The bummed out blueberry batch

It’s back to baking for this week’s Monday Munchies but perhaps I should go back to basics too! You see I’m not berry happy with how my muffins turned out – but they did become at least half a win. 🙂

I’m trying to be a little more health conscious over summer, attempting to eradicate my fitness fads, so I wanted to bake a healthy batch of breakfast muffins for when I wanted something sweet to grab and go. However, unless I have the ingredients to hand, I’ll not be venturing out to specifically buy the items for a recipe, so I was delighted when I trawled the internet and came across WellPlated.com offering something that I already had everything for. Plus, they checked all my currant baking boxes – healthy (NO sugar!), easy (you chuck it all in a blender!) and quick.

Noat* only were they crammed with powerful oats, Greek yoghurt, potassium filled bananas and omitting sugars (* that should be my last pun, sorry!) they had the potential to be adapted and stuffed with all the super goodness of blueberries instead of chocolate chips too! I had some berries that needed using and also some sweet little dried apple pieces, so off I went to fetch the scales…

Okay, so this is an easy recipe, but I have created an extra job for myself now every time I bake in that I have to take photos, just in case I’m going to share it on my blog. So after I’d arranged most of the ingredients in a semi-stylish fashion and snapped a shot, I speedily scraped everything in to the blender and flicked it on, totally not thinking.

Vrrrrrmmm… Hang on… Vrrrmmmm… A niggling feeling of forgetfulness crept in. Vrrrmmmm… Wait… Vrrrmm… Noooooo! Damn, too late! The recipe said add any extras after blending the other ingredients. Hmmm. Oh well, the batter was now a grey-ish shade of purple from the blitzed berries but everything goes down the same way. Right?

I decided to fill the cases half-way, drop in a few extra berries and apple pieces to make up for liquefying them, then top up with more batter. Why I’ve never mixed everything in a blender before when baking is beyond me – Quickly poured in without any mess = my kind of recipe!

Into the oven they went and I was praying they would rise (I never seem to do too well with muffins). Oh and that they did! After around 20 minutes (slightly longer than the recipe recommended) they had perfectly domed tops, looking remarkably nutritious and wholesome. I removed them to check they were cooked through (everything came out clean) and proceeded to set them out to cool on the rack. However, less than 2 minutes out of the oven and disaster struck – they’d obviously hit some metaphysical iceberg as I ferried them across the kitchen and sank faster than the Titanic. 😦 Thwarted again!

After cooling, I grumpily peeled the case off a deflated little treat and tested how much of my morning I’d wasted but surprisingly, they tasted scrumptious. So they may not look like a muffin equivalent to a super model (I’m sure that sentence is actually a paradox) but they still pack a healthy breakfast punch and will keep well for around a week in an airtight tin.

I just wish I knew what I’d done wrong – Maybe someone can give me some suggestions as I’m sure everyone else can get them looking a lot happier than mine!

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

• 280g oats (plus a some to sprinkle on top)
• 170g Greek yoghurt
• 2 large ripe bananas, chopped (ends removed obviously, in case of spiders!)
• 2 large eggs
• 2-3 Tbsp honey
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• Up to 80g of extras (berries, nuts, choc chips etc. Mine was a 50/50 blueberry / apple split).

METHOD:
Preheat oven to Gas mark 6. Throw everything in a blender (extras, no extras, you decide how risky you’re feeling!) and blitz until a you have a smooth batter. You’ll need to keep scraping it down the sides to make sure it’s well mixed. Pour into muffin cases, around 2/3 full (adding extra berries etc if you’ve blended altogether) and sprinkle with a few extra oats on top. Bake for 15-20 mins until a skewer comes out clean. Enjoy and marvel in how fluffy they look compared to mine!