Power Blueberry Muffins

Muffins. Funny word.

I'm a big fan of muffins, but not of how awful they are for you. I know, I am all over the place, posting the recipe for cookie cake pie while condemning a perfectly innocent, also delicious, breakfast food. Although I'd like to cater to my audience (cookie cake pie has the most hits), we can't survive on white flour and sugar alone.

So I set out to make a healthy muffin. What resulted wasn't inedible, it just ended up as a blueberry loaf that tasted okay after one bite, but went drastically down hill from there. I adjusted some ratios from the recipe and ended up with a pretty great muffin.

This will make 12 muffins, solid enough to serve as a complete breakfast if you want to grab one on your way to work (like I did when I made them). They will last for about 5-7 days if stored in an airtight container, but they can also be easily frozen for 3 months or so without any real problem.

Power Blueberry Muffins

• 3/4 + 2 tbs cup raw sugar 
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup skim milk
  (can sub 1 cup yogurt for greek yogurt and milk)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Juice from a medium orange (1/4 cup)
• 1 tbs orange zest
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 8 oz fresh blueberries
• 3 tbs smart balance butter spread
• 1/4 cup ground flax seed

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray standard muffin tin with baking spray or butter.
2. Whisk the sugar, oil, egg, yogurt, milk, vanilla, orange zest, and juice together in a bowl. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into another bowl.
3. Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet, careful not to over mix.
4. Add all but a handful of the blueberries to the batter. Mix to just combine. Allow to rest while you make the topping.
5. Melt the butter, combine with 2 tbs sugar and flax seed.
6. Portion the muffin batter into the muffin tin (excuse to use a cookie scoop). Top each muffin with the remaining blueberries and sprinkle with the topping mixture.
7. Bake on the middle rack for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  
8. Cover the muffin tin with a clean dish towel and turn out, so the bottoms are facing up. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes (don't leave them too long, or they will dry out).

Share