My favorite breakfast is probably old-fashioned oats or a combination of oats and buckwheat hot cereal. Honestly, it almost feels like eating dessert after I’ve added berries, sliced banana, a few walnuts, and a little maple or date syrup. Yum! You can see why it’s my favorite. Now, however, I have a runner-up… It’s my new Oil-Free Almond Cherry Muffins.
Luckily, these are also filled with oaty goodness because we know how good oats are for us, right? They contain beta-glucan, which is the substance that helps lower cholesterol. Did you know that pears have it, too?
There are different types of oats, all of which come from oat groats. Oat groats are very similar to brown rice, and you would cook them the same way. You can use oat groats for both savory dishes and breakfast cereal.
Whole Intact Grains
The amazing thing about whole intact grains like oat groats is that they help you feel fuller longer. Steel-cut oats are a good choice for breakfast if you want to feel fuller longer. They just take a little longer to digest and don’t affect your blood sugar as quickly as old-fashioned oats… but I digress. Let’s get to these cherry muffins.
Of course, these muffins have no oil, but oil-free muffins present a bit of a challenge – how to keep them moist.
I might suggest that we view oil-free baked goods in a different light: while providing a sweet, plant-based treat, they also help us reach our health goals.
So shift your mindset and be open… These don’t feel greasy in your hand, they don’t leave an oily taste in your mouth, and they have enough fruit to help with moisture. Oh, and they also have two tablespoons of almond butter.
Make Your Own Oat Flour
I make oat flour from old-fashioned oats in the blender, or you can also buy oat flour at the market. These delicious cherry muffins are even quick to make in the morning. You’ll mix the dry ingredients — whole wheat pastry flour, oat flour, chia seeds, baking powder, and salt — with the wet ingredients: plant milk, maple syrup, and almond extract. Then add those luscious cherries and a few toasted sliced almonds, and they’re ready to pop in the oven for 15 minutes or so.
These are lightly sweetened with maple syrup and not overly sweet, so if you prefer sweetened plant milk, that works.
These may not be as moist as muffins made with eggs and oil, but they’re still quite satisfying. I’ll let you be the judge. Let me know in the comments if you enjoy these muffins or if you think they’re too dry, and I’ll go back to the drawing board.
Other Plant-Based Breakfast Options
- Banana Chip Almond Muffins
- Chai Spice Apple Muffins
- Low-Fat Cinnamon Granola
- Blueberry Lemon Bars
- Oatmeal with Berries & Nuts
P.S.: I’ve been testing these for a while now and really want to have a recipe with 12 muffins, but alas, these only make 9 muffins. I couldn’t wait any longer to get this recipe to you so look for an update in the very near future to 12 instead of 9 muffins!
I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments below for these Oil-Free Almond Cherry Muffins! If you have a photo, post it on my Instagram page, tag me using the hashtag #plantbasedcooking in your caption, and I won’t miss it!
Oil-Free Cherry Almond Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup oat flour (see note)
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 2/3 cup blanched almond flour (or unblanched, see note)
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (or any plant milk)
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 2 tbsp almond butter
- 1 1/4 tsp pure almond extract
- 1 cup tart cherries fresh or frozen cut in halves or quarters if large
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds
- 2 tbsp granulated or coarse sugar (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a small amount of nonstick cooking spray into nine muffin cups or line with paper liners.
- Whisk oat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
- In a separate bowl combine almond milk, almond butter, maple syrup, and almond extract and add to the dry ingredients. Mix carefully until just combined. Very gently fold in the cherries and sliced almonds
- Evenly divide the batter into muffin cups. They should be almost full. Sprinkle with optional sugar and a few sliced almonds.
- Bake on the middle rack for 20-25 minutes until lightly golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let them cool a minute then remove them to a plate to help prevent dryness.
- If you have leftovers, refrigerate in an airtight container for about 7 days or frozen up to 3 months.
Notes
- Make oat flour from old-fashioned rolled oats in the blender.
- You can substitute unblanched almond flour, but it'll make a denser, more crumbly muffin
- Use any plant milk.
- The cherries don’t need to be defrosted
- You can substitute other berries such as raspberries, blueberries, cut-up strawberries, or raisins.
- To create a gluten-free or nut-free option, use only oat flour and omit the nuts and almond butter.
Nutrition
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I appreciate your feedback! Please consider rating the recipe along with your comment—it helps me and fellow readers. Feel free to share any substitutions, results, or tips. Kind, constructive comments only. Your email won’t be published.
I will try these but, I will leave out or change a couple of items, not all listed is available in Australia and I try to avoid all fats for heart disease.
Hey Kim, yes… give them a try. I tested several versions. You can leave out the almond butter. They may be a little dryer and I tested without almond flour, too, using oat flour and whole wheat flour. I hope it works for you. 👍
I made these muffins today and we liked them, did not find them too dry. I was afraid my husband would think they were not sweet enough, but he liked them. My cherries were dark sweet cherries so that might have helped.
Hey Tamara, I think they’re best when they first come out of the oven. My husband always thinks things are too sweet and I wonder if they’re not sweet enough, especially when it comes to muffins. I’m so glad you both enjoyed them. The cherries really do help. 🙂
Hi, I made these muffins today. They are really tasty! Good flavor and texture and just sweet enough with the maple syrup (I skipped the sugar). I think I will add some pomegranate seeds next time! Thank you for the healthy recipe! Love that there is no oil in the recipe. One question, can applesauce be substituted for the almond butter?
Hi Tom, I’m glad you enjoyed the muffins and thanks for the feedback! I haven’t tried using applesauce in place of almond butter. As you may have surmised, the almond butter adds a little fat but you could give applesauce a try. However, it could make them a bit drier. Most of the other substitutes for almond butter would be similar to it, like other nut butters or tahini. You could try avocado or pumpkin (or sweet potato) puree. Without testing it’s hard to say how they’d turn out. Let us know if you try one of these. 👍
I was looking at the nutritional breakdown; where does the cholesterol come from? It looks like it is a vegan recipe to me. Just curious.
Thanks for checking! I accidentally entered a number into the cholesterol, but you’re right, it should be zero. I’ve undated it on the nutrition label.
Hello, these muffins are in the oven right now. I’m wondering, though, what you mean by almond flour. Is this defatted almond flour, or simply ground almonds (blanched or not)? I ended up using ground almonds, since that’s all I have on hand, and I omitted the almond butter, as I thought it would be containing enough fat from all these almonds (especially since I made the gluten-free option with the extra almond flour). I’m sure they will turn out great, but I’m still wondering what kind of almond flour this recipe is designed for.
Thanks!
Christine
Hi, if you want a lighter, fluffier muffin, use the more finely ground blanched almond flour. It will blend more smoothly into the batter. You can still use unblanched almond flour, which includes the skins, and it’ll produce a denser, more crumbly muffin. I understand your thinking with the almond butter and since there’s not much in the recipe, it should work out. And, it would also depend on how finely your almonds were ground. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. 🙂 I’ll be updating the recipe with this info.