Elderberry Muffins
This is the best Elderberry Muffins recipe, and it comes complete with a crumble topping. It makes delicious muffins with an interesting name. An elderberry muffin makes a flavorful addition to your best breakfast recipes. This is a vegan muffin recipe, made without eggs or dairy.
My neighbor has an elderberry bush that is producing tons (not literally… the berries are kind of small) of berries. He finally (I mean graciously) relented to my whiny requests to let me pick some of them.
Have you ever seen an elderberry? Have you ever wondered what elderberries taste like?
Here are some up a little closer.
Elderberries are known to have medicinal value and have shown to relieve symptoms of the flu. Good thing I froze some for use this winter.
Elderberries are high in Vitamin C, fiber, and flavonoids. Who knew so much could be packed into such itty-bitty berries.
If you’re like me, you know you’ve heard about them before, but just can’t recall where. Here are some interesting tidbits to refresh your memory:
- In the Harry Potter books, the elder wand (made from an elderberry bush) was the much sought after wand in the book, Deathly Hallows.
- Elton John sings a famous song Elderberry Wine
- When my daughter asked where I was and she found out I was out picking elderberries, she quoted the line from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, “Your mother smelled of elderberries.” The real quote is “Your father smelled of elderberries” but her rendition seemed more appropriate.
Elderberries were known in folklore to ward off witches. Hmm, sounds like another good reason to keep them around.
After reading more about them, I was convinced they would make a splendid muffin, similar to a blackberry or blueberry muffin. The results were delicious.
How to Make Elderberry Muffins
We love making elderberry muffins around here. I think you will too. Here are the steps to make them:
- Mix crumble topping ingredients (flour, nuts, brown sugar, and vegan butter). This will be crumbly. Set aside.
- Make the muffins by stirring together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, mix applesauce, soy milk, apple cider vinegar, sugar, melted vegan butter, and vanilla.
- Place elderberries in a small bowl and add 1 to 2 tablespoons of the flour mixture. Gently stir the elderberries to coat them with the flour mixture.
- Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir until the dry ingredients are just moistened. Add the berries. It’s ok for the batter to be lumpy because you don’t want to over mix so the muffins will be fluffy.
- Pour the batter into muffin cups and sprinkle with the crumble topping (optional, but highly recommended).
- Bake for 17 to 20 minutes until a tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool for several minutes before serving.
Can I used dried elderberries in these muffins?
If you don’t have elderberry bushes in your neighborhood, you can substitute dried elderberries. To do that, soak dried elderberries in hot water for at least 30 minutes to rehydrate them.
More Elderberry Recipes
Do you love elderberries? Here are more elderberry recipes to try:
If you have an elderberry bush of your own, you’re lucky. If you spot one in your neighborhood I encourage you to befriend its owner. Offer a batch of muffins in exchange for some of their berries.
Or plant a bush so you can enjoy this tasty and healthy berry in your future recipes. I’ve been trying out lots of elderberry recipes this week and will have more to share with you soon. It’s like our own Elderberry Wine Festival!
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Elderberry Muffins
Ingredients
Crumble Topping
- ¼ cup vegan butter, softened
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- ¼ cup chopped nuts
- ½ cup brown sugar
Muffins
- 2 cups all purpose flour (1 C whole wheat)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup applesauce (unsweetened)
- 8 tablespoons vegan butter, melted
- 1 cup soy milk
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 ¼ cups fresh elderberries rinsed and drained (see note)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Mix together crumble topping ingredients. Set aside.
- Mix dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, mix applesauce, soy milk, vinegar, sugar, melted butter, and vanilla.
- Place elderberries in a small bowl and add 1 to 2 tablespoons of the flour mixture. Gently stir the elderberries to coat them with the flour mixture.
- Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir until the dry ingredients are just moistened. Add the berries. It’s ok for the batter to be lumpy because you don’t want to over mix so the muffins will be fluffy.
- Pour the batter into muffin cups, sprinkle with the crumble topping (optional, but highly recommended), and bake for about 17 to 20 minutes. Let cool for several minutes before serving.
Recommended Equipment
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Notes
The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Enjoy!
The batter seemed to have a good consistency.
My oven temperature for sure is not perfect but I had to cook these for WAY over the 20 minute time, as per the recipe.
Overall the muffins are good but next time I would consider adding more elderberry and not including chopped nuts in the crumble.
Rutgers have a seed with cyanide in it.. Does this cooking prices for the muffins destroy that seed it so you need to cook the berries first
Hi Michelle. Cooked elderberries are safe to eat. These muffins are baked at 350°F/177°C.
Can I sun olive oil for butter?
Hi Liz. Yes, You can substitute vegetable oil for this recipe.
I have only ever used elderberries to make the syrup, not baking. My bushes went crazy this year so wanted to try baking with them too. Just to be clear with this recipe, you do not precook the berries? You bu them in fresh and the oven cooking renders them non toxic?
I can’t wait to try this and your pie recipe (that one you DO cook the pie filling first, right?)
Thanks for your help!
Hi DJ. Every so often a plant will have what’s called a mast year where they produce much more fruit than normal. Sounds like that’s what you’re experiencing with your elderberry bush. How fun! I do not precook elderberries before adding them to muffins or pies, however, sometimes I use dried elderberries. Make sure you’re using ripe elderberries with the stems removed.
We did make these with leftover elderberry pulp after making syrup, and they turned out great. Thanks for sharing!
used canola oil for the vegan butter and Banana for the apple sauce. Elderberries were left over from the tincture I made with Vodka. Muffins can out great! Tasted the tincture, but felt the overwhelming healing of the immune system.. Love it. Not for all!!!
Thanks, Theresa. Your tincture sounds interesting. Glad the muffins turned out great!
How would one go about subbing in dried elder berries?
Hi Fawn, Yes. You can use dried elderberries. They simply need to be rehydrated first. I do this by adding hot water and letting them sit for a while until they’re tender. I find dried elderberries are very firm so they might need up to an hour to soak. I’ll add more about this in the post. Thanks!
Could you use elderberry mash lefter over from making syrup for this muffin recipe? Thank you
This is an interesting question, Judy. I’m sure you could use this (I’m always looking for ways to use ingredients that could be considered “discarded). However, because the berries have been processed to create syrup, they may not result in distinct berries in the muffins, and therefore the muffins might end up being more purple. But it’s definitely worth a try! I’d love to hear how it goes!
Can you freeze these baked muffins?
Hi Merry. Yes, I have frozen these muffins before and it works just fine!