As a single person with only a cat as a dependent, I don’t always want a whole tray of muffins on my kitchen bench. If I have a whole tray of muffins, I’ll eat muffins at every meal (with nary a vegetable in sight) until I no longer have muffins. Given that I bake professionally (and constantly) you can see my dilemma. Today’s recipe is the perfect middle ground: a single serve, gluten free vegan blueberry muffin.

Gluten free vegan blueberry muffin (single serve)

This muffin is gluten free, nut free, egg free, dairy free, xanthan gum free and uses a single flour (not a blend). It’s easy to make and small enough to slip into the oven if you have something baking already. If you don’t fancy turning the oven on, I have another solution: the gluten free vegan blueberry mug cake in my mug cake e-book. In addition, if you’re feeding a crew, please see my gluten free vegan blueberry muffin recipe (that makes 6-7 muffins).

The muffin is a low FODMAP, quick and easy dessert or snack for one. It uses fine, fresh white rice flour, vegan yoghurt and milk, a small amount of oil and sugar plus baking soda to make a satisfying and gorgeous little muffin.

Can I make this gluten free vegan blueberry muffin with dairy instead?

Yes, you can! If you don’t need this muffin to be vegan, you can use regular yoghurt and milk. I would recommend an unsweetened variety, as the muffin is perfectly sweet as is. Personally, I love Jalna lactose free Greek yoghurt. It’s thick and acidic, which works really well here.

Can I use frozen blueberries?

Yes, you can. In fact, I developed this recipe using frozen blueberries, because I assumed that people are more likely to have frozen berries on hand. I wanted this muffin to be a pantry friendly recipe, and frozen blueberries are easy to keep at home. If you don’t have frozen blueberries, I daresay frozen raspberries or perhaps even chopped frozen strawberries would work a treat.

Can I use a different flour?

Most gluten free flours need to be combined with a different flour or starch to make an edible baked good. I find rice flour to be one of the only gluten free wholegrain flours that works well alone. I have had success with sorghum flour, but it can be bitter in large volumes.

As for gluten free flour blends: I don’t work with them so I can’t say. If you try it, let me know how you go!

Tips for your single serve muffin

This muffin uses a small amount of baking soda for rise. In my experience, less leavening (baking powder or soda) actually makes for a taller muffin.

These muffins use baking soda (also called bi-carb soda) specifically. Because the muffin is vegan, it doesn’t have the sugars in milk and butter present. These sugars are fast browning, which means that traditional baked goods brown better than vegan ones. Baking soda encourages browning in the oven, so we use baking soda in vegan baked goods to help replicate the browning for a golden brown muffin.

However, because we’re using baking soda, we need acidic ingredients to start the chemical reaction. Baking soda (an alkali) reacts with acidic ingredients (like vinegar) to create bubbles in the batter responsible for rise. This reaction also neutralises that metallic baking soda flavour, so it is important to use sufficient acidic ingredients to start this reaction. Without them, you’ll have a stodgy and flat muffin that tastes that baking soda.

Acidic ingredients include brown sugar, yoghurt, chocolate and buttermilk. In this recipe, we’re using brown sugar and yoghurt along with a tiny bit of vinegar or lemon juice.

So, why the long spiel about baking chemistry for a single muffin? Because I want you to know why the recipe works and what you can cannot substitute. Simple as that.

More gluten free vegan dessert recipes

• These brownie cookies
• The gluten free vegan chocolate cake from Intolerance Friendly Kitchen
• Some easy peanut butter truffles
• My forever favourite chocolate mug cake
• These fluffy and delicious cinnamon rolls without yeast