Plum crumble muffins (gluten-free, dairy-free)


‘Autumn… season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’ as Keats (and Mr Kipling) used to say – and one of my favourite seasons. In our garden, the plum tree produced one measly, slightly misshapen fruit. But over at my friend Ruth’s house the branches of their tree are practically snapping under the weight. What to do with so many plums? It was time for muffins…

Makes 12

150g (1 cup) gluten-free plain white flour blend (Dove’s Farm is good)
50g (½ cup) ground almonds
125g (2/3 cup) granulated sugar
125ml (½ cup) sunflower oil
1 tbsp Demerara sugar
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
3 eggs
¼ tsp vanilla extract
grated zest of half a lemon
pinch of fine salt
200g (1 ½ cups) fresh plums
1 tbsp gluten-free baking powder
Sunflower oil for oiling

Place the flour blend, ground almonds, sugar, and half the oil in a food processor. Blend until you get a mixture that resembles breadcrumbs (if you don’t have a food processor or blender, whisk everything with an electric whisk).
Remove ¼ cup of this crumble mix and place in a small bowl with the Demerara sugar and ground cinnamon. Stir.
To the mixture in the food processor add the rest of the oil, the eggs, vanilla extract, lemon zest and salt. Blend/whisk for 30 seconds until thoroughly combined. Now leave the mixture to stand for 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 160C. Place 12 muffins cases in a 12-cup muffin pan. Lightly oil the top surface of the muffin pan with sunflower oil in case over overflowing cake mixture.
Slice the plums in half and extract the stones. If they are large plums, cut them into quarters. Set aside.
After the 15 minutes’ standing time, add the baking powder to the cake mixture and blend briefly to combine everything. You’ll have a smooth, yellow batter with the consistency of thick custard.
Distribute the mixture equally between the 12 cases. Add plum pieces to each case, followed by a level tsp of crumble mix over the top.
Pop the muffin pan in the oven for 25-30 minutes until the muffins are risen and golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin.



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Recipes about gluten-free, wheat-free, dairy-free, egg-free, alcohol-free and vegan cooking.

By the way - don't forget to ask all your guests if they have an allergy (because the recipes use some unusual combinations and they may not expect to find citrus and soya in a chocolate cake, for example).
pps.if you are cooking for someone with an allergy, please read my allergy post first.