First of all – Happy New Year! I’ve been somewhat of a revision hermit (what else) for the past week or so. Let’s just say January exams are not the one. I’ve had time to procrastibake, of course, but I see it as a sort of morning-meditation. The light is good, I’m feeling hungry enough to spark creativity but not so hungry that I’d eat a bowl of plain porridge.
This particular batch of blueberry muffins happened last week as I’m a fiend for that cinnamon-crusted muffin top (so much so that it’s part of the reason this blog is called Top With Cinnamon), and was craving it badly. We seem to always have a well-stocked freezer at home with an abundance of blueberries, rhubarb, raspberries from the previous months. It means blueberry muffins in January are a thing that can happen. I did some cupboard foraging and found we had dried blueberries too – score!
Since doing the whole sugar free thang, my mum and I like to keep a jar of mushed dates in the fridge for cooking/baking with. It’s a simple thing to make and is endlessly useful (plus it’s delicious on a piece of toast with almond butter!). I incorporated it into the muffin batter, along with a grated carrot, in lieu of any refined sugar. As a compromise, I sprinkled a bit of demerara on top of each muffin for a sweet crunch 😉
Ah yes and a note on the carrots – I grated them on the fine side of the box grater which rendered them into more of a carrot mush. I did this becuase I wanted to be able to squeeze the juice out (reserving it) to be left with carrot pulp. This meant I could add the juice back into the muffin in a measured amount so the batter was the right consistency. It also means that the carrot shreds were undetectable due to their small size. I imagine that you could use carrot/apple pulp from juicing or nut pulp from making nut milk in it’s place. See the notes for a weighed amount if you do want to try that.
Ingredients
- 100 g carrot , , grated on the fine side of a box grater (see notes)
- 50 g (1/4 cup) unsalted butter or 40g (1/4 cup) coconut oil (melted)
- 2 tbsp date paste , (see notes)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 30 g (1/3 cup) ground almonds
- 35 g (1/3 cup) gram flour (or 35g oat flour/ 40g buckwheat flour)
- 35 g (1/3 cup) oat flour, gf if needed (or 40g buckwheat flour)
- 100 g (generous handful) frozen blueberries
- 3 tbsp dried blueberries or raisins , , optional
Topping (optional):
- 1 tbsp demerara , (raw) sugar or coconut sugar
- 1 heaped tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F). Line 6 cups of a muffin tin with muffin papers or grease the tin well with some butter or coconut oil.
- Gather the grated carrot in your hands and hold it over a bowl. Squeeze it to release as much of the juice as possible. Take this carrot 'pulp' and place it into a medium mixing bowl. Measure out 90ml (1/4 cup + 2 tbsp) of the carrot juice from the bowl - if you don't have enough juice, make it up to 90ml with water. Add the measured carrot juice to the carrot pulp in the mixing bowl.
- Add the melted butter, date paste, vanilla and egg to the mixing bowl and stir well to combine.
- Add the baking powder, ground almonds, gram flour, oat flour, frozen blueberries and dried blueberries (if using) to the bowl. Stir until just combined.
- Divide the batter between the 6 lined muffin cups. Stir together the topping ingredients (if using) and sprinkle over the muffin batter.
- Bake for 23-27 minutes, when a toothpick inserted into the centre of a muffin should come out clean.
- Leave to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before eating. Store at room temp in a sealed container for up to 3 days.
Notes
I love the combination here! Gorgeous and delicious!
These muffins look absolutely yummy and way more interesting than a bowl of plain porridge in the morning. Thank you for sharing the recipe and I hope your exams go well! Sammie
I have been using date paste to make granola for a while now and really like it. I would love to use it in other baking. How much do you substitute for the sugar that’s called for in a recipe? I assume you need to lower the recipe liquid some too?
so yummy
http://poshnessary.com ❤
These look like the perfect weekend breakfast! I can also relate to the procrasti-baking….it seems that baking is the only thing that makes long studying days bearable!
Oh wow, these look delicious!!! Thanks so much for sharing.. i can’t wait to get baking!!
Corinne | http://www.breathedreamlove.com
Such fabulous muffins should be made illegal! These look to-die-for, Izy!
This combo of blueberry and carrot sounds delicious! Love the idea of using date paste for natural sweetness!
I could seriously devour some blueberry muffins right now. Good luck with the revision- I remember studying for exams in January and I always needed so much motivation after the holidays!
Maybe this is a silly question, but is it still a muffin-y texture? I haven’t had much luck with gluten-free muffins.
Patricia | themoderntexan.com
Oh these sound smashing, definitely pinning to try later.
These look so simple and tasty. You’d think I would have thought ahead and frozen picked berries, but I usually end up eating them for a few days non-stop and feeling sick haha.
Hi! I love your refined-sugar-free recipe series. Date mush will be one of my fridge staples from now on. I made these muffins last night and I love them! I swapped unsweetened shredded coconut for almonds and they turned out great
Eva
evahli.wordpress.com
Ooh lovely swap! I’m so glad you liked them 🙂 and yay for date mush! It really is so useful X
They look great! Going to make them on Friday. Wich flour did you use??
I used ground almonds, gram flour and oat flour 🙂 hope you like them!
Oh, I need to try these in a plant based version 🙂 Love the pictures, you’re amazing! <3
Love,
Ana
@schlangenhautx
I’m afraid to make these muffins because I might eat all of them in one sitting!
Could you use date syrup instead of date mush?
Sure! They’ll probably be a bit sweeter though so you could cut it down to 1 tbsp of syrup instead if you want.