New Ingredients, Awesome Recipe

First, thanks for all of the sweet comments about my 5k run this morning! And yes, we do get snow in Canada in October – but in Calgary, it won’t stay. It’s already melted! It’ll be cold/nice/cold/nice for a few weeks yet. I hope!

Would you believe me if I told you a few months ago, I didn’t like blueberries?

It’s true. Madness! I don’t know what I was thinking. But I’m in love with them now. In oatmeal, on yogurt, and now in the best muffins I have ever made.

I honestly didn’t know how these would turn out – I was trying a few new things at once. I used Stevia, flax eggs and almond milk, all things I’d used, but not baked with before. And they turned out amazing! And even though it wasn’t on purpose, they’re vegan too!

NuNaturals sent me some Stevia products to try out, which I am super excited about. I’ve been looking for a sweetener to use for my coffee, since I’m trying not to use artificial sweeteners and don’t really want to use sugar. And black coffee is just too overwhelming

But I admit, I was a little uneasy about a Stevia baking blend. I’d made a commitment to myself to eat and use real foods. Stevia is an herb, but a baking blend brought back memories of a big bag of Splenda I once bought for baking. At which point I would devour the Splenda baked goods, because they were sugar free, and you know – “good for you”.

I know better now. Eat real foods, and enjoy them.

I don’t know if a Stevia baking blend qualifies as a real food or not – to me, it’s a blurry line. I’m not going to use it all the time, since I think things like cookies should remain a treat, and not a health-food whatsoever. But a muffin? A muffin already blurs the line between healthy and not-so healthy, so it seemed like a good fit.

Combine 1 C whole wheat flour and 1 C all purpose flour with 3/4 C NuNaturals Stevia baking blend (or sugar). Add 2 teaspoons of baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Another new thing I tried with this recipe was a ‘flax egg’. Instead of using eggs, I combined 2 tbsp of flax meal with 1/4 C warm water. Then, add 3/4 C milk (I used Almond), 1/4 C applesauce and 1/4 C canola oil.

Add wet ingredients to dry, and stir until just mixed.

Add 1 C of blueberries.

Stir to combine.

Divide among muffin tins (sprayed with nonstick spray). I only got 11 muffins – I probably could have stretched the batter out between 12, but I’d rather have 11 good sized muffins than 12 small

Bake for 25 minutes at 350*.

Enjoy!

Vegan Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins

Print this recipe

Ingredients

• 1 C whole wheat flour
• 1 C all purpose flour
• 3/4 C NuNaturals Stevia baking blend (or sugar)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tbsp flax meal
• 1/4 C warm water
• 3/4 C Almond milk (or other milk)
• 1/4 C applesauce
• 1/4 C canola oil
• 1 C blueberries

Directions

1. Combine whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, Stevia baking blend/sugar, baking powder, and salt.
2. Combine flax meal and warm water.
3. Add milk, applesauce and canola oil.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry, and stir until just mixed.
5. Add blueberries and stir to combine.
6. Divide into 12 (or 11!) muffin tins sprayed with nonstick spray,
7. Bake for 25 minutes at 350*.

I really enjoyed the NuNaturals baking blend, and I will definitely be using it again. I can also see myself using it in something where you add only a bit of sugar – like an apple crisp topping, or in granola!

And by the way, Stevia in my coffee? Amazing! Thanks NuNaturals!

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Tagged as: baking, recipes, review