Review: Blueberry Power Muffins w/ Almond Streusel (July 03)

[aggie94]

Yum, yum. :) They definitely taste "healthier" than your typical coffee shop muffin, and the texture is different, probably due to the lack of any butter. But they are still good, and the serving size is pretty generous. I'm looking forward to having these on hand for a grab-and-go breakfast, on those mornings I'm running late for work.

Blueberry Power Muffins with Almond Streusel
We call these "power" muffins because they're loaded with B vitamins from whole wheat flour, calcium from milk and yogurt, antioxidants from blueberries, and heart-friendly monounsaturated fat from almonds and canola oil. You can freeze the muffins for up to a month, then thaw them at room temperature, or microwave each muffin at HIGH 15 to 20 seconds.

Muffins:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups vanilla lowfat yogurt
1/2 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
3 tbsp canola oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
Cooking spray

Streusel:
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup slivered almonds, chopped
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400. To prepare muffins, lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, oats, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Make a well in center of mixture. Combine yogurt, milk, oil, vanilla, and egg, stirring with a whisk. Add yogurt mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moist. Fold in blueberries. Spoon 2 rounded tablespoons batter into each of 30 muffin cups coated with cooking spray.

To prepare streusel, combine 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, almonds, brown sugar, and butter. Sprinkle evenly over batter. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Cool in pans 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pans. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Yield: 15 servings (serving size: 2 muffins).

Cal 244 (23% from fat); fat 6.1g (sat 1.3g, mono 2.9g, poly 1.4g); protein 6.1g; carb 42.3g; fiber 2.5g; chol 18mg; iron 1.5mg; sodium 260mg; calc 136mg.

[Vicanddi]

These sound good, but my DH is allergic to nuts, and I would be making the muffins for him. Any thoughts on a substitute? How about oats?

[ebobbitt]

What about Grape Nuts?

[SueK]

Thanks Eva! I just bought the ingredients for these over the weekend, so it's good to read a great review.

[valchemist]

Originally posted by Vicanddi
These sound good, but my DH is allergic to nuts, and I would be making the muffins for him. Any thoughts on a substitute? How about oats?

Oats would work. But you don't have to sub anything, if you don't want. You can just leave out the nuts. You can get a nice streusel without the nuts.

[Vicanddi]

Val, thanks for the info. I will just omit the nuts, then! :)

[aggie94]

I agree with Val. I accidentally left off the streusel topping from my first batch, and they're still tasty. On the other batch, I put it on, but you could just leave out the almonds and make the topping out of butter, flour, and sugar.

[funnybone]

These look great! I've copied the recipe into MC to make one day soon! Thanks.

[Spydee]

I too think these look wonderful and will be going on my to try list.

However, my question is does anyone know why CL lately has begun to publish muffin recipes that result in something other than twelve muffins? Twelve muffins seems to me a perfect number ~ enough for more than two people to enjoy but not so many that you get tired of them if you do freeze them for later use and twelve fits perfectly in the oven.

[Dewey]

I made these last night (with a few modifications) and they were great. As Eva said, you could tell they were healthier than regular muffins, but they were still great.

My modifications were:

Didn't have quick cooking oats, so pulverized regular oats in the food processor
Only had one cup of vanilla yogurt so used 1 cup of buttermilk to replace the missing second cup of yogurt, plus an additional 2 Tbl of sugar (since the yogurt is sweetened) Also, my yogurt was non-fat
Don't like almonds, so I left those off and just made the streusel with flour, b sugar and butter.


I have two muffin tins (regular size) -- one makes 8 muffins, the other 6. I ended up with 23 muffins (really 22 1/2) from this recipe! And I was very generous with the batter when making them! Because of that, I ran out of the streusel topping, so had to make a second batch (or I just like me streusel topping on the thick side...)

Also, I baked the first batch for 15 mninutes, and they were fine, but I baked the second batch for 14 minutes, and preferred those as they were a little more tender.

Overall a really good recipe. Thanks for bringing it to my attention Eva!

[Peggy]

Made these last night for breakfast. Halved the recipe, except for the egg, and it made #12. They are moist and delicious! Thanks for posting the recipe, Eva! (July issue is still no where to be seen).

Peggy

[susan_foster]

How large are these muffins? The recipe says to put in 2 Tbsp. of batter - seems like a small amount.

Fresh blueberries on sale this week - this might be the perfect time to try these!

Susan

[aggie94]

Susan,

I didn't get 30 muffins out of the recipe, but I probably could have. I used my Pampered Chef muffin scoop, was pretty generous with the batter, and ended up with 24 muffins. My muffin pan is 12, and I didn't want to do a third batch just for another 6 muffins.

Anyway, my muffins are a decent size (they definitely rose above the level of the paper), and the serving size is 2. I've been having 2 for breakfast, and they are very filling. I usually can't finish the second one, so I'd say the recommended serving size is probably perfect. It does call for "rounded" tablespoons of batter, so if you want to end up with 30 muffins, I'd say be pretty generous with your tablespoons of batter.

I calculated that for 24 muffins, each serving is still only 300 calories, which isn't bad for breakfast. I would normally have at least that if I ate my standard breakfast at home.

[Kathy B]

Do you think you can sub frozen blueberries instead of fresh? Would I need to change the amount of liquid ?

[aggie94]

Kathy,

My guess is that you can sub frozen blueberries just fine, without doing anything else to the recipe. Don't thaw them, though - just fold them into the batter while they're still frozen.

Maybe someone with more baking experience will give their opinion.

[Vicanddi]

I don't know about having more baking experience, but I regularly use frozen fruit in breads and muffins when it calls for fresh fruit. Just fold the fruit in frozen, unthawed, as Eva suggests, and it should turn out great. Good luck! :)

[KimKelly]

There are great! Thank you so much for posting. I made them tonight and got great reviews from my ever so picky husband.

Here are the changes I made:

1 carton of yogurt as opposed to two (siimply cause that is all I had left)
Followed Dewey's advice and used 1 cup of buttermilk in place of the yogurt.
Used macademia nuts in place of the almonds (again, that's all that was on hand).

Thanks again for posting, these will definitely become a regular at our house.

Kim

[BeckyM]

Thanks for the reviews! I was thinking of making these to have on hand when my parents visit but wanted the opinions of people who had already tried them. By the way, do you think fat free sour cream would work as a substitute for the yogurt? Would I need extra sugar or vanilla? I just realized the vanilla yogurt I have on hand expired already, and I don't have buttermilk.

Becky

[RebeccaT]

I made these on Saturday morning for breakfast, and they were GREAT! DH kept commenting how good they were on Saturday, and when he reheated them from the freezer on Sunday and this morning, he commented again on how much he liked them (just like the article says, they freeze very well and taste great right out of the microwave). It was funny, as we were eating them Saturday morning, and I was analyzing the he** out of them (as I always do with a new recipe), he got really annoyed with me.

DH: These are really good!
Me: They are good. I like them. <pause> I think next time I might add some grated lemon zest, and...
DH (interrupting): WHY??? Don't touch them!
Me: Right. Sorry. If it ain't broke... :o

I love that they are more "substantial" than your typical blueberry muffin. Most blueberry muffins taste like anemic yellow cake recipes to me, unless they are the completely hopped-up versions you get at Starbucks that I cannot eat in good conscience. These are hearty and chewy, but still have a light crumb. I plan to keep these on hand using frozen fruit when blueberry season is over!

Becky, I definitely think you could use FF sour cream instead of vanilla yogurt, with good results. I might increase the vanilla in the recipe to 3 tsp rather than 2, though, although I don't think more sugar would be necessary unless you like things really sweet.

[kima]

I just made these and really like them. (oops I only ate one I swear!). I ended up with 22 muffins and there was barely enough struesel.
I think lemon zest would be a great addition-while they are good they just lack something.... and the texture is different-I expected the texture to be denser due to the ww flour but they are still light and moist. A keeper (but next time some lemon zest -don't tell your DH Rebecca!;)

[RebeccaT]

Oh, I also wanted to mention that I ended up with exactly 30 muffins, using my PC medium-sized scoop... but that made for slightly flat muffins. Great for portion control, but if I make these for guests I will probably fill the muffins cups up more and try to get more like 20-24.

Maureen, if I add lemon zest and DH finds out, I'll tell him Kima made me do it! :p

[kima]

Originally posted by RebeccaT
[B]Maureen, if I add lemon zest and DH finds out, I'll tell him Kima made me do it! :p

Yes-that's me the tryant of the BB! She who must be obeyed...!:)

[BeckyM]

Mine are in the oven. I only had two 12-cup muffin tins, so I made 24 muffins. I did substitute ff sour cream for the vanilla yogurt, but I only had 1 1/2 cups of it, so I used powdered buttermilk (with water) to make up for the additional 1/2 cup. I thought about adding orange zest (I have some Penzey's pre-grated stuff) because of your comments, but I decided to try them first without to see how I like them. The batter tasted good ;) -- I'll let you know how they turn out!

Becky :)

[BeckyM]

They're great! I agree they don't make really big muffins -- I probably wouldn't want to make all 30. The 24 I made were just the right size. I also really like the texture -- more substantial than the average blueberry muffin. I'm torn about the lemon/orange zest idea. I think they would taste good with it, but I like them really well without too. I think it depends on what your mood is -- whether you want something with a little more zing or if the comforting flavor of vanilla is enough. Anyway, these are definitely going in my file of recipes to repeat!

[BeckyM]

One more piece of "review" from my DH. This morning I told him he should try the muffins I made, and he told me he had already tried them last night. He said he was surprised that he liked them so much. I asked him why, and he said that most of my concoctions like that tasted "drier and more bowel-cleansing" :eek:, and that these weren't like that. He said he really liked them. So, from an honest critic, these are some of the best-tasting healthy muffins around!

Becky :)

[RebeccaT]

Originally posted by BeckyM
...he said that most of my concoctions like that tasted "drier and more bowel-cleansing"

Um, thank you??? :D

That sounds like something my DH would say! Gotta love 'em, right Becky??? :D :D

Glad your DH liked them too!

[BeckyM]

At least DH doesn't really criticize my "concoctions" when I first make them. He just waits until I make something he likes better, then he tells me which one he thinks I should make again. Only then does the truth come out!:rolleyes: He TRIES to be tactful, but he's not always successful. At least he eventually lets me know how he feels. I'd certainly rather makes things he likes than things that taste "drier and more bowel-cleansing." :D

Becky :)

[PoppyJ]

I made these last night and was excited to try them. My DH and I were both disappointed to discover that the muffins didn't have a lot of flavor and weren't very sweet. I told him how surprised I was because the BB had raved about them. He said that they needed sugar or something. I pulled out the recipe and that was when I discovered that I had forgotten to add the sugar....a whole cups worth.:o No wonder they weren't sweet and bursting with flavor. I guess that's what I get when I try to bake while I am doing a dozen other things. We are going to try and salvage them tonight by putting honey on them. I hope it works because I hate throwing away so many muffins. Any other suggestions on how to salvage these muffins?

[EmilyK]

We followed the recipe exactly the first time we made these muffins and thought they were great. I mentioned to DH that lemon zest may make these have a "WOW" impact - to which he agreed. He has also been trying to get me to make some sort of cream cheese muffin. So, experimenting I went:

I used 1/3 cup of skim milk (it was all I had) and 2 tbsp. of fresh squeezed lemon juice and the lemon zest of one lemon. This was mixed in with the yogurt.

Then, I whipped up a package of 1/3 less fat cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp. vanilla in the mixer until smooth.

I put half of the batter in the muffin tin, piped in a dollop of the cream cheese mixture, and then the rest of the batter on top.

I have to say they turned out fantastic!! I also didn't use all of the cream cheese. I took the entire batch to a family gathering and they disappeared very quickly and I had to hand out the recipe to all of them. If the muffins sat out too long, the cream cheese absorbed into the muffin a bit, but the ones I froze right away were perfect.

Just thought I'd share!
Emily

[JHolcomb]

I thought these were really good and plenty sweet (maybe a little too sweet...naaah). I made them with egg substitute for the egg and substituted 1/2 of the sugar w/Splenda. Also upped the blueberries to 2 cups b/c that's what I had in the house and I needed to get rid of all of them. My only complaint was the struesel. I keep trying to like almonds, but don't really care for them. Next time I will leave them off. I ended up baking mine in a mini-muffin pan and 3 mini-loaf pans, so had to mess around with cooking time and portion size. I cut each of the loaves into 3rds, called 3 mini-muffins a serving (after weighing them against the pieces from the loaf), and came out w/15 servings, which is correct. Anyway, I liked the carrot bread better, but these are a nice change from cereal.

[Lynn B]

Eva,

Thanks for calling my attention to this recipe. These muffins sound YUMMY! It constantly amazes me how I can POUR over each issue - page by page - and back again... and then see a review of a recipe that I would SWEAR I never saw in my life!!! :)

I am a sucker for anything "blueberry" and anything "muffin"... so I'll be trying these VERY soon!

Again, THANKS!

Lynn

[RebeccaT]

I made these for the second time last night - they are going to become a freezer staple! DH loves them!

This time, I subbed brown sugar for 1/2 the white sugar, and I added about a tsp grated lemon peel and about a tsp lemon juice. I would definitely make both of these changes again... the brown sugar gave them a nice flavor but cut down on the sweetness, and the lemon really enhanced the flavor of the blueberries! I also left off the streusel, because last time I made and froze these the streusel came off in the freezer bag anyway. I didn't miss it!

EmilyK, your cream cheese variation sounds wonderful!

[krissylou]

I made these this weekend to rave reviews. Blueberries were on sale and I had a bunch of plain yogurt to use up because I made the Chicken Souvlaki salad from last summer earlier in the week.

They were delicious. I really liked how they were heartier/healthier than normal muffins. I also got 24 out of them, which I thought was a good size, and ran a bit short on streusel. I thought they were really filling -- I served them and a bit of cheese and fruit and milk and juice for brunch and I didn't need to eat again until dinner time.

These are definite repeaters for me. Once we're not in blueberry season anymore I will try them with frozen blueberries. If that works too (and I don't see why it won't) then I do believe that I have found a breakfast staple.

KrissyLou

[Alaina76]

We also loved these! I got 24 muffins out of them, only used about 3/4 cups of sugar (instead of 1 cup) because I have a tendancy to think things are too sweet, and didn't add the nuts (don't really like them.)
Very good!

[Leisa M]

Do they need the streusel topping, or can you just leave it off?

[Alaina76]

Originally posted by Leisa M
Do they need the streusel topping, or can you just leave it off?

I think you can just leave it off. There isn't much streusel topping on them anyway.

[brykate]

Our Supper Club met yester day morning and made BRUNCH instead of our usual dinner. Great meal! This muffin was probably my favorite item. Everybody agreed they were great and will be making them again. Tender and very tasty. My 2-year old wouldn't leave them alone! Make and freeze it what I plan to do, and they'd be good to take on long trips.

[cooksrhot]

ooh...what if you used lemon yougurt instead of vanilla. That might add a more lemony flavor, huh? Can't wait to try these! We love blueberry muffins!

[foodfiend]

I just made a batch and they are great! I prefer the taste to regular muffins, even though they are good for you (I always find "good for you" baking doesn't always taste great). I subbed low-fat sour cream for yogurt and used frozen bluberries.

[Lynn B]

Made these tonight and they would have been VERY EASY and FAST except I had to go to the grocery store TWICE!!! :eek: :rolleyes: :eek: Didn't have yogurt on hand, (Trip #1) and then NO CANOLA OIL!!! (DD is a little bit forgetful about writing stuff on the shopping list when she finishes something!) So that was Trip #2... but anyway, it's over now :) (breathe... breathe...) ;) so... on with the review!

YUMMY! Downright delicious. We LOVE the texture. I used half whole wheat flour and half regular flour because that's how I have it already mixed in my canister; and frozen blueberries. I also added some lemon zest and some coconut (because we love coconut!) and used chopped brazil nuts from TJs rather than almonds because DS can't eat almonds. BTW, I got 23 muffins.

Excellent recipe; definitely a repeater!

[Laurielee]

Made these this morning and they are yummy> I also got 24 muffins, fillinalmost to the top. So their serving size has to be off, unless you use the huge muffin tins. but then there wuld be no way yo could eat 2 servings which is the serving amount on the recipe.

One questions, The recipe calls for 1 1/2 C flour divided, then says to mix 1 1/2 cups flour in with the whole wheat flour. So where the does the divided flour come in. I think they made a mistake. Down at the bottom it says 1/4 cup flour for struesal, but that is seperate.
Laurie

[RebeccaT]

Originally posted by Laurielee
I also got 24 muffins, fillinalmost to the top. So their serving size has to be off, unless you use the huge muffin tins. but then there wuld be no way yo could eat 2 servings which is the serving amount on the recipe.


Laurie, the serving size of two muffins assumes that you got 30 muffins out of the recipe. In order to get 30, you only need to fill the muffin cups about 2/3 full. Your muffins are bigger than the recommended size (but they probably look nicer!), which is probably why it would be hard to eat two of them! :)

[Laurielee]

Rebeeca, thanks for the info on the serving size. do they do this with all of their muffin recipes. It seems strange that I am suppose to know that when it says it makes 15 muffins but serving is 2 so it actually makes 30. Am I missing something here.
Thanks Laurie

[RebeccaT]

Laurie, I am not looking at my magazine, but based on Eva's (aggie94) typed out recipe on page one of this thread, the recipe states that it makes 15 servings, and that each serving is 2 muffins. So that makes 30.

I haven't noticed a real consistency with CL's muffin recipes regarding serving size. Some recipes say that a serving is one muffin, some two. Some recipes make 24 muffins, some make 30. It definitely gets tricky, I will agree with you there!

[Laurielee]

Rebecca, now I need to be a math wiz at 6:30 am! Still dont get why they would do that, oh well. DH couldnt believe I was trying to do this since I am in a fog this early in the morning and I forgot to put in the egg and vanilla until the last minute, when I couldnt figure out why it was so thick, and also couldnt figure for the life of me why people were halving the recipe when it only made 15 muffins. I just dont want to think more than I have to when I am cooking. Sometimes Cl makes things so complicated.
Laurie

[Leisa M]

Originally posted by Laurielee
Rebecca, now I need to be a math wiz at 6:30 am! Still dont get why they would do that, oh well. DH couldnt believe I was trying to do this since I am in a fog this early in the morning and I forgot to put in the egg and vanilla until the last minute, when I couldnt figure out why it was so thick, and also couldnt figure for the life of me why people were halving the recipe when it only made 15 muffins. I just dont want to think more than I have to when I am cooking. Sometimes Cl makes things so complicated.
Laurie

I have goofed like that some time. One time it was on bread, I realixed it and threw it away. Had to start over:(

[kristalsnow7]

These muffins were really good. I left out the almonds, but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. I actually did get 30 muffins out of the mix; they were kind of small, but I think they are very filling with the whole wheat flour and oats. I brought them in to work today. I wasn't sure how people would like them---they're not overly sweet and are kind of "healthy" with all the whole grains. Well, they were a HUGE hit! Even the sugar addicts liked them. I'd definitely make this recipe again.

[SusanMac]

Laurie - I noticed the same thing (just made these this morning! way yum!). So, I only used 1 1/4 flour in the batter, then the remaining 1/4 for the struesel. They came out fine. In fact, instead of flour in the streusel, I used wheat germ for a bit more taste, texture & protein.

[semmens]

One questions, The recipe calls for 1 1/2 C flour divided, then says to mix 1 1/2 cups flour in with the whole wheat flour. So where the does the divided flour come in. I think they made a mistake. Down at the bottom it says 1/4 cup flour for struesal, but that is seperate.

In the September issues on page 10 there is a correction notice for this recipe. It says:

In our Great Starts column, the recipe for Blueberry Power Muffins with Almond Streusel (July 2003, page 162) should call for 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour. The flour shouldn't be divided.

Does that help at all?:confused:

Laura

[Vicanddi]

I'm a little behind times, but I finally got around to making these. I did make quite a few changes, though, but it is still mostly the same recipe! :D

I used WW pastry flour, instead of just WW flour. I used 1 carton of fat-free lemon yogurt, and 1 carton of vanilla fat-free yogurt, instead of 2 cartons vanilla. I used applesauce instead of the oil. I used FF milk, as that is what I always use. I also added some cinnamon to the batter and the streusel. For the streusel, my DH is allergic to nuts, so I used toasted wheat germ instead. Also, almost forgot, I did not have enough blueberries, so I used half blueberries and half blackberries, both frozen. So what do you think, is it the same recipe??!:D

The muffins turned out great! I will definitely make these again, and will try oats instead of wheat germ for the streusel. The wheat germ wasn't bad, I just think the oats may be a bit better. I was surprised at the number of berries this recipe calls for, and each muffin is just chock full of berries. This is the first berry muffin recipe I've had like that, which is what makes it a keeper!
I only had 23 muffins, instead of 30.

[Valerie226]

I made these a couple months ago & really loved them. I liked the texture,more substantial than the average muffin. Made them right before we went on vacation & didn't make notes. I KNOW I didn't get 30 muffins. think I got 18 (gotta write this stuff down when you do it) because that's all the full size muffin tins I have. I'm sure I adjusted the baking time up a few minutes too. But they went into my permanent muffin file to be repeated. I added frozen blueberries. this always works fine. I roll them around in a towel if they are too icy.