Friday, March 08, 2013

Flour-Less Blueberry Oat Muffins


Who doesn’t love a good muffin?  After all, most muffins are really just cupcakes without the icing, right?  Knowing this, I’m not comfortable baking a standard white flour and sugar-based “cupcake” for my toddler, so I went in search of a healthier muffin recipe for the little guy and came across this fantastic one for Oatmeal Banana Breakfast Muffins.

This quickly became my favourite quick and easy muffin recipe and I have whipped up several batches in the last couple of months.  I have modified the recipe a bit by reducing the sugar (each time I put less and less in) and increasing the bananas – I use three instead of two.  While they can’t be called gluten-free unless made with certified gluten-free oats, they are flour-free and include the goodness of Greek yogurt (yes, that’s right!). 

Last weekend when the hubs came home from the market with a ton of blueberries, the wheels quickly started turning in my head about how to modify the muffin recipe to make them blueberry.  It was a precarious experiment, as an expert baker I am not, but I’m happy to say it worked!  

I like to make minis and regular-sized muffins so this recipe made 12 minis (cups full) and 6 very large regulars.  Here’s my recipe:

Flour-Less Blueberry Oat Muffins

The Ingredients:
2.5 cups quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats
1 cup plain Greek yogurt (you choose the fat content!)
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar (or less!)
1 ½  teaspoon baking powder
½  teaspoon baking soda
½ cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

The Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees (the original recipe says 400 degrees but my gas oven gets super hot, so 375 is plenty hot enough). 

Spray tin with non-stick cooking spray or line with muffin cups.  I make a combination of mini and regular muffins.
   
Place yogurt, eggs, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, apple sauce and ½ cup oats in a blender or food processor, and blend until oats are smooth.  Add the oats half a cup at a time and continue blending.

Add blueberries after blending is complete and stir until just mixed.

Pour batter into muffin cups and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. 


Bubbly blueberries fresh out of the oven!
Let me know how these turn out and if you have any other variations you’d like me to try!

ENJOY!
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