Gluten Free Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes with Lemon Vanilla Frosting

My daughter has been visiting cupcake trucks near where she works in the past few weeks and has been bring me samples of her favorites.  I loved some of them and others not so much. Recently she brought me a blueberry lemon one that I found dry and bland.  It inspired me to experiment making cupcakes using fresh blueberries and lemons with gluten free baking mixes. The results were really good. I began with the vanilla cake mix and added fresh lemon juice and berries.  The frosting was also simple using the vanilla mix made following the lemon version directions. The fresh lemon juice makes all the difference giving a nice brightness to the sweet cake taste and blueberries have that sweet tart flavor that is so delicious with lemon frosting.

I was also happy that the cost of these were a fraction of the truck cupcakes with out a lot of work!

I did go out and buy a cake decorating set for $10 to make the topping "fancy" but they will taste just as good if you simple spread the frosting on the cupcake. The simple blueberry on top makes a nice touch.

Recipe: 

1 Package Gluten Free Vanilla Cake Mix

1 Cup Milk

1/4 Cup Lemon Juice

Jest of one lemon

1/4 Cup vegetable oil

3/4 Cup fresh or frozen blueberries

In a large bowl mix the milk, lemon juice and zest and let sit for 5 minutes. Add the oil and the cake mix and blend until smooth, adding a little more lemon juice if too thick, batter should be pourable. Add the blueberries and stir until just combined.

Divide among 24 mini muffin tins lined with papers.  Bake 25-30 minutes until lightly browned on top.

Let cool on wire racks for 25 minutes then remove and cool completely.

Frost with the Gluten Free Vanilla Frosting Mix using the directions for the lemon variation.

Top with a fresh blueberry if desired.

No Sugar Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins

I have been blueberry picking a few times now over the summer and it has been fun making all my favorite blueberry recipes into gluten free baked goods. Recently I was looking through and old cookbook: "Jane Brody's Good Food Book, Living The High Carbohydrate Way" and came across a recipe for sugarless blueberry muffins that I have never tried before. I made them gluten free by substituting the flour with a gluten free all-purpose baking mix, otherwise I followed the recipe exactly. I was really impressed with the results. As you can see they are bursting with berries and have a natural sweet taste from the orange juice.  I was also happy to calculate the calories in the muffin and figured out each one has only 150 calories for a  good size muffin.  Compared to the calories in a Dunkin Donut blueberry muffin with 460 calories and the reduce fat version with 410 for a similar size blueberry muffin. Even if you want a little extra sweetness with this muffin a tablespoon of regular jam is about 50 calories and this still keeps the calorie count at a reasonable level. So give them a try and enjoy a guilt free snack, that is also tasty.

For more blueberry recipes and other gluten free baked goods visit:www.glutenfreebakingmixes.com

Blueberry Coffee Crumb Cake-Gluten Free

Blueberry Season is a great time to get out some of those old recipes that have been handed down for a few generations and try a new twist to make them even better. I find that the basics are already there, and with a few minor changes most of my old recipes can become new favorites.  This is a recipe my Husband's Aunt Betty gave me when we were first married.  It has lots of blueberries and the crust is delicious.  I made it gluten free by using a convenient baking mix and eliminated some of the butter in the topping, otherwise left it alone. It's still great for breakfast with a cup of coffee and also my kids love it with a big glass of milk!

For the recipe go to:http://www.mdillon.applybuilder.com/blueberry-coffee-crumb-ca.html