Super Moist Grain Free Vegan Blueberry Muffins Made with Tula's CoCoYo

I lived in communist USSR until I was 5 years old. Even at my young age, I still remember the long lines for food rations.When we came to the United States, the extreme abundance was overwhelming. Our fridge was consistently packed with cheap processed food, which, at the time, seemed so incredibly and miraculously affordable.

My new American diet consisted of sugary cereal and homogenized milk for breakfast, tater tots and breaded chicken patty sandwiches with corn syrup sweetened chocolate milk for my free school lunches, and for dinner we would celebrate our homeland with a more traditional dinner. My family also liked to shop at Costco, where we could stock up in one shopping trip and eat for the whole month. Almost every trip we made to Costco, we'd buy their muffin pack filled with 12 variety muffins. At 620 calories a piece and 32g of fat, these monster muffins were my favorite comfort dessert. My favorite was blueberry. I still can't believe how many of these I consumed as a child.

 

Nowadays, I steer clear of Costco unless I'm shopping for a birthday party and, every once in a while, I find some gems there like Wild Planet's Sardines and TruRoots Three Bean Trio. On a recent trip, I spotted those infamous blueberry muffins and decided to bake a much smaller and more healthy version as an homage. 

My secret ingredient in my blueberry muffins is Tula's CocoYo. This is my new favorite "yogurt." I usually eat it with homemade raw buckwheat granola to reap the benefits of the 80 billion CFU live probiotics (a lot!) per 1/2 cup serving. For this recipe, I decide to use the delicious stuff to add moisture to my muffins. It's honestly the best alternative to dairy yogurt I've ever tasted. Tula's CocoYo is all natural and is made with just 5 ingredients: raw young coconut meat, raw young coconut water, alcohol free vanilla, probiotic cultures, and stevia. I guarantee that you will not find a more natural yogurt substitute.  Tula's also has a line of Coco Kefir, which comes in the 3 flavors: Regular, Apple Cinnamon, and Citrus. The Coco Kefir, like the CocoYo, has a high volume of probiotics (15-25 CFU per 1/4 cup serving). I tried the regular flavor and really enjoyed its sweet and tangy flavor.

Crafty Grain Free Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
1 1/2 cup Blanched Almond Flour
1/2 Coconut Flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp aluminum free baking powder
1 tbsp Chia Seeds with 3 tbsp water
1/4 tsp Celtic or Himalayan Salt
1 cup Tula's CoCo Yo
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1 cup blueberries
2 tsp vanilla powder
1/3 cup melted ghee or coconut oil





Process:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees 

2. Mix chia seeds and water and let stand for 10 minutes

3. Combine almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, sugar and vanilla in one bowl

4. In another bowl, mix yogurt, oil/ghee, chia gel, and blueberries

5. Add wet ingredients into the bowl of dry. Using a mixer, mix until all ingredients are well blended

6. Scoop batter into lined muffin tin (makes 12 small, 10 medium muffins)

7. Bake for 22-25 minutes

8. Let stand in oven for another 5 minutes and then let cool on rack

9. Enjoy!