Everyone loves bright and juicy blueberry muffins. Take them up a few steps by using whole grain spelt as your base.
Looking to add whole grains to your family's diet? These spelt muffins are perfect. Can they have a bit of a "healthy" taste to them? Sure, but the blueberries and added sprinkle of sugar on top can help mask that.
Spelt is a variety of wheat so it does contain gluten, but if you are gluten-free, check out the ironically named Buckwheat Muffins as they don't actually contain gluten! Love summer blueberries? Then you can make your own Blueberry Bagels or brew up a large jar of Blueberry Iced Tea.
Key Ingredients
Flour - We are using spelt here, which is a delicious whole grain. Feel free to grind your own or search out a bag at the grocer.
Sugar - I typically use organic cane sugar in my baking but sucanat lends a really nice, deep brown-sugar like taste here that works well with the spelt.
Eggs - To help counteract the dense whole grain, we are going to whip the egg whites separately.
Dairy - Butter, yogurt, and milk all bring the fat to the table.
Blueberries - Fresh or frozen, both work well!
How to Make Whole Grain Blueberry Muffins
***See recipe card below for precise measurements and instructions.***
Step 1: Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
Step 2: Combine dairy and egg yolks and whisk well.
Step 3: Add wet to dry and allow to rest for 20 minutes.
Step 4: Beat egg whites to stiff peaks.
Step 5: Dust the blueberries with a bit of flour.
Step 6: Gently fold in the egg whites and blueberries to the batter.
Step 7: Divide the batter into a lined muffin tin.
Step 8: Top with coarse sugar if desired, before baking.
FAQs
You can feel free to swap in and out your sugar options in this batter, it's quite forgiving. I used sucanat here - which is a form of organic cane sugar. I typically use organic cane sugar in my baking, which is similar to white sugar in texture. Sucanat retains the molasses so is more like brown sugar in taste. You can use either here, or even coconut sugar if you enjoy that taste.
Whole grains are slower to absorb liquids and really need that extra time to autolyze, or hydrate. If you immediately add the egg whites and blueberries and bake, your muffins will be dry and not bake up correctly. I wait to turn on my oven until that rest time to help me remember to do it.
Either works - it really just depends on what ya got. If it's blueberry season where you are, use fresh picked or farmer's market ones. If it's out of season, frozen is great. They are always frozen at the peak of freshness, and some people just prefer that texture. You can also use wild blueberries which are smaller and will spread out nicely between muffins. If using frozen, keep them in the freezer until ready to stir into the batter to reduce the chance of them bleeding into the batter.
Photos by Megan Hampton
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Blueberry Spelt Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups spelt flour
- 1 cup sucanat or organic cane sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup melted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs separated
- ¼ cup plain yogurt or sour cream (NOT Greek yogurt)
- ¼ cup whole milk
- 1 ½ tablespoons spelt flour
- 1 - 1 ½ cups fresh or frozen blueberries
- Extra granulated sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
- Whisk dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
- In a second bowl, whisk melted butter, sour cream, milk, and egg YOLKS.
- Slowly stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients, until just combined.
- Let batter rest for 15 minutes while oven preheats to 400°F.
- Meanwhile, beat egg whites to stiff peaks and toss blueberries with the extra flour.
- After 15 minutes, gently fold the egg whites and blueberries into the batter until just combined.
- Add muffin liners to a muffin tin and fill with batter about ⅔ full.
- Top with granulated or coarse sugar if desired.
- Bake for 5 minutes then turn oven down to 375°F and bake an additional 12-15 minutes.
Notes
- Use granulated sugar, organic cane sugar, sucanat, or coconut sugar in these muffins.
- Fresh or frozen blueberries both work. If using frozen, keep in the freezer until ready to toss in flour and stir in, to avoid bleeding into the batter.
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