These gluten free orange cranberry muffins are fluffy, flavoursome and just sweet enough. With a zesty orange flavour and slight tang from the cranberries, these muffins feel light yet filling. With raw sugar sprinkled on top of the muffins, this gluten free muffin recipe is perfectly sweet.
Being nut free, these gluten-free muffins are a great addition to the school or kindy lunchbox or perfect for you if you have food allergies to nuts or dairy! For more nut free, lunchbox friendly recipes you might also like to try my Spelt Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies or my Muesli Slice recipe.
If you love these muffins then you might also like to try my Gluten Free Apple Chai Muffins or my Healthy Spelt Flour Banana Muffins.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
I'm seriously obsessed with this orange muffin recipe. There's something about tart cranberries paired with a fresh orange flavor that is just SO good! Here's some more reasons to love these delicious muffins:
- these tasty muffins are gluten free, dairy free and nut free.
- this healthy recipe is made using wholesome, nutritious ingredients like oranges, cranberries, buckwheat flour and olive oil.
- these sweet muffins are the perfect breakfast or afternoon snack over the holiday season!
- cranberries are high in antioxidants and vitamin C.
Ingredients Notes & Substitutions
It's taken me a little while but I have finally created the perfect ratio of wholefood, gluten free ingredients for a fluffy and delicious muffin that is nut free.
Dry Ingredients
- buckwheat flour - for best results it is ideal to use the gluten-free flour blend that I've listed in the recipe. In a pinch, you can swap the buckwheat flour and tapioca starch for a store bought gf flour.
- tapioca flour - also known as tapioca starch. You can also use arrowroot starch or corn starch.
- coconut flour - Coconut flour can be really tricky to bake with but when you get the ratio between coconut flour:other flours:liquid right it can be amazing!
- aluminium free baking powder - if you're gluten intolerant or Coeliac it is also a good idea to check that the baking powder is gluten free!
- rapadura sugar - can be swapped for coconut sugar (the muffins will be darker in colour but will still taste delicious).
- raw can sugar - generally I avoid using refined sugars, however these muffins are so delicious with raw sugar sprinkled on top before baking!
Wet Ingredients
- eggs - if you need to make these egg free, you can swap the eggs for flax eggs (1 flax egg = 1 tablespoon flax meal + 3 tablespoons water). Please note that I haven't tested the recipe using flax eggs but if you feel like experimenting, I would love to hear how you went!
- soy milk - can be swapped for another non-dairy milk such as oat milk, almond milk, coconut milk (drinking coconut milk/beverage, not canned coconut milk!) or cashew milk.
- extra virgin olive oil - use a delicately/light flavoured extra virgin olive oil. You can also use avocado oil or melted coconut oil in place of olive oil.
- fresh orange juice & orange zest -
- frozen cranberries - if it is cranberry season then you can also use fresh cranberries! And for my Australian friends who might struggle to find frozen cranberries, I found them at my local organic grocer. If you can't find cranberries (or don't like them) then you can swap for any other frozen berries, like frozen raspberries or blueberries.
How to Make Gluten Free Cranberry Orange Muffins
These muffins really are very simple to make! Here's how I do it.
Preheat the Oven
It's always important to start by preheating the oven. For this recipe you need to preheat the oven to 180 C° or 356F° (non fan forced). Then line the muffin pan with cupcake papers and set aside.
Mix the Dry Ingredients
Next you need to mix together all of the dry ingredients. Sieve the buckwheat flour, coconut flour, tapioca starch and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. I always sieve the baking powder otherwise you could end up with lumps of baking powder in your cooked muffins and trust me, no one wants that! Add the rapadura sugar and then whisk together. Use a spoon to remove any lumps of sugar and then create a well in the centre of the flour mixture.
Mix the Wet Ingredients
Now it's time to whisk together all of the wet ingredients. I've used a mixture of fresh orange juice and zest along with soy milk, eggs and olive oil. Once the wet ingredients are whisked together nicely make your muffin batter by whisking together the wet and dry ingredients. Add the cranberries and mix through (I use a spoon for this or all of the cranberries get stuck in the whisk!).
Bake!
I use an ice cream scoop to evenly divide the batter between the cupcake papers. For this recipe it works out perfectly to twelve scoops! Pop the muffins into the oven onto the top shelf and bake for 30 minutes. They will be slightly golden on top and a skewer should come out clean).
Storage
Once the muffins have cooled to room temperature, store in an airtight container on the bench for 2 days. After 2 days, transfer to the fridge or freeze individual leftover muffins in a freezer bag in the freezer.
Healthy Facts
Gluten free doesn't always mean healthy. A lot of gluten free products compensate for the lack of gluten with highly refined ingredients and lots of sugar. Using whole-food, gluten free ingredients means that you are still creating a nutritious and healthy bake. Some benefits of the ingredients I have used for these gluten free muffins are below:
- Buckwheat flour is high in fibre, complex carbohydrates, B vitamins, folate and magnesium.
- Coconut flour is very high in fibre and medium chain triglycerides (which help to stabilise blood sugar levels).
- Rapadura sugar is cane sugar that is unrefined. White sugar goes through a large amount of processing meaning you are left with a very high sucrose end product. Rapadura sugar on the other hand is minimally processed and still contains the highly nutritious molasses. This makes Rapadura sugar a lower glycemic index than refined sugar. (Please note that while Rapadura sugar is a healthier option, it is still sugar and should be eaten in moderation).
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil is a great dairy free alternative to those who can't tolerate dairy. EVOO is high in polyunsaturated fats, making it great for heart health.
📖 Recipe
Equipment
- Medium Mixing Bowl
- Measuring Cups & Spoons
- Whisk
- Mixing Spoon
- Muffin tin
- Cupcake Papers
- Cooling Wrack
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups buckwheat flour
- ⅓ cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup tapioca flour
- ½ cup rapadura sugar
- 2 teaspoon baking powder aluminium free
- 1 tablespoon orange zest fresh
- ¾ cup orange juice fresh
- ⅔ cup olive oil extra virgin
- ⅓ cup soy milk or other dairy free milk of choice
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup cranberries fresh or frozen, plus extra for topping
- 2 tablespoon raw sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line muffin tin with 12 cupcake papers.
- In a large mixing bowl sieve together buckwheat flour, coconut flour, tapioca flour and baking powder. Add rapadura sugar to the mixing bowl and use a whisk to combine. Use a spoon to break up any lumps of sugar and then create a well in the centre of the flour mixture.1 ½ cups buckwheat flour, ⅓ cup coconut flour, ¼ cup tapioca flour, 2 teaspoon baking powder, ½ cup rapadura sugar
- In a separate medium sized mixing bowl whisk together eggs, milk, orange juice, zest and olive oil.1 tablespoon orange zest, ¾ cup orange juice, ⅓ cup soy milk, 3 eggs, ⅔ cup olive oil
- Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and whisk until just combined. Add the cranberries and stir through.½ cup cranberries
- Use an ice cream scoop to spoon batter into the cupcake papers. Sprinkle the top of each muffin with extra cranberries as well as raw sugar. Place onto the top shelf of the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until just golden on top and skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of a muffin.2 tablespoon raw sugar
- Once baked, remove from oven, and allow to cool in tin slightly before transferring to cooling rack.
Video
Notes
Storage
Once cooled, store muffins in an airtight container for up to two days at room temperature. Transfer leftover muffins into freezer bags and freeze for up to 3 months. Nutrition facts are an estimate only.Nutrition
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Sonja McGuire
Absolutely fantastic and healthy. I still say olive oil is the only oil!
Sarah Bell
Thank you Sonja! Olive oil is definitely my favourite!
Amina Alvarez
Could I substitute the coconut flour and topica starch for a gluten free 1-1 mixture?
Sarah Bell
Hi Amina, I haven't tried this so I'm not 100% sure it would work but fairly confident it would be ok. I'd love to hear how you go if you do try it.
Sara
Hi...I'm not able to do buckwheat flour due to autoimmune issues, so avoid all gluten-type flours. What would you suggest as a substitute?
Sarah Bell
Hi Sara, though the name suggests otherwise, Buckwheat flour is actually gluten free and not related to wheat at all. If you are only avoiding gluten flours then you can definitely consume buckwheat flour.