The Sweet Kitchen: a healthier blueberry muffin

 Growing up my mom always made blueberry muffins and they were so good. Nothing special just from a mix but I loved them. With my current health conditions, I can't eat muffins loaded with sugar without my sugars spiking like crazy. I've been on the hunt for a recipe that would be good for me but also tasted pretty good. I know nothing will taste the same but something that is good. Most low carb recipes are made with almond flour, and I just do not like almond flours texture. I've made it a mission of mine to find something and I think I just might have. With some alterations to a recipe I found I was able to eat a blueberry muffin with my sugars staying in the normal range. 

The ingredients:

1 3/4 C all purpose flour (I used 1 C regular and 3/4 C whole wheat)

1/3 C granulated sugar (I used splenda)

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 large egg

3/4 C milk

1/4 C oil

1 tsp lemon zest

2 C fresh or frozen blueberries

The Recipe:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper wrappers (grease bottom of wrappers as well) and set aside.

In medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and mix well then make a well in the center and set aside. I also added a bit of cinnamon. 

In a second bowl, add the egg, milk, and oil. Stir well. Pour this mixture into the well in the flour mixture. Stir by hand until no dry streaks of flour remain. 

Fold in the blueberries and lemon zest.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan filling 2/3 full. 

Bake 18-20 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cool muffins completely on a wire rack.

My take aways on these are they are not a strong wheat taste, there is a bit of an aftertaste from the Splenda, but I feel most of the sweetness comes through from the blueberries. Next time, I will add a bit more cinnamon and not use the wrappers. I have problems with the muffins sticking to the wrappers. They definitely are not as sweet as a regular blueberry muffin but for me that is a good thing. This recipe makes it so I can enjoy a muffin every so often without the guilt and sugar spikes. It was also a pretty easy recipe to whip together, and it could be adjusted with different types of fruit and berries. 

I mad another version of muffins based on this recipe. A Nutty Apple Cinnamon Muffin.

I swapped out the blueberries for approx. 1/2 C of unsweetened applesauce or 1 tub from a 6 pack. and added approximately 1.5 TBSP of cinnamon and about a 1/3 C of chopped pecans. This time I did not use muffin wrappers just a well-greased muffin tin. They did not rise as well as the blueberry.  I forgot the baking powder! Trial and error and learning from my mistakes. 

*Recipe based on a low sugar blueberry muffin from Bunsen Burner Bakery found on Pinterest.