Moist and cakey, these lemon poppyseed muffins are like sweet little bursts of sunshine on a stay-in-your-pajamas rainy day . . . or a pop-out-of-bed and hit the road early day . . . or any day, really. Like my five-minute ketchup, super simple cauliflower crust, and homemade chicken nuggets, they’re easy enough to whip up while simultaneously discussing how many eyelids camels have (three) and whether or not all birds can fly (nope).
And of course, we’re using only real ingredients – not the partially hydrogenated oil, modified food starch, yellow number 5, and other stuff you’ll find on store shelves. I hope you love this recipe as much as we do!
Gluten-Free Lemon Poppyseed Muffin Recipe
Equipment
- muffin pan
- medium bowl
- whisk
- mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 2 cups blanched almond flour (divided)
- 2 tbsp coconut flour
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 4 tsp poppy seeds
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- 5 large eggs
- ½ cup raw honey
- ¾ tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp lemon extract
- 2 tsp lemon zest (about 1 lemon)
- 2 tsp sucanat
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Grease nine muffin cups or line with cupcake wrappers and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, stir together all but 2 teaspoons of almond flour, coconut flour, salt, poppy seeds, and baking soda.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, honey, vanilla, lemon extract, and lemon zest.
- Add the flour to the egg mixture and mix to combine.
- Divide the batter evenly between the prepared muffin cups.
- Combine the cane sugar with the remaining almond flour and sprinkle over the top of the muffins.
- Bake for about 20 minutes in the preheated oven. The tops should be springy yet firm when they're ready.
- Allow to cool for about 10 minutes before removing from the muffin pan.
Notes
Nutrition
More Yummy Gluten-Free Muffin Recipes
Blueberry Muffins – Moist and cakey, these grain-free muffins are delicious served warm and slathered in butter.
Strawberry Streusel Muffins – These muffins pair a rich, cakey batter with a crunchy, crumbly streusel topping, and they’re surprisingly easy to make.
Banana Walnut Muffins – These muffins only take about 5 minutes of hands-on prep, and they make a yummy breakfast or afternoon snack.
Chocolate Zucchini Muffins from Danielle of Against All Grain – Infused with cacao powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and chocolate chips, these zucchini muffins are perfectly moist and totally delicious.
Looks great! How necessary is the sucanat? And would fresh lemon juice work instead of lemon extract??
The sucanat is not necessary, although it adds a little extra sweetness. Lemon extract has a much stronger flavor than lemon juice, so the flavor would be very faint with just the juice. 🙂
Heather what is sucanat? I am really in joying your recipes and also things that you post about your family and friend you are truly a down to Earth person.Thanks again..??
Hi Heather, thank you for the “tried and true” recipe. I have a question about honey – I’ve seen it in many sources that heated up to 60 Celsuis it becomes toxic. What do you think of that? Thank you!
Looks so good! Any thoughts on subbing lemon essential oil for the lemon extract?
I use lemon zest from organic lemons and I think it’s far superior to lemon extract! And I am famous for my lemon recipes, have even won prizes. Can’t wait to try this with zest!
How many lemons would you use to make zest for this recipe? Thanks
I made these tonight and I accidentally used two lemons for zest and I also didn’t have any lemon extract, so I used 10 drops lemon essential oil and they are fantastic 🙂
That’s a lot of essential oil for one recipe! I would only use 2 drops, personally.
Have you tried freezing them? Just curious if Gluten Free Muffins freeze well? Thanks! Looks delicious!
I have frozen other muffins with similar ingredients and they freeze well.
Has anyone tried this without eggs? I have to use chia eggs my husband is allergic.
Could this be made without eggs? Would the ground flax seed egg substitute work?
Yes can the muffins work with flax eggs?
I haven’t tried it but if you do please let us know how they turn out!
Can you please post a link or name the brand of lemon extract that you used? Thanks a lot !
Hi Heather,
I am wondering why you cook honey in the oven in this recipe and yet your very careful to not add honey to a warm concoction because of not wanting to destroy any of the neutriants in the honey in your ginger juice video. I think about this often and hope you can clarify it for me. Thanks, Gloria
Hi Gloria, in many cultures honey is considered medicinal, both topically and as a food. When I’m baking with it for enjoyment I don’t mind heating it, but when I’m preparing it as part of a remedy I prefer not to heat it so that its enzymes are preserved.
Thank you so much for responding. Digging a little deeper ~ somewhere, awhile ago, I think I read that it can be harmful to heat ‘raw’ honey, I think behind loosing the enzymes. That’s why I was wondering. Planning on baking up the muffins soon. I probably will do my usual substitute – a tad of maple syrup, with the balance of Stevia or Just Like Sugar to taste. Gloria
I have heard the same thing about honey but have never found any research or solid information that supports it. I think these would be great with maple syrup, but I’m also personally comfortable using honey (especially since it’s a more affordable option where I live.)
These are delicious! I made them today and my daughter loves them too. I will be making a double batch tomorrow. Thank you!
Hi Heather,
I went to the store today to grab all the ingredients and there was vanilla extract and vanilla flavoring on the shelves. The extract contains alcohol and the flavoring contacts glycerin. Just wondering which I should use? They are both organic. Along the same lines, I had to grab lemon flavor as I did not see lemon extract. Hope that is ok?
Also, they were out of Baking Soda but I do have Baking Powder, which contains Sodium Bicarbonate (plus Cornstarch and Monocalcium Phosphate). Can I use the Baking Powder instead?
Without knowing the exact brands I’m only guessing, but “flavoring” typically means that it tastes like vanilla but is actually something else, while extract implies that it is actual vanilla extracted in alcohol. Vanilla can be extracted in glycerin as well, so it’s possible that both are extracts. It’s hard to say without seeing the label. Baking powder is basically baking soda with an acid (cream of tartar) added to activate it. In some baked good with no acid that’s necessary. These muffins do have an acid in them so the additional acid is not needed, but it won’t hurt them. You will need to use more though since only a portion of the baking powder is actually baking soda. I’m not sure by how much – perhaps there is an online calculator that can help.
Thank you, Heather! The Vanilla Flavoring is by Frontier Co-op. The bottle states that it is Organic, Non-Alcoholic and made from Vanilla Oleoresin. Specifically the ingredients are Organic Glycerin and Organic Vanilla Bean Extractives in Water. The Vanilla Extract is the Organic Whole Foods brand and the ingredients are Organic Water, Alcohol and Vanilla Bean Extractives. So it appears they are both extracts, but one with alcohol and the other with glycerin. Is one particularly more “safe” or healthier than the other? I am extremely new to baking, so apologies for all the questions!
Both are totally fine. I’ve made extracts with both alcohol and glycerin, and they both work beautifully in baked goods.
Looks delish! I’d like to try this.. Can I substitute sucanat with coconut sugar, do you think?
I haven’t tested it but yes, I think you could 🙂
Hi, is there a nut free flour substitute you could recommend? Thank you!
What is the white powder on top of the muffins?
Nevermind, I see it now!
Any ideas for egg supplement? I am allergic.
I did not use sucanat, and I replaced the poppyseeds with chia seeds. I still got great muffins!
Glad you liked them, Ana!
These sound great. I am surprised there’s no fat of any kind…?
I have finally found a natural recipe guru! Heather, these are amazing! These don’t taste like a substitute for a typical muffin, they are just as good as the traditional thing. Both of my kids loved them and my husband, which is really saying something. He’s highly critical of all my healthy baked goods, and he loved these. I actually didn’t even have a lemon so I just used lemon extract and they still tasted great!
So glad they passed the husband test! 🙂
Hi Heather,
Wondering if I can sub the coconut flour or just use more almond instead?
Thx
Coconut flour and almond flour have vastly different liquid absorption rates, so unfortunately they can’t be substituted for one another in this recipe.
Can I substitute an all natural sweetener, such as Gentle Sweet, for the honey and sucanat? Honey raises my sugar.