Healthy Blueberry muffins

If you're trying to healthify (yes I think I made up that word) your food repertoire then this is a great recipe to try. There's a mixture of whole-wheat and all-purpose flour so it's a nice blend of healthy lightness. I also incorporated the chia egg substitute and was happy with the result.

And since they were healthy I didn't feel an ounce of guilt for eating 3 fresh from the oven. I've been keeping the leftovers in the fridge and zapping one if the microwave for 8 seconds (cooking times are an exact science for microwaves and once you know how hot things get in yours, you'll understand why 8 seconds is perfect for mine).

Cranberries would make a fantastic substitution for blueberries, if that was your preference. These are a moist, delicate muffin with berries bursting in every bite and they're sweet without being mistaken for a dessert.

(recipe to follow)

Healthy Blueberry Muffins

Makes 22 regular-size muffins

Slightly adapted here

Recipe Notes

- The original recipe already has a lot of substitutions so I didn’t need to change too much, although using the vegan egg substitute brought the calories down to only 114 calories per serving (see my fancy Nutrition Facts at the bottom).

- I like the mixture of both whole-wheat flour and all-purpose flour. I’ve made muffins before using exclusively whole-wheat flour… and while they were healthy they could’ve broken a window if tossed around.  

- The addition of flaxseed isn't necessary but they do take the healthy quotient up a level.

 

Ingredients:

1 Cup all-purpose flour

1 Cup whole-wheat flour

2 tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

¼ Cup ground flaxseed

¾ Cup sugar

¼ Cup oil (I used vegetable, but you can use canola)

2 servings of vegan egg substitute (2 ground Tbs. of Chia seeds+ 6 Tbs. water) or 2 large eggs

1 Cup natural unsweetened applesauce

½ Cup plain low-fat yogurt

¼ Cup nonfat milk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 ½ tsp. finely grated lemon zest

1 ½- 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (unsweetened & unthawed)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400º F. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray or use muffin/cupcake liners.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together both flowers, baking powder, baking soda, salt and flaxseed.

3. In a large bowl, whisk the rest of the ingredients, excluding the blueberries. Once the wet mixture is smooth, add the dry ingredients and gently fold in the blueberries.

4. In the prepared muffin pan, pour the batter to ¾’s full in each muffin cup. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick in the center of one of the muffins comes out clean.

5. Allow pans to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, and then remove the muffins from the pan to continue cooling on the wire rack. Store in an airtight container, in the refrigerator, for up to 3 days (or wrap individually and freeze up to 3 months).

**I'll be honest, this makes me feel very professional:

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 48 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories  116 Calories from Fat  33

% Daily Value*

Total Fat  3.7g 6%

Saturated Fat  0.7g 3%

Trans Fat  0.0g

Cholesterol  0mg 0%

Sodium  74mg 3%

Total Carbohydrates  18.8g 6%

Dietary Fiber  1.7g 7%

Sugars  8.9g

Protein  2.4g

Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 3% Calcium 5% • Iron 5%

Nutrition Grade C

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet