A Whole-Wheat, Berry-Filled Version of the Classic Favorite

If your mornings are anything like ours, grab-and-go is how we enjoy the first meal of the day more often than not. A breakfast made of any combination of blueberry French toast, green smoothies, or veggie-stuffed omelettes is our weekend life. We love it, but the weekdays just call for something different. Here’s a berry oat muffin recipe reworked from Erin’s fabulous blog, Well Plated. These muffins are chock-full of whole wheat, oats, and triple berries to help your crazy mornings stay a little more on the healthy side, but still feel like a treat.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 1/2 cups + 1 tbsp (to roll berries in) whole wheat flour

3/4 c oats

1/2 c lightly packed brown sugar (emphasis on lightly, as these aren’t super sweet muffins – I’d probably add an extra tbsp or two)

1 tbsp baking powder

a healthy 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 cup + 2 tbsp nonfat milk

1/4 c unsalted butter, melted and cooled (I completely cheat and melt this in the microwave, stick it in the fridge, then set it out to let it come to room temperature)

2 large eggs at room temperature

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/4 c powdered sugar (optional) OR raw turbinado sugar (scroll down to #5 in the directions for more on this)

1 cup to 1 1/2 cups mixed berries (I used raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries and really packed a bunch into these muffins)

We always wash, dry, and freeze our fresh fruit if it looks like they’re a few days from going bad and we know that we aren’t going to get to them. It makes tossing together a smoothie in the morning so easy and recipes like this a breeze.

Here’s how to pull these muffins together:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F and place a rack in the center of the oven.

2. Coat your muffin tins (I like this one – 20% off right now, too) with nonstick spray or paper liners.

Pro tip: You can create the chic paper wrapping here if you have parchment paper on-hand. When your batter is ready to go into the muffin tin, cut out a square of it and form it into a slight cone shape, flattening the bottom so it will fit into the tin. Scoop your batter into it to weigh it down and make sure to watch it in the oven so that the paper doesn’t brown too much (a little is okay).

3. Stir together the following in a large mixing bowl: 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.

Mix together the milk, butter, eggs, and vanilla in a separate bowl.

Create a well in the middle of the large bowl with dry ingredients like the one below.

Add the wet ingredients into the well and stir lightly until the ingredients are mixed together.

4. Toss your mixed berries lightly in the 1 tbsp of flour. This is a great trick that keeps them from sinking immediately to the bottom of your batter. Being careful not to toss in more flour, gently fold the lightly coated berries into the rest of the batter, tossing out the remaining flour from the berry bowl.

I’ve mentioned these nesting bowls before in this post on chocolate-dipped pretzels. They’re so inexpensive and are terrific for separating out baking ingredients.

5. Pour your batter into the muffin tins, about three-fourths of the way full.

I made a few small batches to test these out and found that they were a bit on the less-sweet side, which is probably healthier. Naturally, I needed a bit more sugar. I found that you can do this one of two ways successfully:

One way: Sprinkle a bit of the raw turbinado sugar over the tops (about 1 teaspoon each, or a little less) before you send them into the oven to bake. This turned out great and is my #1 choice for this recipe. It’s also a healthier sugar than the refined powered sugar.

The other way: Sift powdered sugar over the muffins once they’re out of the oven and have cooled for five minutes. This creates the beautiful, snow-covered look pictured in this post. I’m a major fan of powdered sugar snow. One thing to note: it will soak in by the next morning, so you’ll still have the sweetness, but will lose the snowy look.

(Plates are Johnson Brothers Willow Blue – available here; similar Spode available here)

6. Bake them for 18-20 minutes. I always start on the lower side of the baking times. I found that these only took about 18 minutes. Avoid opening the oven door and use the toothpick test – when the toothpick comes out clean after being inserted into the muffin, it’s done. Let them cool for 5-10 minutes. I took them out of the tins almost immediately and placed them onto a cooling rack to cool.

Sidenote (because I talk about them a lot): I can’t have more good things to say about Williams Sonoma’s non-stick Goldtouch baking ware. They’re a touch more, but are worth every penny. I’ve been so happy with mine.

These muffins are best paired with a yogurt and fresh orange juice. Hope this tasty recipe helps get your mornings off to a great start!