Is there place for muffins in a health conscious life? Check out this Blueberry oatmeal muffin recipe that may keep the hope of light alive!
If blueberries are healthy and oat is healthy then combining the two will certainly be or even double healthy, right?
Depends on what we use to wrap those things up, can make or break our little healthy equation quite easily. If we ponder the question in a shop or restaurant, the answer would quite possible false, due to the amount of fat and sugar stuffed into under the healthy moniker.
If we make our own thing though then we can easily steer our creation onto waters that satisfy not just our craving for something tasty but our conscience to make it, so it doesn’t try to kill us.
Muffins are individually portioned baked products that are sailing on centuries of culinary history in one form or the other. Its ancestors were born and bred on the griddle and still adored today by many in a form of crumpets and English muffins. Their ways were separated somewhere around the 19th century’s America when baking powder was added to muffins and got baked in the oven, instead of the griddle.
As the modern muffin evolved from a griddle prepared breakfast or teatime snack into a fully-fledged dessert so did its shape and preparation method. What largely stayed the same are the ingredients which basically are the same in many baked products with different degree of variation in the exact amount.
This freedom allows us to make alteration to any muffin recipe and add or take away whatever we like. If we want to stick to the now traditional form and more importantly really fond of gluten provided airy muffin texture, we can’t really go berserk replacing the flour entirely.
Luckily though, we don’t need much flour to hold the shape together and if we are really into making muffins healthy, using brown flour instead of plain one, it will make our body thank for our wisdom later.
Of course, we could just ditch the flour entirely and make a completely new breed of muffins but if we have ever tried muffins before and even have a slightest idea about how they taste like, better not to turn our back on the blessings of gluten just yet.
Although it’s possible to make anything in muffin form without flour, similarly as we can prepare various desserts in the mug. As it happens with mug cakes or peanut butter mug cakes if there isn’t flour to help create the airy structure, the end result will be somewhat dense.
Sure, we may try to add baking powder to lighten up the batter but without gluten to hold back the CO2, it will be good for nothing.
Almost like adding blueberries to increase the healthiness of our creation. While it’s always a clever idea to add fruit to our desserts as it adds volume and weight which will result us eating fewer empty calories at the end, blueberries aren’t particularly packed with nutrition.
At most blueberries provide moderate level of manganese, vitamin C, vitamin K and dietary fiber and there are some promising results in laboratory cancer research studies too but little evidence has so far surfaced that should lead us to hail blueberries as an all cure super fruit and start showing them down by the spoonful daily if we don’t particularly like them.
Sneaking blueberries into our muffins, blueberry lemonade loaves or using them as topping on blueberry cheesecakes will provide much joy and priceless moments though.
Eating healthy doesn’t mean to wane ourselves off the joys of life but the complete opposite. To enjoy life at its fullest, we have to understand its nuances first and only then we can immerse ourselves in and wholly appreciate it.
Ingredients
- 1 cup / 250ml Milk
- 1 cup / 80g Rolled oats (old fashioned will provide more texture)
- 1¼ cup / 150g Plain white flour (Whole wheat flour even better)
- 1 teaspoon / 5g Baking powder
- ½ teaspoon / 3g Baking soda (for flavor)
- ½ teaspoon / 2g Cinnamon (ground)
- ½ teaspoon / 3g Table salt
- ½ cup / 100g Butter (melted)
- 2 tablespoons / 30g Honey
- 2 medium / 110g Eggs
- 2 teaspoon / 10ml Vanilla extract
- 2 cups / 200g Blueberries
- 2 tablespoons / 15g Plain white flour
How to make Blueberry oatmeal muffin
- Combine milk and oats then let it sit until it puffs up.
- Mix the puffed up oat, milk, flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, salt, melted butter, honey or sweetener of choice, eggs and vanilla extract together.
- Roll blueberries in some flour so they won’t sink when added to the muffin batter.
- Gently fold the blueberries into the batter. Don’t move them too much as it will remove the flour coating. Save some blueberries for the top.
- Spoon the batter into muffin cups until about ¾ height. Dunking the spoon into a cup of cold water will help the batter slide off the spoon. Decorate the muffins with the previously left out blueberries.
- Place the oatmeal blueberry muffins into the middle rack of a 350°F / 180°C preheated oven until the top gets golden brown and the inner temperature of the muffins reach 208°F / 98°C, about 30 – 40 minutes.
Enjoy!
Blueberry Oatmeal Muffin Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup Milk
- 1 cup Rolled oats old fashioned will provide more texture
- 1¼ cup Plain white flour Whole wheat flour even better
- 1 teaspoon Baking powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking soda for flavor
- ½ teaspoon Cinnamon ground
- ½ teaspoon Table salt
- ½ cup Butter melted
- 2 tablespoons Honey
- 2 medium Eggs
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 2 cups Blueberries
- 2 tablespoons Plain white flour
Instructions
- Combine milk and oats then let it sit until it puffs up.
- Mix the puffed up oat, milk, flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, salt, melted butter, honey or sweetener of choice, eggs and vanilla extract together.
- Roll blueberries in some flour so they won’t sink when added to the muffin batter.
- Gently fold the blueberries into the batter. Don’t move them too much as it will remove the flour coating. Save some blueberries for the top.
- Spoon the batter into muffin cups until about ¾ height. Dunking the spoon into a cup of cold water will help the batter slide off the spoon. Decorate the muffins with the previously left out blueberries.
- Place the oatmeal blueberry muffins into the middle rack of a 350°F / 180°C preheated oven until the top gets golden brown and the inner temperature of the muffins reach 208°F / 98°C, about 30 – 40 minutes.
Notes
Pin now, Enjoy later!
Love this double healthy approach. Do you think athletes could eat it before race?
There is no fit for all approach when it comes to athletes especially when it comes to before race meals. Each and everyone needs to experiment not just the before race meals but with the meals before the night of the race. No one wants to pause a marathon to go for a bathroom brake 😀
With that being said, oat has fiber that is not really recommended before races as athletes generally require fast absorbing carbs before high intensity exercises but some are quite happy eating it before races without any problem. You can’t go wrong to use them for refueling the body after a race or training session though.