I had the idea to make my own blueberry muffin recipe months ago. Months. Ago. Since then, I’ve eaten some version of this recipe…six times at least. Not because it’s so delicious (which, it is, but that’s not why!), but because I struggled SO much to get something that came out consistently good each time.
As can be the case with baking recipes, no matter how hard I tried I wasn’t ending up with muffins that were the same from one day to the next. They would be great in texture and flavor one day, and small, squishy, flat and sad the next. I thought it might be my ingredients, and tested my baking powder and baking soda to make sure I wasn’t working with duds, I changed up the recipe a handful times, researching what other recipes suggested, playing with the amount of blueberries, baking powder and soda, flour, lemon juice, sugar, etc. but just kept coming up with edible, but not blog-presentable results.
My experience might seem hinging on ridiculous given I have a tried and true recipe for pretty much any type of loaf, but for some reason I’d convinced myself that my foundational recipe wasn’t going to work for these muffins; I even think I may have started with my own recipe and gotten mixed results. I do find it a bit ridiculous.
What’s worse? THREE TIMES I thought I’d figured it out and started shooting the associated video for this recipe and all three times it failed live, on camera, and I had to scrap all that work and come back to the drawing board.
I should have better documented all the specifics on what went wrong, but what I can tell you is that finally, finally I’ve come back pretty close to my core loaf recipe and have a blueberry muffin recipe that is both consistent and scrumptious, while being the perfect whole food, plant based, oil free AND gluten-free recipe to replace the classic blueberry muffin. The best possible way you can celebrating this accomplishment with me is by trying them, because they are so GOOD!
So the trick? Blueberries are not, and should not, be the “fruit” foundation for this recipe. Instead, it’s actually apples (or applesauce) because they are sweet but non-identifiable when blended and baked into a muffin filled with blueberries as the ‘topping’ (perhaps this realization is not mind-altering for you as a reader, but I promise you it was the secret sauce to the success of this recipe for me – other bases being accounted for in my many failed attempts).
Bananas can be substituted in their place, but the banana flavor will be more distinct and obvious, at least to my palate, than the apples. I also amped up the amount of lemon juice compared to my loaf base recipes because I feel like it gives the batter a little extra rising power in the oven (which previous iterations had been lacking in).
I also really wanted to offer up a nice, crispy little sugar topping option for these muffins, but no matter how many times I tried, I ended up with something that might induce trypophobia and caused the muffins to stick horribly to the tin, so unsugar-topped classic muffins will have to do for now, and my hopes of a WFPB diet-approved crumble will have to wait for a future creation.
Okay…so into actually describing this recipe!
These muffins are so pleasant to eat, store great in the fridge all week, heat up well or can be eaten cold for a breakfast, dessert or snack, and the sweetness can be scaled up or down depending on how you plan to enjoy them. They are easy to make, require just a few ingredients and despite all my failures, are a very approachable for anyone, whether you’re new to baking or a seasoned vet.
When it comes to taste, this recipe is:
- Sweet from the apple-batter base
- Tart from the blueberries
- Chewy
- Crumbly
- Absolutely delicious
They’re also gluten free using just oat flour (blended rolled oats) as a base, which are a whole grain so these are pretty close to healthy! If you left out the sugar altogether or subbed it for a sugar alternative like dates you could eat them regularly as a treat and still feel great about eating them.
If you try out this recipe, please share it with me by commenting here or on my YouTube channel, or even tagging me in a photo on Instagram @plantsnotplastic. Enjoy!
Classic Blueberry Muffins
Equipment
- Medium mixing bowl
- muffin pan
Ingredients
- 2.5 cups oat flour sub white or wheat flour for non-gluten free
- 1/2 cup sugar you may choose to use less or none for SOS-free
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 1.5 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 medium apples roughly chopped (I use Fuji); sub applesauce or bananas [note#1]
- 1/4-1/2 cup water [note#2] sub unsweetened plant milk, for richness
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup fresh blueberries sub frozen [note#3]
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine your dry ingredients. Then, in a small blender, blend together the water and chopped apples.
- Add the ingredients from the blender to your bowl of dry, add the lemon juice and vanilla extract and mix well until everything is incorporated. Gently fold in the blueberries [note #3]
- Transfer your batter evenly into the muffin cups in your tin [note#4] and bake for 24-32 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out of the center of a middle muffin clean.
- Remove from the oven and let the pan cool completely before removing the muffins. You may need to use a knife around the edges if some of the liquid from the blueberries has released and bled onto the pan.
- Serve immediately, or store for eating later or throughout the week.
- Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- If you're omitting the apple altogether, substitute 3 ripe bananas or omit the 1/4 cup of water and substitute 2 cups of applesauce. You want the full amount of liquid to be 16oz/2 cups.
- You want a total of 16oz (2 cups) of liquid, so start with a 1/4 cup of water, blend it and see how much you end up with, than add more liquid as needed.
- Fresh blueberries won't bleed. You can sub frozen and the flavor will still be perfect, but they may turn your batter gray.
- If you want to make sure your blueberries don't sink to the bottom while they're baking, let your batter rest for 10-15 minutes to thicken up a bit before folding your blueberries, or add slightly less liquid to the batter so it's stiffer.
- I use a 1/3 cup measuring cup and that seems to do a good job of distributing the batter evenly.
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