes. Beat in the orange zest and orange juice, olive oil, yogurt, vanilla, and almond extract.

3.) In a separate bowl, whisk together the all-purpose GF flour and almond flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, flax seed, baking powder, and salt.

4.) In batches, stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture until just blended. Stir in half of the almonds and half of the oats.

5.) Fill the prepared muffin cups about 2/3 of the way up with the batter.

6.) Sprinkle leftover toasted sliced almonds and oats on each muffin. See note below on how to toast them for this part.

7.) Bake until golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes.

8.) Let the muffins stand in the pan for 5 min and then remove them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Note on the Toasted Almonds and Oats
Toast the other half of your sliced almonds and oats to sprinkle on top of each muffin. In a bowl, combine the leftover sliced almonds, oats, melted butter, and sugar. Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake in a preheated 350 degree Fahrenheit oven until lightly toasted, 5-7 minutes. Let the mixture cool completely before using. Watch the almonds closely as they will go from zero to burned pretty quickly!