Blueberries are one of my favourite breakfast berries, I love them with bircher muesli and granola, on toast with almond butter, in smoothies, on pancakes and, obviously, in muffins.

There was a time in my life when I had a sort of addiction to Starbucks blueberry muffins. The addiction shifted to the rise and shine muffins, also Starbucks made. I loved the taste of apples, carrots and oats although they were missing the one important ingredient for me: blueberries!

At the time little I knew at the time about their sugar content of those delicious breakfast muffins, the discovery broke my heart and made me stop eating muffins, well store bought ones. So I bought two muffin tins and started baking them at home, this time in full control of the ingredients and sugar!

These muffins are super easy to make, you only need one bowl, a whisk and a spatula to make them. They have no refined sugar, their sweetness come from the fruit, the vanilla and maple syrup. They are also dairy free and use wholewheat flour, so rich in fibre. They are not gluten-free but I am planning to make some changes to the base recipe, like using only oat flour, and see if I can make them gluten-free too. So watch this space!

As for the fruit I used banana, apple and blueberries combo, but one can easily replace the banana/apple mash with carrots, beetroot or even pumpkin puree and replace blueberries with raspberries or strawberries.

The base recipe works with add-ons as well, so one could include dark chocolate chips, nuts such as walnuts and pecans, seeds or dry fruit. Any of these ingredients can be added at the end before dividing the batter in the muffin tins.

There are really plenty of options available to make these muffins seasonal and to one’s taste!

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup Extra Vergin Olive Oil (EVOO)
• 1/3 cup Maple syrup
• 2 Eggs (medium)
• 1 cups Fruit (grated/mashed) – I used 1 mashed Banana and 2 small grated apples
• 1/4 almond milk (or other milk alternative or milk)
• 1tsp baking soda
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 3/4 cups Wholewheat flour
• 1/3 cup Oat (rolled/porridge oats)
• 1 cup Blueberries

Method

1. Whisk the EVOO and maple syrup in a bowl, add the eggs and beat well to incorporate.

2. Mix in the mashed bananas, grated apples and the almond milk.

3. Whisk in the baking soda, vanilla extract, salt and cinnamon

4. Fold in the flour and oats using a spatula. Finally, add the blueberries that you have previously tossed in a little bit of flour.

Tossing the blueberries in the flour will prevent them from falling at the bottom of your muffins.

5. Line your muffin tin with muffin cases or brush each cup with some butter. Divide the batter between the muffin cups in even quantities. Dust the top of the muffins with some cinnamon and sprinkle them with few oats

6. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 160CF for 25 minutes or until you have a clean toothpick when inserting it into the muffins. The let the muffin cool completely on a cooling rack.

This recipes makes 12 small muffins or 6 regular size muffins.

I usually make big batches of muffins and freeze them. They freeze wonderfully and are perfect for an afternoon snack, all you need to do is pop them on a the toaster straight our of the freezer and warm them up!

If you liked this recipe, also check out my Lemon, blueberry and lavender drizzle cake!

If you want to make this recipe and share it on your social media please mention me using @prepandproperrecipes and the tag #prepandproperrecipes