Healthy Blueberry Muffins
These healthy blueberry muffins are golden, fluffy, moist and delicious! No one will guess this recipe is made with 100% whole wheat flour and naturally sweetened with honey or maple syrup. Recipe yields 12 muffins.
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups plus 1 teaspoon white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
- ⅓ cup melted coconut oil or extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ cup honey or maple syrup
- 2 eggs, preferably at room temperature
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt*
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup (6 ounces) blueberries, fresh or frozen
- 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar (also called raw sugar), for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. If necessary, grease all 12 cups on your muffin tin with butter, coconut oil or cooking spray (my pan is non-stick and doesn’t require any grease). Or, use muffin liners if you prefer.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 ¾ cups of the flour with the baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Mix them together with a whisk.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the oil and honey or maple syrup and beat together with a whisk. Add the eggs and beat well, then add the yogurt and vanilla. Mix well. (If the coconut oil solidifies in contact with cold ingredients, gently warm the mixture in the microwave in 30 second bursts.)
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix with a big spoon, just until combined (a few lumps are ok). 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. The mixture will be thick, but don’t worry.
- Divide the batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups (I used an ice cream scoop with a wire level, which worked perfectly). Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with turbinado sugar. 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.
- Place the muffin tin on a cooling rack to cool. You might need to run a butter knife along the outer edge of the muffins to loosen them from the pan. 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.
Notes
Recipe adapted from my blueberry maple muffins (recipe available in my cookbook) and lemon raspberry muffins.
*Note on Greek yogurt: I’ve used a variety of fat percentages and the muffins have always turned out well. Higher fat yogurt will yield a somewhat more rich muffin. You can also substitute plain (not Greek) yogurt, but your muffins might not rise quite as high.
Make it vegan: You can replace the eggs with flax “eggs.” Replace the yogurt with a smaller amount of vegan buttermilk—just mix ⅔ cup non-dairy milk with 2 teaspoons vinegar. Let it rest for 5 minutes before adding it to the other liquid ingredients. Or, use 1 cup vegan yogurt.
Make it dairy free: See buttermilk option above.
Make it egg free: Substitute flax eggs for the regular eggs.
Make it gluten free: Substitute an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend for the whole wheat flour. Bob’s Red Mill makes a gluten-free blend that works well.
Lemon variation: For lemon blueberry muffins, whisk the zest of 1 medium lemon (about ½ teaspoon), preferably organic, into the liquid ingredients. You could even double that amount for extra-lemony muffins.
Mini muffins: Use a mini muffin tray with mini liners. Use 1 heaping tablespoon per muffin to yield 30 muffins. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 to 12 minutes.
Change it up: Substitute 1 cup of any other muffin-worthy fresh fruit for the blueberries. If you’re using strawberries or other large fruit (like peaches), chop them into small pieces first.
2/18/19 note: I’ve changed the baking temperature from 350 degrees Fahrenheit to 400, and reduced the baking time from 22 to 24 minutes to 16 to 19 minutes. These changes improve the muffin texture (less spongy in the center) and produce more irresistibly golden muffin tops.
Nutrition
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