If you like blueberries like I do, then you’re going to do two things when you come up with a blueberry muffin recipe: First, go big on the amount of blueberries – I’m talking 2 cups of blueberries! And second, you’re going to make sure your blueberry muffin eater doesn’t just get blueberry flavor when they bite into an actually blueberry; you’re going to give them batter that tastes like blueberries too.
But alas, there’s a price you pay when you do that. Instead of bright yellow muffins dotted with blue – the muffins end up a spotted purplish and greenish brown. That’s when you decide you’re going to do a third thing: top the muffins with some chopped pecans brushed with a little maple syrup to bring the presentation – and the taste – up a notch.
You’ll notice that the recipe calls for multiple ingredients that come from the fridge to be at room temperature. The trick here is to bring them all out, measure the amount the recipe calls for and let that sit for one hour before using it in the recipe. If the eggs, milk and yogurt are used cold, the batter may not blend as well and you won’t get as high volume muffins as you would otherwise.
Now, if you find yourself in a time crunch and don’t have an hour to bring these to room temperature, place the eggs in a bowl of warm – not hot – water. Try doing the same for the milk and yogurt. Place them each in a glass or cup or bowl and place that in warm water. You can also microwave the milk on low heat for 30 seconds at a time until it’s at room temperature. The thermostat should register between 20 and 22 C or 68 to 72 F.
Finally, you’ll notice coriander powder is listed as an optional ingredient. It’s not actually there just to spice up the muffin – coriander powder actually helps to intensify the blueberry flavor. That happens because both blueberries and coriander powder contain a compound called (S)-(+)-linalool and when ground coriander is added to a blueberry dish, it tastes more, well, blueberry-ish. If you want to learn more, Jarrett Melendez of Epicurious has a nice article on using coriander in blueberries recipes.
If you’re not sure where to start try with level 3 or 1/2 cup. That’s a teaspoon less per muffin than what most recipes call for, so a great start.
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Reduced Sugar Blueberry Muffins
Mashed blueberries in the batter means you don’t have to bite into a blueberry to get the blueberry flavor. This recipe works with blueberries that are fresh or from frozen, as well as wild or regular blueberries.
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins
Ingredients
2 cups (10 oz / 280g) blueberries, fresh or frozen
1 3/4 cup (255g) white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp coriander powder (optional)
packed light brown sugar (1/4 cup=55g | 1/3 cup=73g | 1/2 cup | 2/3 cup | 3/4 cup)
2 large eggs (at room temperature)
1 cup plain greek yogurt (at room temperature)
1/4 cup milk (at room temperature)
1/2 cup oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
Topping (optional):
40g pecans, finely chopped
2 tsp maple syrup
Instructions
- If you haven’t already, bring eggs, yogurt and milk to room temperature.
- If blueberries are frozen, microwave on high until just thawed, about 60 seconds. Then remove half blueberries to a separate bowl and mash them.
- Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a muffin pan or insert with 12 cupcake liners.
- In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, coriander powder and sugar.
- In a separate bowl, mix eggs, yogurt, milk, vanilla extract and oil together. Incorporate the mashed blueberries into liquid mixture.
- Mix the liquid mixture and into the dry until just combined. Now add the whole blueberries to the batter until just combined. Spoon the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
- Mix the chopped pecans and maple syrup and sprinkle on top of batter.
- Bake for about 18 to 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack or stove top for about 10 minutes.
- Store in an airtight container if not consuming immediately.
Nutrition Label: The lower and upper range for sugar correspond to the lowest and highest sugar recipe versions. Label assumes pecan topping is added Note that each muffin of the lower sugar version has 2 less teaspoons of sugar than the version with the normal level of sugar. Now that’s a win!
FAQs
Q: If I don’t have white whole wheat flour, can I just use regular whole wheat flour?
A: Yes, the two are equally nutritious, but white whole wheat flour has a milder flavor. Thus, if substituting regular whole wheat flour for white, you may want to add one tablespoon of sugar above the level of sugar you were planning to use to balance the slightly more bitter regular whole wheat.