Gluten free and top 8 allergen free, these Allergen Friendly Rhubarb Raspberry Muffins are the perfect combination of sweet and tart. The crumbly gluten and dairy free streusel topping is a great way to entice the kids to muffins over cupcakes.
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Why We Love Rhubarb Raspberry Muffins
Our kids are our inspirations for everything we make. We want to recreate their favourite foods in a way that is safe for them to eat. This is how we ended up at Rhubarb Raspberry Muffins with Streusel topping.
We have a bed of rhubarb plants in our garden that we inherited with our home. Both my partner and I grew up with fresh rhubarb as kids so when we saw these plants the first spring after we bought the house we were overjoyed. Rhubarb where we are doesn’t have a very long growing season. We are lucky to get two harvests from it. Our plants are so big and so many that we can get enough out of those two harvests to make many dishes.
It turns out our kids grew to love rhubarb as much as we did so when all the allergies started surfacing one of the things we needed to work on was making safe gluten free rhubarb muffins for them. Over the years the recipe had gone from a plain muffin to one with streusel topping at their request, so we obliged. Now anytime we make vegan rhubarb raspberry muffins they have to be topped or it just wouldn’t be tradition. These muffins are easy to make and usually can be done quickly.
Here’s What You’ll Need to Make Vegan Rhubarb Raspberry Muffins:
Equipment-
A two to three big bowls, a liquid measuring cup larger than the plant based milk (so you can make buttermilk in it)a couple of muffin tins, a neutral high smoke point oil to grease the pans, and a muffin batter scoop, or ⅓ C measuring cup to pour the batter into the tins.
Ingredients to Make Rhubarb Raspberry Muffins
Rhubarb -
Fresh and chopped into 1 cm pieces. I freeze any rare leftovers from our harvest. If you are using frozen rhubarb, thaw it and squeeze some but not all of the liquid out of it before adding it to the mix.
Raspberries -
I prefer fresh berries here. You can use frozen ones still frozen but may need to adjust the cooking time by adding a minute or two to the total bake time.
Gluten Free Flour -
With xanthan gum. I prefer to use Bob’s Redmill 1 to 1, if I can as it isn’t as gritty in this recipe as other flours. It does have a “May Contain Label” that isn’t safe for everyone in the area we are so do check if it suits your needs.
Brown Sugar -
Packed well. If making vegan check to make sure your sugars are vegan too.
A few spice and leavening agents - baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon.
Vegan Buttery Stick -
You can melt it on the stove or in the microwave. I find that they stay liquid longer than dairy butter so you can melt it and let it cool. For all my baking recipes I use melt buttery sticks, which contain coconut, if it isn’t suitable for you to substitute with one that is. I find the sticks give me better results in baking than tubs of butter replacers due to the moisture content but if that is what is safe for you you can use it here.
Egg Replacer -
You can use a flax egg, which is 1 tablespoon ground flax mixed with 2 Tbsps water. Alternatively, you can use a branded egg replacer. It would be 1 eggs worth of egg replacer. I use Bob’s red mill egg replacer for this recipe. I wouldn’t use aquafaba here as it doesn’t give the right crumb and can make the muffins chewy. Applesauce or banana will overpower the flavour or the muffin and will turn out too moist, possibly gooey.
Safe for you Milk Replacement- we use gluten free oat milk in these allergen friendly rhubarb raspberry muffins. Most others should work. I haven’t tried this recipe with canned coconut milk. Let me know if you do.
Apple Cider Vinegar -
We use this to make a plant based version of buttermilk you can use a safe white vinegar if you prefer but I find this gives me the best souring and biggest rise with the oat milk and baking soda to leaven the muffins.
Pure Vanilla Extract -
Check that yours is safe for you. Though some can have distilled alcohols with allergies, others cannot. We make our own pure vanilla extract with beans and potato vodka as it is safer for us but it is a year long process. Many may not wish to wait that long and beans can be hard to track down.
The Gluten Free Streusel Topping:
Brown and Granulated Sugars - as I mentioned before if you are making these vegan please check your sugar source as the processing of some sugars is a process that isn’t vegan. It is good to know this if you aren’t vegan and are baking for others who are.
Gluten Free Flour - more of the one used in the muffins
Vegan Buttery Stick - this time leave it in the fridge as we want it super cold and cut into small cubes. Plant based buttery sticks will go very soft quickly out of the fridge so leave them in the fridge until right when you need them.
Salt - just a bit
Method to Make
Melt the vegan butter, combine the water and ground flax. Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and the liquid ingredients in a separate medium bowl. Form a well in the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients in well. Combine them until just mixed, any more and the muffins will be tough and rubbery.
Fold in the fruit, delicate folding helps the fruit stay intact. To use the folding technique use a medium spatula or spoon to gently move around the outside of the bowl and then up through the middle. Portion the batter into well oiled muffin tins using a measure scoop like one of these by New Star. The size is usually a #12 or ⅓ cup for a standard sized muffin tin.
The streusel topping is all the ingredients added together in a medium bowl. They can be mixed with a spoon but the best results come from rubbing the ingredients between the fingers to mix.
Adaptations
You can change up the flavours if you’d like. Switch the raspberries out for another classic pairing with rhubarb — strawberries, blackberries, currants, chopped apples, blueberries or raisins would all work well.
How to Store Rhubarb Raspberry Muffins
-In the Fridge or On the Counter
These allergen friendly rhubarb raspberry muffins are best stored in a sealed container for 2-3 days and best when eaten freshly baked with at least one paper towel in the container. The paper towel helps to soak up any extra moisture without drying out the muffins. Extra moisture will give the muffins a grainy and gritty texture with gluten free all purpose flour as they tend to be made primarily from rice flour.
-Freezer
Rhubarb raspberry muffins freeze well for 2 months when stored in a sealed freezer container.
What to Serve Muffins With
Muffins are a great snack on their own or as a part of a lunch or breakfast with a bit of fresh fruit and vegan vanilla coconut yoghurt. The Gluten free rhubarb raspberry muffins also work well with a vanilla or orange chia pot.
Other Recipes You May Enjoy
If you make this recipe for Rhubarb Raspberry Muffins, please leave a comment and let us know how you like them. We love hearing from you.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- Muffin Ingredients
- 2 ¾ C gluten free flour with xanthan gum I use Bob’s Redmill 1 to 1, when I make this recipe
- 1 ¼ C brown sugar packed
- 1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon ground
- ½ C vegan butter stick melted (I use melt buttery sticks, which contain coconut)
- 1 tablespoon ground flax (plus 2 Tbsps water mixed together. Or one eggs worth of egg replacer I use Bob’s redmill egg replacer for this recipe.
- 1 C oat milk or suitable plant based milk
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ C rhubarb chopped into 1 cm pieces
- 1 pint raspberries
- Streusel Topping
- ½ C brown sugar packed
- ¼ C granulated sugar
- ¼ C gluten free flour
- ¼ C vegan butter stick cold cut in to small cubes.
- Pinch salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and wipe muffin tins with neutral oil.
- Combine oat milk and apple cider in a liquid measuring cup, stir and set aside.
- Melt vegan butter, set aside.
- Mix flax or egg replacer powder with water in a bowl, set aside.
- In a large bowl combine gluten free flour, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon. Stir with a spoon.
- In a medium bowl, combine liquid ingredients, melted vegan butter, flax egg, soured oat milk, and vanilla.
- Make a well in the dry ingredients in the large bowl and pour the wet ingredients into the well. Use a spoon to mix. If needed add up to 2 TBSPs of water to make sure the mix is incorporated. Do not over mix.
- Fold in rhubarb and raspberries.
- Using a medium scoop, spoon the mix into muffin tins.
- Put 1 tablespoon of streusel topping on each muffin. (See streusel instructions below)
- Bake for 18-22 mins. Let cool in the tin for 10 mins then remove from tin and allow to continue to cool on a wire rack.
- Topping
- Mix brown sugar, granulated sugar, gluten free flour, and salt, with a spoon or by rubbing between your fingers.
- Either cut in the butter or using fingers work the butter into the mix until it is in smaller than pea sized bits. It will stick together slightly.
- Spoon 1 tablespoon of the topping mix on to each muffin. This mix will top 18 muffins.
Have you made this recipe? Please leave a comment and us know how much you liked it.