Haven’t shared any new muffin recipes in a while and I was lucky enough to get my hands on some fresh blueberries at the fruit market last week, so figured the stars had aligned for me to make blueberry muffins, and I was so happy I did because I’d totally forgotten how good they can be. Of course my son refused to eat them because – surprise, surprise – they had blueberries in them, but they’ve been gobbled up nonetheless.
To up the nutrition and make these “healthy muffins” (is there really such a thing?) I decided to take a chance and make blueberry zucchini muffins, and this may possibly be my new favourite muffin recipe. For those of you who have made my zucchini carrot muffins, this is a similar base recipe, but substituting the carrot with more zucchini and adding blueberries to top it off.
Since I mostly make muffins as a quick on-the-go breakfast option for my family (including my sandwich hating son), I always try to up the nutrition for them, and this blueberry zucchini muffin recipe is no exception. These muffins pack my “go-to” health boosts – raw shelled hemp seeds, freshly ground flax seed, almond butter (I’ll be posting soon on how you can easily make this yourself), and unflavoured pea protein (don’t worry, the muffins will not taste like peas or zucchini!), helping these muffins pack over 6g of protein each.
I enjoyed these so much that I’ll be making another batch tonight.
Need to make them gluten-free? This recipe will turn out fine with your favourite gf flour mixture thanks to the fruit and veg content which will keep the muffins perfectly moist.
Here’s the recipe so you can make some too.
- 1½ cups whole wheat flour
- ½ cup spelt flour (can sub with whole wheat)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 1 cup grated zucchini (2-3 medium zucchini)
- ⅓ cup fresh blueberries
- 1 scant cup cane sugar (if you leave out the health boost ingredients, reduce to ¾ cup)
- ¾ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ½ cup oil (I like to use grapeseed oil)
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- The Health Boost:
- 2 Tbsp almond butter
- 2 Tbsp ground flax seed
- ¼ cup shelled hemp seeds
- 1 heaping scoop (~30g) protein powder (I use unflavoured Pea Protein)
- Line a muffin tray with paper liners (or lightly grease) and set aside.
- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C.
- Mix the oil, applesauce, sugar, and vanilla extract together in a bowl.
- Add your grated vegetables and fold together evenly.
- Add your health boost ingredients to the mixture and stir well.
- Add the remaining dry ingredients to the bowl and stir lightly to combine them before mixing them down into the wet ingredients (alternatively mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl before folding into the wet ingredients).
- Mix evenly until all of the dry ingredients have been absorbed into the wet mixture. Pay careful attention to ingredients that have fallen to the bottom of the bowl, and don't mix more than necessary.
- Spoon the batter into a lined or lightly greased muffin tray.
- Bake for 18-25 minutes, until the tops lightly brown and pressing your finger lightly into the muffin it springs back to form.
- Let cool for 5-10 minutes before storing, or enjoy warm.
Welcome!
Where to get unflavored pea protein?
I buy it online (of course!)
This is the one I order. I’m on my third or fourth tub of it already.
http://www.iherb.com/Growing-Naturals-Yellow-Pea-Protein-Original-16-oz-456-g/42063?rcode=CLH943