BLUEBERRY OATMEAL MUFFINS

These vegan blueberry oatmeal muffins are sweet, moist, rich in flavor and super satisfying. The perfect sweet treat for any special occasion. Whether you want to have it for dessert, snack or breakfast… that’s your choice! Pairs wonderfully with a hot cup of non-dairy milk!

A few weeks ago, a reader sent me an email and asked me for a muffin recipe that was:

• oil-free
• sweet enough
• rich, without being excessively high in fat
• filling
• and (most importantly of all) healthy enough to have one or two for breakfast.

She said, she had tried my sweet potato muffins and that, even though they were good, they were not sweet/rich enough for her. They tasted “too healthy”. She was used to eat store-bought muffins every morning and she wanted to find a recipe that was sweet and hearty, but at the same time healthy enough so that she didn’t feel bad eating them.

So I said, “no problem, let’s see what we can come up with”. These were my initial notes about the muffins I wanted to make:

• Whole flour: if we are going to eat muffins for breakfast,  these should be made with whole flour. No “buts” 👆🏻.
• Blueberries: no discussion here, she wanted blueberries.
• Maple syrup or agave syrup: using a liquid sweetener helps getting a moister and lighter texture. Should have a neutral flavor, since the “star” here is the blueberry.
• Almond butter or cashew butter: instead of isolated fats such as oil or margarine, we will use nut butters instead. We want rich muffins but still healthy. I would recommend almond butter for a boost in vitamin E 👊🏻 ! Again, we are looking for a neutral flavor nut butter, so almond or cashew butter are the best options.
• Rolled oats: yes, you read it right. Not oat flour, but whole rolled oats. You see my intention here, right? I’m kind of “hiding” porridge in a muffin. Smart move, I know 🙅🏻.
• Non-dairy milk: I recommend using soy milk, but you can substitute it with almond milk for a soy-free version.

This sounds very good, but…the muffins didn’t turn out so great. Even though they tasted amazingly good, the texture was…meh 👎🏻. The muffins were very flat, over-moist and way too dense. I tried a few different combinations and always ended up with flat, wet muffins. I was sure this was because of the rolled oats. But I am pretty stubborn and didn’t want to skip them. After all, this woman was going to eat these muffins for breakfast most days, so (in my opinion) whole rolled oats were a must in this recipe.

And then…I decided to get some help from Dr. Google. After a lot of research, I found that Sally, from Sally´s Baking Addiction, had the same problem as me and… had already found the solution 🙌🏻:

Soaking the oats.

Simple right? But who would have thought? Just a baking expert as Sally. Her recipes aren’t vegan but, when it comes to baking, I always end up going over to her blog to get some awesome tips that I can, most of the times, “veganize”. In this case, I didn’t even had to do that. I just had to soak the oats.

And that’s how this beautiful babies were born. Tall, moist, sweet, rich and full of blueberry awesomeness. The perfect vegan blueberry oatmeal muffins. Oil-free, not too high in fat, full of fiber and the most important part…delicious.

When you read the recipe, don’t get confused by the amount of syrup and nut butter. I´m going to break this down for you, in case calories/sugar/fats are something you might need to be careful with. Each muffin contains:

• 1/2 tablespoon of nut butter
• 1 tablespoon of maple syrup
• 225 calories

Which means, that if you ate 2 muffins for breakfast, you would be eating 1 tablespoon of nut butter, 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and 450 calories. Not that bad right? I mean, I generally add 2 tablespoons of maple syrup to my porridge every morning and a couple tablespoons of either hemp or chia seeds. And most days my breakfast has around 500 calories. On the other hand, you might think…only two muffins??? Well, these blueberry oatmeal muffins are INCREDIBLY filling. Believe me when I say that two muffins for breakfast are going to fully satisfy you.

So these muffins (although obviously not as good as eating porridge) are a GREAT alternative to store-bought muffins, which are made with white flour, white sugar, butter/margarine/oils, preservatives etc…Which are basically CRAP foods (Calorie Rich & Processed Foods) . (All credit to Jeff Novick 👈🏻 🙂). However, my blueberry oatmeal muffins are rich in vitamin B2 and E, calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, zinc and omega 6 👌🏻 .

Sooooooo, nothing else to add here. I hope these muffins help anybody wanting to transition from store-bought muffins to a heart-healthy porridge one day. And if not, I’ll be just happy if you eat these blueberry oatmeal muffins instead of the CRAP-y, store-bought ones 😉.

Print

BLUEBERRY OATMEAL MUFFINS

Prep 25 mins

Cook 30 mins

Total 55 mins

Author Sonia Raga

Yield 12 muffins

These oil-free vegan blueberry oatmeal muffins are sweet, moist, rich in flavor and very satisfying. The perfect sweet treat for any special occasion.

Ingredients

Dry ingredients:

• 2 cups (230g) whole spelt flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Wet ingredients:

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup soy milk (or almond milk for a soy-free version)
• 6 tablespoons almond butter or cashew butter
• 3/4 cup maple syrup

Others:

• 1 cup frozen bluberries (keep in the freezer all the time, until needed in step 6).

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 200ºC.
2. Start by combining the rolled oats and the non-dairy milk and set aside for exactly 20 minutes. Set a timer. While the oats soak, we´ll go on with the recipe.
3. In a large bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients and set aside.
4. In another large bowl, whisk the almond butter and maple syrup until combined. Set aside.
5. Once the soaking time is over (20 minutes), pour the soaked oats (including the non-dairy milk) in the bowl with the almond butter and maple syrup. Whisk carefully until well combined.
6. Finally, pour the wet mixture and the frozen blueberries into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Fold carefully until just combined. Do NOT overmix or you could end up with flat muffins!
7. Spoon the butter into silicon muffin cups or into paper liners. If using paper liners, place them first in a muffin tray. Fill the muffin cups/liners up until almost full.
8. Place in the oven (in the third lower rack) and bake at 200ºC for the first 10 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 180ºC and bake for another 20 minutes. DO NOT open the door during the process. 
9. Remove muffins from the oven and let them rest until completely cool.  If you used paper liners, make sure the muffins have cooled down completely. Otherwise you won´t be able to peel the paper line properly.

Notes

• I recommend storing them in a plastic bag or air-tight container. The muffins will stay fresh up to 5-6 days in the fridge or up to 2-3 days at room temperature.

Courses Sweet Treats

Cuisine oil-free, soy-free