"I've got berry purple smeared across my fingers,
Blueberry goodness with every bite,
When it comes to enjoying muffins so good,
I'll go all out. There's just no other way."
Every now and then, I hop on to a healthy-eating streak. This season, I owe it my tight jeans button and an overdose of #stayathomeworkouts on my Instragram feed. It's at these times when I'm burning the midnight oil looking for recipe inspirations ...well, mostly also to satisfy the occasional sugar monster that speaks into my ear after every meal!
This recipe is one I tested (and credit to) from Cookie+Kate's blog while I was searching for a Blueberry Muffin recipe but, you know the 'healthy and guilt-free' kinds :) And, so after reading up a few recipes online I really liked this one as it's super simple and of course now that I've baked them I can tell you they turn out really soft too for a recipe that doesn't use butter and sugar. However, here's a huge disclaimer: don't expect for these muffins to taste exactly how a regular muffin would taste like! But, remember you're willing to let go some of that buttery and sugary goodness for something that's relatively healthy :)
Makes: 12 muffins
Ingredients
1 ¾ cups; 1 teaspoon white whole wheat flour (you can also use regular flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
â…“ cup melted extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup honey or maple syrup
2 eggs
1 cup unflavoured Greek yogurt
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
1 tablespoon raw brown sugar, for sprinkling on top
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Grease the muffin tray with butter or coconut oil. If using cupcake wrappers (like I did), use a little olive or coconut oil to smear the surface before placing the wrapper in there (helps hold the paper down as you spoon in the batter later).
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine 1¾ cups of the flour with the baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon powder. Mix them well together with a spoon/whisk.
3. In a another mixing bowl, combine first the oil and honey or maple syrup and beat together with a whisk.
4. Add the eggs and beat well, then add the yogurt and vanilla. Beat/whisk well.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix with a wooden spoon, just until combined.
6. In a small bowl, toss the blueberries with the remaining 1 teaspoon flour (this helps prevent the blueberries from sinking to the bottom). Gently fold the blueberries into the batter. Don't worry if the batter is thick - that's how it's supposed to be!
7. Divide the batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with the raw sugar.
8. Bake the muffins for 16 to 19 minutes, or until the muffins are golden on top and a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.
9. Place the muffin tin on a cooling rack to cool.
Storage suggestion from Cookie+Kate: If you have leftover muffins, store them, covered, at room temperature for 2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Freeze leftover muffins for up to 3 months.
