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Close up of vegan almond muffin with a croissant-like flaked almond topping.

Vegan Almond Croissant Muffins

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Soft vegan almond muffins inspired by almond croissants, with a gooey frangipane filling and crunchy almond topping. They taste like almond croissants but in an easy muffin form!
Course Dessert
Cuisine French-inspired, Vegan
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 27 minutes
Total Time 52 minutes
Servings 12 muffins
Author Anthea

Ingredients

Frangipane Filling (note 1)

Wet ingredients for the muffins

Dry ingredients for the muffins

To decorate

  • 1 ½ cups (120g) sliced almonds or as needed

Instructions

Make the frangipane filling:

  • Add all ingredients to a small-sized bowl and mix until it forms a thick and tacky paste. Initially, the mixture will look too thick, but it will come together. If you prefer a sweeter frangipane, feel free to mix in more sugar and milk to taste. Cover the bowl and chill in the fridge until needed.

Make the vegan almond croissant muffins:

  • Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.
  • Add all the wet ingredients (sugar, applesauce, milk, oil, vinegar and extracts) to a large mixing bowl and whisk until combined. Add all the dry ingredients (flours, baking powder and salt) and mix until just combined. The batter should be thick. Set aside.
  • Roll the frangipane mixture into 12 equal-sized balls. If your mixture is sticking to your hands, dampen your hands with water and roll the mixture.
  • Scoop around half of the batter into the muffin cups. Place a frangipane ball into each cup and press it down a little into the batter. Top each frangipane ball with the remaining muffin batter. As the batter is quite thick, it won't flatten out in each cup. If so, use a butter knife or small spoon to 'circle' the batter around each frangipane ball. The batter might look like a little heaped mound in each cup. (note 5)
  • Very generously top each muffin with sliced almonds.

Baking and serving the muffins:

  • Bake the muffins for about 25-28 minutes. They are ready when you can insert a toothpick in the middle and it comes out clean (a few moist crumbs are fine). If you gently press on the center of a muffin, it should feel firm and springy. Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes then transfer to a wire rack.
  • If desired, dust the muffins with powdered sugar before serving and enjoy! The crunchy almond topping will soften over time. Store the muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Notes

  1. These muffins are still delicious without any frangipane filling. They bake a little faster and need around 23-26 minutes in the oven.
  2. If you're using measuring cups, I strongly recommend spooning and leveling the flour otherwise your frangipane and muffins will be dense and dry. Fluff up the flour in the bag, use a spoon to add flour to your measuring cup and level it off with a knife. If you scoop the flour with your cups, it can add up to 50% more flour which will throw off this recipe. For the best results, use the grams measurements and a kitchen scale.
  3. If you use dairy-free yogurt, your muffins will be less sweet and will brown less. If you'd like a recipe without applesauce or yogurt, see my vegan almond cake.
  4. I tested this recipe using all-purpose gluten-free flour and Bob's Red Mills 1:1 flour and they both work well. I suggest using the grams measurements because not all brands have the same volume (or cup) measurements as all-purpose flour. Your batter may be runnier than pictured but the muffins will still bake well.
  5. For higher muffin tops, bake the muffins in every other cavity in your muffin tray. If you're using a 12-cavity muffin tray, this means you'll need to bake 6 muffins at a time, in 2 lots.