Tender low carb espresso muffins with cinnamon and a creamy glaze. These easy keto muffins will make your mornings spectacular.
Forgive me readers, for I have sinned. It’s been 7 months and 11 days since my last keto muffin recipe. And that’s exactly 7 months and 10 days too long. Because muffins are a keto diet essential as far as I am concerned. They are small, portable, delicious, and done right, they fit very well into a healthy lifestyle. They certainly make the low carb diet that much easier and that much more enjoyable. Since they are freezable, they are great as make-ahead breakfasts and snacks and I usually have a batch on the go for my kids. But I seem to have failed my duties lately as the Keto Muffin Master.
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It’s not that I haven’t been making any muffins. But I’ve been making my go-to muffins, the ones I know my kids will like. Out of sheer laziness, I have not been dabbling in the art of creative muffin-making. I’ve just been resting on my muffin laurels, letting the glories of my past muffin adventures see me through. That is, of course, if you define laziness as “creating a bunch of amazing keto dinner, dessert, and soup recipes for current and future cookbooks”, then yes, I have been very lazy and falling down on the job. Bad Carolyn. Bad! Bad!
I think the thing I love about muffins, besides their utter deliciousness and the ease in which they can be made is the fact that the flavor possibilities are virtually endless. There is so much muffin-y goodness out there, so many amazing variations and combinations, so many ways to ways adorn them and jazz them up. Sometimes when I consider making a new low carb muffin recipe, I am paralyzed by indecision. Do I make it savory or sweet? With almond flour or coconut flour? Berries or chocolate chips? Nuts? Extracts? AHHHHHHH! It’s just too much to take!
Okay, how about a muffin that embodies one of my other favorite breakfast treats? A cappuccino! Baking the espresso right into the muffin, with a touch of cinnamon, all topped off with a creamy glaze? It’s like the perfect breakfast, with a little extra kick of caffeine to fuel your day. And it’s pretty. We like pretty. Pretty food makes us happy. Just as long as it’s delicious too.
Now I’ve filled the muffin-shaped void in your life. You’re welcome.
Tender low carb espresso muffins with cinnamon and a creamy glaze. These easy keto muffins will make your mornings spectacular.
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tsp espresso powder
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1/2 cup Swerve Sweetener
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 2 tbsp heavy whipping cream
- cinnamon for garnish
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Preheat oven to 350F and line a muffin tin with parchment or silicone liners.
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Combine sour cream, eggs, espresso powder, and vanilla extract in a large blender jar. Blend about 30 seconds.
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Add the almond flour, sweetener, coconut flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Blend again until smooth, about 30 seconds to a minute. If your batter is overly thick, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water to thin it out (different brands of almond flour can vary).
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Divide the mixture among the prepared muffin cups and bake 23 to 25 minutes, until just golden brown and firm to the touch. Remove and let cool completely.
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In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sweetener and cream. Drizzle over the cooled muffins. Sprinkle with a little cinnamon.
Julie D says
These look SO good, was all ready to run to the kitchen to make them when I realized I used all of my sour cream last night. 😢 These muffins will have to wait until tonight.
Pamela Gilmore says
Can they be frozen with the glaze on them?
Carolyn says
I think it would be okay. Better without, but okay with.
Catherine says
Of course you’re forgiven. Thanks again for another great go-to easy-to-do muffin recipe.
Dianna says
I always substitute unsweetened plain Greek yogurt for sour cream in baking recipes because I always have Greek yogurt on hand but not sour cream.
Carolyn says
That’s fine, should be good here.
Sarah says
Carolyn, these look amazing! I have your book and love your recipes, but I have a question. I know it doesn’t bother most people, but Erythritol, like most sugar alcohols bothers my stomach. Do you have any suggestions on another sugar substitute? Stevia or something else? And how would it measure in this recipe? Thanks so much!
Carolyn says
Well, that’s always tricky. The muffins will be fine with stevia but it depends on what kind (liquid? powder? Is it a blend mixed with something else?). I am also about to try BochaSweet to see how that works. The glaze isn’t going to work without a bulk powdered sweetener, though and I don’t know of any that aren’t based on sugar alcohols.
Kate says
You could try allulose too. I don’t think that is a sugar alcohol.
Carolyn says
But there is some indication that allulose is hard on your liver…
Kate says
Wow, I never heard that before. That is very disappointing.
Yomi says
I have been using allulose and have not heard of this fact. Can you please provide a link to the article?
Carolyn says
I don’t have a link at the moment. I did have one, and it was to a PDF from the FDA – but that article appears to have been removed. This is a quote I pulled from it that concerned me:
“The authors found that allulose administration results in a lower body weight gain and lower intra-abdominal adipose tissue weight, and these results were significantly lower than the same parameters in rats fed the sucrose diet. Though not considered toxicologically significant, relative weights of liver and kidney were significantly higher in the allulose group than in the sucrose group. Similar findings of increased relative weight of liver have been observed previously in animals fed other type of sugars such as fructose and sucralose.”
Carolyn says
This WAS the link which no longer works… https://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/IngredientsPackagingLabeling/GRAS/NoticeInventory/ucm387347.pdf
PDXGirl says
You have to let us know what you think of the Bochasweet, I bought some and have used but not sure how it will impact my BS levels. I don’t test anymore. It doesn’t seem to bother my stomach or give me the cooling mouth effect. I want your expert advice!!! Thank you. We also need to try monk fruit.
Carolyn says
I know, I am a wee bit anxious about the blood sugar and whether it will kick me out of keto. But I have to experiment!
jen says
I love Bocha Sweet! It’s the only sweetener I use as I do not like Stevia nor do i care for the cooling effect of Swerve. It does not kick me out of ketosis and there is no aftertaste or cooling. I have been using for over a year…
PDXGirl says
That’s awesome Jen, I can’t really find anything about it on line other then from BochaSweet. We need Carolyn to be our tester :), I think we might be on to something.
Carolyn says
I just tried it in a cake recipe. I only had a small slice of cake but I was eating a few other things too, including some soup and some avocado. I went from 85 before eating to 98 at 1 hour after. Then I checked again at 2 hours after and was still 98. I’d say that’s pretty good! I really need to maybe try a full tablespoon on its own. But it’s encouraging.
judy a fitzsimonds says
I have these in the oven right now. They smell heavenly! I used my Ninja blender to make them and the only thing that I did differently was use MonkSweetPlus instead of Swerve. I love cream cheese on muffins, so I keep (in the fridge) a combination of cream cheese, butter, and vanilla sweet drops with some cream to make it spreadable.
I just tried one. Still warm but I could not wait. I don’t know if I needed to add water because the tops were not smooth but I don’t want to do anything to change the texture and taste. These are delicious! I have done low carb/keto for a long time and I have never had a muffin turn out with such perfect texture. I think adding more sweetener would make them into a cupcake. I am already thinking of different flavors to try in this! Thank you, Carolyn! I love your recipes and I so appreciate all the work and ‘scientific research’ that you put into creating things so the rest of us don’t have to. Thank you, thank you, thank you especially for that! BTW….did I mention I love these muffins?!
Carolyn says
Hooray! Thanks, Judy. My tops weren’t perfectly smooth either (you can see cracks in some)…but it could be the kind of almond or coconut flour too.
Pam says
Hi Carolyn,
I love your recipes and just tried the first one from your keto dinners cookbook–it was wonderful!
I have a question: would you consider giving advice regarding substituting coconut flour for the almond flour in your baked goods? I’ve found almonds too inflammatory personally but would love to know where coconut flour could be substituted. Thanks!
Carolyn says
It so so so so so so so so much depends on the recipe. All the “formulas” out there don’t work for every recipe…depends on whether you are aiming for cake (light and fluffy) or cookies (dense and hard). 🙂 But if you ask me for every individual recipe, I will try to guide you!
Seema says
Good to know I can substitute Greek yogurt for sour cream from the comments above. I have every coffee formation imaginable except the espresso powder. What’s the closest second? Instant coffee? Starbucks via packets?
Can’t wait to try these.
Shondra Turner says
I do not have espresso powder myself. I found online how to make it or in a pinch it says you can use instant coffee just use a dark roast variety. So, I am going to try that. Please keep us updated on how BochaSweet works. It does sound like a promising sweetner.
Barbara says
Since there is almost no time for me to bake, what is your most successful and favorite muffin recipe ?
Carolyn says
Well I love a lot of them. But here are two that always win people over: https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/best-low-carb-cranberry-muffins/
And https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/chocolate-pecan-pie-muffins-low-carb-and-gluten-free/
BG says
Thank you Caroline !
BG says
Just saw that it is n your cookbook, which I have !
Cecily says
Aloha Carolyn!
Since I can’t tolerate dairy I often substitute it with coconut milk or coconut cream in your recipes. Do you think if I made the glaze with coconut cream and sweetener they would have to be refrigerated? I’m assuming if you make it with real cream that they would have to be refrigerated? Truthfully your muffins/cupcakes are so delicious I usually leave off the glaze and I’m very happy with them naked! My favorite is the ginger! Also I just ordered some coffee substitute on Amazon like Cafix to use in making the muffins because I also cannot tolerate even a small amount of coffee unfortunately but I love the flavor of coffee… I’m not sure what I’m going to do about the sour cream but I’ll probably just use coconut cream. (I buy powdered coconut milk on Amazon so I can make it as thick as I like). Also I just ordered some egg white powder which I’m going to try to substitute in your recipes that call for whey powder. I’ll keep you posted if that works I hope so! Your recipes always inspire me! Thank you for each one!
In Joy,
Cecily
Christa says
Looking forward to trying these. Could the sour cream be subbed with something non dairy for those with lactose intolerance?
Carolyn says
I would imagine so, yes.
Christa says
Carolyn, do you have any suggestions? 🙂
Kate says
Thanks for your info so far on Bochasweet. Please keep us posted. I would like to try it for the taste but don’t want to spend so much money if it is going to spike my blood sugar.
Oney Ure says
Does anyone have any experience subbing oat fiber for some of the coconut or almond flour?
Jackie Byars says
Tasty! However, I added a small bit of water, and they are too moist, even though the tops are completely cooked.
erika abbott says
where to get powdered Swerve?
Carolyn says
https://amzn.to/2vhsPkn
Kristen says
Made these this morning, and they were delicious! So happy to have them for my on-the-way-to-work breakfasts this week. The coffee taste is very subtle, and the vanilla and cinnamon make these really sweet and comforting. Another winner, Carolyn.
Jenna says
Are these muffin dry? Every Keto muffin i have made have been way to dry. These sound amazing tho.
Carolyn says
No, not dry at all.
Tracy says
Awesomeness! Added Lily’s chocolate chips to batter and sprinkles some on top!
Simone says
I made these muffins today for the first time. My husband and my son both have a sweet tooth and I try desperately to offer them healthier options, usually without much success . These muffins are really yummy. They are moist, have no weird aftertaste and are easy to make. And best of all- my men like them. yeah!
I will definitely make them again. Thanks.
Anu says
These were wonderful! They were such a hit at work I had to make them two days in a row. The first time I made it as written, using Erythritol + 1/8 tsp monk fruit sweetener, baking for 155 C in a fan-forced oven for 25 minutes. The second time I doubled the coffee, added an additional teaspoon of stevia to the other sweeteners, and also added 100g of chopped walnuts to the batter. Both batches were utterly delicious, even without the glaze, which I didn’t make. I might make a third batch similar to my second batch but with even more coffee! Thank you for another fantastic recipe 🙂
Carolyn says
Glad to hear it!
Michele says
These are my favorite muffins. I have made them several times and shared with friends. They are as good as any bakery muffin.
Erica says
Doubled the espresso powder and used maybe 1/8 t cinnamon. These might be my favorite muffins ever. That rich coffee flavor and scent is incredible! Every bite is like walking into Starbucks. This is the first batch of batter prepared in my new Vitamix, and I don’t think I’ll ever make muffins another way. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Carolyn!
Sheral Brewer says
These are awesome.
Lydia says
Hi!
This recipe looks yummy!
Can anyone help me with measurements?
The recipe calls for 2 cups almond flour. How many grams is in one cup?
I’m sorry to ask such a silly question but I would rather be sure and not mess up the recipe.
Thanks!
Carolyn says
About 100g per cup.