Whole Grain Blueberry Muffins

This line got my attention: “sweet but not sugary, packed with whole grains but not dense, and reasonably rich in fiber, protein, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats”. It’s from a recent article in the NY Times about a healthy muffin recipe. I gave it a try and was pleased with the results.

The recipe is a template for whole grain muffins: you can use either WW flour or wheat germ; you can use dried fruit instead of fresh; you can use different types of vegetable oil; and you can make it with or without nuts. Most muffin recipes are pretty forgiving, but I’m assuming this recipe is particularly so.

For a first attempt, I stuck with the recipe as written, using the following choices: toasted wheat germ, coconut oil, a mix of grated apples and carrots, halved spice quantities, frozen blueberries, and no nuts. I’ve never used coconut oil for baking or anything else before, but had a jar in the pantry (from who knows what cooking project). It is solid at room temperature, but placing the unopened jar in a bowl of hot tap water quickly melted it.

The batter was quite loose and wet, even after resting for 30 minutes. I didn’t stir in the frozen blueberries until this point, so they wouldn’t bleed. I scooped the mixture into 6 jumbo muffin cups, plus 12 large-sized ones. The muffins needed the full 20 minutes in the oven, and they still looked a bit moist. I sprayed the cups generously with PAM, but didn’t really need to. These muffins were quite greasy and soaked through their paper liners.

As for how these muffins tasted, I would consider them very good: a soft but coarse and moist crumb, without any roughness that often betrays a healthy muffin. Even without the orange streusel, I thought these muffins had a lot of flavour. I would definitely make these again.