Blueberries at market
By Cat, February 2008 (Photo, right, from Wikimedia Commons)
- See also: 1. Breads & Muffins Menu; 2. Grains, Flours & Starches (About) Menu; 3. Crumb or Nut-Crumble Topping for Muffins; 4. Sprouting/Soaking Grains (Before/After Grinding); 5. Sugar and Other Sweeteners Menu
- Includes: 1. Blueberry Muffins (Sprouted Grain); 2. Whole Grain Blueberry Muffins (Pre-soak Version);
Everyone loves blueberry muffins for a special breakfast treat. Serve them with lots of rich butter from the milk of grass-fed cows. Here in Montana, we like to use huckleberries, a smaller dark berry with complex sweet-tart flavor; or, for the holidays, use cranberries, as they are all related. However, if using huckleberries, which have a much stronger flavor, omit the orange zest, and use lemon juice instead of orange.
About Ingredients
I created these recipes based on several sources listed at the bottom of this page (1,2,3,4,5). Both are made with the whole grain (sprouted or not), which is a heavier, denser flour than the white flour usually used for blueberry muffins. Consequently, these will not rise as much as ones made with white flour. You can compromise by using part whole grain/sprouted grain and unbleached white flour, for a lighter product.
Flours
You get the most nutrition from grains if they have been sprouted before grinding, or soaking overnight after grinding.
- My first version uses sprouted wheat or spelt flour, which is a bit drier than regular flour, so less flour (or more moisture) is needed, than for recipes using white flour. You can buy sprouted flour online, or you can sprout them yourself,starting with grain berries, then dry and grind them. See Sprouting Grains before Grinding for more information.
- My second version uses regular whole wheat pastry flour (or whole spelt flour), but soaked overnight in acidic medium before preparing the muffin batter. Refer to my article on Pre-soaking Flour for more information.
Coconut (or almond) flour is added to increase fiber content and also to help keep the muffins moist. Instructions are provided with each recipe, on eliminating this flour if you cannot find it or choose not to use it. NOTE: use sprouted almonds, rolled (or ground carefully) to almond meal for maximum nutrition.
See my articles on the many different types of flour: Grains, Flours & Starches (About) Menu.
Sweetener
Both recipes use stevia as the main sweetener, but I provide instructions for using sugar. Just be aware that sweetening with sugar can lead to spikes in your blood sugar, and elevated insulin levels. My sugar preference is dried sugar cane juice, sold as Rapadura brand; alternately, you could use xlitol (a sugar alcohol), which is lower in calories and glycemic index. To make this change, use ¼ cup of the sugar (added to dry ingredients), and omit adding stevia to the orange or lemon juice. Retain the maple syrup in either case, as it adds needed moisture for the drier whole grain and coconut flours.
Do NOT use Splenda (sucralose) as a sugar alternative in these recipe. It has undesirable health consequences, not the least of which is that the sucralose in Splenda is cut with dextrose, which has the same effect on blood sugar as table sugar (sucrose) and is NOT zero calories. Splenda also has many of the same toxic effects as its close cousins: pesticides. For more on Splenda, refer to the Women to Women website (6).
Blueberry Muffins with Sprouted Grain Flour
Every batch of muffins is different, depending in part on moisture in the flour, humidity of your kitchen, size of your egg, etc.. Yogurt makes a stiffer batter than sour milk. Taking all these factors into account, you may need to adjust the moisture level in the batter. After mixing all but the berries into the batter, if batter is too stiff, add a bit fresh milk, one Tbsp at a time; if too thin, add a bit more unbleached white flour, 1 Tbsp at a time.
This recipe makes 12 – 18 muffins, depending on size.
Ingredients & Equipment:
- Dry ingredients:
- 1 cup sprouted wheat or spelt flour
- ½ cup unbleached white flour (divided)
- ¼ cup coconut or almond flour (If not using coconut/almond flour, increase wheat/spelt flour to 1 ¼ cup & decrease sour milk/yogurt to ½ cup)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp unrefined sea salt
- If not using stevia in wet ingredients (below): ¼ cup Rapadura, white or light-brown sugar, or xylitol
- Wet ingredients:
- 1 fresh orange or lemon (for peel and juice)
- ⅛ tsp stevia extract powder (if not using sugar in dry ingredients, above)
- 1 c blueberries or mixed berries, fresh or frozen (thawed, drained)
- 1 large egg (or 2 small)
- ⅓ cup melted butter or coconut oil
- 1 Tbsp Grade-B maple syrup
- 2 – 4 Tbsp milk
- ¾ cup sour milk or buttermilk or yogurt (stir a tsp of the orange/lemon juice into fresh milk and let it sit about 5 minutes to sour and thicken)
- Topping (optional)
- Crumb or Nut-Crumble Topping for Muffins
- Equipment:
- small bowl
- large bowl
- muffin/cupcake papers (optional)
- muffin pans for 12 – 18 muffins.
Method:
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter muffin cups (or fill with muffin papers).
- Grate orange or lemon peel to make 1 teaspoon, then squeeze ¼ cup juice. Stir stevia (if using) into the juice and set aside while you prepare remaining ingredients.
- Dredge berries in ¼ cup of the unbleached white flour; set aside.
- Sift remaining dry ingredients into a small bowl.
- Using egg whisk, beat egg with coconut oil (or butter) in medium bowl, then whisk in orange juice, grated peel, maple syrup and 2 Tbsp milk.
- Stir dry ingredients into wet, alternately with the sour milk, just enough to moisten the flour. Batter should be fairly thick; add another tablespoon of unbleached white flour if necessary to thicken, or another Tbsp milk to thin. Then fold in berries.
- Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups to ¾ full. Optional topping: Sprinkle crumb or nut crumble topping over top of muffins.
- Bake 25 – 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove muffin pans from oven and let cool on rack for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from pan (in their papers, if using) and serve warm, or allow to cool on rack and then refrigerate in covered container.
Blueberry Muffins with Pre-Soaked Whole Wheat Flour
Pre-soaking flour provides much of the same benefit as using sprouted-grain flour. (Refer to Soaking Flour for more information).
This recipe makes 12 – 18 muffins, depending on size. I’ve not yet tested this recipe.
Ingredients & Equipment:
- Pre-Soak (overnight):
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry or whole spelt flour
- ¾ cup buttermilk or yogurt
- up to ¼ cup filtered water if difficult to stir (keep track of amount added)
- Dry ingredients:
- ½ cup unbleached white flour (divided)
- coconut or almond flour, equivalent amount as water added in presoak; (If not using coconut/almond flour, increase wheat/spelt flour to 1 ¼ cup & decrease sour milk/yogurt to ½ cup)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp unrefined sea salt
- If not using stevia in wet ingredients: ¼ cup Rapadura, white or light-brown sugar, or xylitol
- Wet ingredients:
- 1 fresh orange or lemon (for peel and juice)
- ⅛ tsp stevia extract powder (omit if using sugar in dry ingredients)
- 1 c blueberries or mixed berries, fresh or frozen (thawed, drained)
- 1 egg
- ⅓ cup melted butter or coconut oil
- 1 Tbsp Grade-B maple syrup
- 2 – 4 Tbsp milk
- Equipment for Presoak:
- large bowl
- wooden spoon
- Equipment for muffins:
- 2 small bowls
- muffin pans for 12 – 18 muffins
- papers for cupcake/muffin cups (optional)
Method
- Pre-Soak: Using large bowl, stir buttermilk/yogurt into whole grain flour until all the flour is moistened and the dough will form a ball. Add water a bit at a time if difficult to stir. See Soaking Flour more more detail and information.
- Press a sheet of waxed paper against the dough in the bowl (to keep it from drying out) and let sit in a warm spot overnight.
- Next Day: Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter muffin cups (or fill with muffin papers).
- Grate orange or lemon peel to make 1 teaspoon, then squeeze ¼ cup juice. Stir stevia (if using) into the juice and set aside while you prepare remaining ingredients.
- Dredge berries in ¼ cup of the unbleached white flour; set aside.
- Sift remaining dry ingredients into a small bowl.
- Using egg whisk, beat egg with butter or coconut oil in medium bowl, then whisk in orange juice, grated peel, maple syrup and 2 Tbsp fresh milk.
- Stir the combined wet ingredients into the soaked flour. Stir in sifted dry ingredients just enough to moisten them. Batter should be fairly thick; add another Tbsp unbleached white flour if necessary to thicken, or another Tbsp milk to thin. Then fold in berries.
- Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups to ¾ full. Optional topping: Sprinkle crumb or nut crumble topping over top of muffins.
- Bake 25 – 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove muffin pans from oven and let cool on rack for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from pan (in their papers, if using) and serve warm, or allow to cool on rack and then refrigerate in covered container.
References & Sources
- elise.com/recipes/archives/001412blueberry_muffins.php
- allrecipes.com/Recipe/To-Die-For-Blueberry-Muffins/Detail.aspx (for crumb topping)
- Joy of Eating Natural Foods, by Agnes Toms
- Occidental Flour Family Cookbook
- Stop and Smell the Rosemary Cookbook (from the Junior League of Houston)
- Women to Women, on Splenda (womentowomen.com/nutritionandweightloss/splenda.aspx)
