Tiny Batch Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins #MuffinMonday

These tiny batch whole wheat blueberry muffins are perfect when you just need three tender, sweet fruity muffins for breakfast or snack time. 

I must confess that when Muffin Monday comes around these days I struggle to find motivation to bake. It’s not that I don’t have a ton of ideas still. Far from it. Muffins are so versatile – sweet, savory or some combination of both - that I don’t think I’ll ever run out of ideas! 

The problem is that with just two of us at home we just don’t eat enough muffins. Back when my husband was working, I’d send in extras for him to share with his colleagues. I do still share with friends and neighbors but now I have a single lady living next door and she’s not a big eater. As I said, it’s a struggle. 

Hence my tiny batch this month and I’m wondering if it’s time to give up Muffin Mondays in the New Year. It might be time. 

Tiny Batch Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins

This recipe makes three regular sized muffins. I baked them in silicone muffin cups rather than using a half empty six-cup muffin pan but that will work too. 

Ingredients

1/2 cup or 60g whole wheat flour

1/4 cup or 50g sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 large egg white, at room temperature

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 tablespoons full-fat sour cream or plain yogurt, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup or 45g fresh or frozen blueberries

Method

Preheat the oven to 400°F or 200°C. Line three muffin cups of a standard 6-cup  muffin pan with paper liners, or use silicone muffins cups on a baking pan. 

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. 

Add in the blueberries and toss to coat. 

In another bowl, whisk the melted butter, egg white, sour cream (or yogurt), and vanilla extract. 

Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and fold until combined and no streaks of flour remain. 

Divide the batter evenly between the three prepared muffin cups. 

Bake the muffins for 5 minutes in your preheated oven, then reduce the oven temperature to 350°F or 180°C. 

Continue baking until the tops of the muffins are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean, about 20 minutes more.

Place the muffins on a cooling rack and allow them to cool slightly before removing.

Enjoy!

It’s the last Monday of the month which means it’s Muffin Monday! Check out the links to the recipes my blogger friends and I are sharing today. 

• Banana Cranberry Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Fig Muffins with Creamy Goat Cheese Filling from A Messy Kitchen
• Pumpkin Apple Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Seeded Rye Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Tiny Batch Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins from Food Lust People Love

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page. 

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Blueberry Muffins!

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Blueberry Cornbread Muffins #MuffinMonday

Bursting with fresh lemon flavor and juicy blueberries, these golden blueberry cornbread muffins are perfect for breakfast or snack time. 

I’ve undoubtedly mentioned this before but every day my husband gets an email from NYT Cooking with descriptions of dishes and links to the recipes online. And every day, he forwards those emails to me. Once in a blue moon, he actually mentions a recipe he thinks one of us should make. 

A couple of weeks ago, it was a version of these blueberry cornbread muffins. As Muffin Monday was coming up (end of the month sneaks up on me regularly) I was happy to oblige. I scoffed at the one commenter who said that just lemon zest was too much lemon and upped the ante by adding lemon juice as well. 

It was a good decision. In my opinion, lemons are life. You can never add too much lemon! 

Blueberry Cornbread Muffins

As mentioned above, this recipe is adapted from one on New York Times Cooking. Sadly, it's behind a firewall but I included the link so at least subscribers can access it. (Or people who have turned off Javascript for the site.)

Ingredients

Zest from 1 lemon

Juice from 1/2 lemon

< 1 cup or 240ml milk, poured into the measuring cup after the lemon juice up to the 1 cup mark (See method.)

1 cup or 155g grams fine-grain yellow cornmeal

1 cup or 125g all-purpose flour

½ cup, packed, or 100g brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 cup or 113g butter, melted and slightly cooled, plus more for greasing pan

1 large egg, at room temperature

2 cups or 280g fresh blueberries, plus extra for garnish

Method

In a large bowl, whisk together cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Zest the lemon into the dry ingredient bowl and stir. 

Use a reamer to juice the lemon into a measuring vessel. Remove any seeds and discard. Add milk up to the 1 cup or 240ml mark. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together melted butter, milk and egg until well combined. 

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold until just combined. 

Let the batter rest at room temperature for 10 minutes. This gives the cornmeal time to hydrate.

While the batter rests, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare a 12-cup muffin pan by greasing it generously with butter.

Gently fold the blueberries into the batter.

Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups. 

Top with a few more blueberries, if desired.

Bake until the muffins are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. 

Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool further. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Enjoy! 

It’s the last Monday of the month aka Muffin Monday and the literal last day of the month. Those two days don’t often coincide! Can you believe it’s already October tomorrow? Check out the great muffin recipes my Muffin Monday friends are sharing below. 

• Banana Avocado Muffins from A Messy Kitchen
• Blueberry Cornbread Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Caramel Apple Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Molasses Bran Muffins with Cherries from Karen's Kitchen Stories

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

Pin these Blueberry Cornbread Muffins! 

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Sparkling Blueberry Cocktail

When it’s hot outside this sparkling blueberry cocktail made with lemon juice, flavored vodka and blueberry juice will cool you off and cheer you up!

One of my favorite things to do, especially in a new country or town, is to explore a local grocery store, going up and down each aisle so I don’t miss anything. Sometimes I find things I didn’t even know existed, like the blueberry juice I use for this cocktail. 

Sparkling Blueberry Cocktail

If you can’t find any store-bought, a simple Google search for homemade blueberry juice turned up pages and pages of recipes and videos. The lemon juice, blueberry juice and club soda should be chilled for the optimal cool drink.

Ingredients 

Ice cubes

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 oz or 60ml blueberry juice (store-bought or homemade)

1 1/2 oz or 44ml Absolut Wild Berri vodka

Club soda to top up glass

To garnish: lemon wedges and fresh blueberries

Method

Use a cocktail stick to skewer a few fresh blueberries. Pop it in a glass with 3-4 ice cubes along with the fresh lemon juice.

Measure in the flavored vodka then add in the blueberry juice.

Garnish with a lemon wedge and top up with club soda.

Enjoy! 

Did you know that it’s National Blueberry Month? Yeah, I didn’t either until our Sunday FunDay host chose blueberries for our theme today. Many thanks to Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm! Check out the blueberry recipes below. You've got the rest of the month to make them! 

• Asian Sweet and Spicy Salmon with Blueberry/Pineapple Salsa from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Blueberry Cactus Bread from Amy’s Cooking Adventures
• Blueberry Lemon Cornbread from Palatable Pastime
• Blueberry Pecan Rugelach from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Keto Microwave Blueberry Muffin from Sneha's Recipe
• Pickled Blueberries from Culinary Cam
• Sparkling Blueberry Cocktail from Food Lust People Love

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Blueberry Banana Muffins (Small Batch) #MuffinMonday

Overripe banana and juicy frozen blueberries make these blueberry banana muffins some of the best I’ve ever baked. Small batch of six! Highly recommend! 

I never worried about getting rid of ripe bananas when my mom was around. Her attitude (and my maternal grandfather’s, for the matter) was that when it comes to bananas, the darker, the better. Sadly, after several months of declining health, Mom passed away three weeks ago. I am blessed to tell you that she was here at home with us and her transition was peaceful. 

After she died, I had one last black banana to use up so I made these muffins. She would have really liked them but I console myself that in heaven, there are probably all the muffins she wants. And all the super ripe bananas too. 

Banana Blueberry Muffins - Small Batch

This recipe makes six normal sized muffins. My husband declared them chock full of blueberries and so they are. We think that’s a good thing and I hope you agree. 

Ingredients

1 cup or 125g all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup or 60ml canola or other light oil, plus extra for the pan

1 medium overripe banana (mine weighed 65g without peel)

1/3 cup, packed, or 66g brown sugar

1 large egg

1 cup or 125g frozen blueberries

Method

Preheat the oven to 400°F or 200°C. Prepare your six-cup muffin pan by brushing it will a little canola oil. 

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

In another bowl, add the banana, oil and egg. Mash the banana with a fork. 

Then use the fork to mix the three together thoroughly. 

Add all but six of the frozen blueberries to the dry ingredient bowl and fold gently so they are covered with the dry ingredients. 

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredient bowl.   

Fold until well combined. Adding the frozen blueberries to the batter while they are still frozen means they don’t mush or fall apart while you fold them in. They do add moisture as they thaw while the muffins bake so don’t be worried that the batter is more like a dough as you spoon it into the muffin cups. 

Spoon the batter equally into the 6 muffin cups. Top each with a single reserved blueberry.

Bake for 5 minutes in your preheated oven then decrease the oven temperature to 350°F or 180°C WITHOUT opening the oven door, and bake for 15-18 minutes more until domed and set. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean or with just a couple crumbs attached.

Let cool for a few minutes.

Enjoy!

It’s the last Monday of the month so that means it’s Muffin Monday time. Check out the muffins my fellow bloggers are sharing below.

• Banana Crumb Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Blueberry Banana Muffins (Small Batch) from Food Lust People Love
• Lemon Cranberry Corn Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Matcha Chocolate Chip Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Orange and Strawberry Whole Wheat Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Sourdough Banana Carrot Muffins from Zesty South Indian Kitchen

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

Pin these Blueberry Banana Muffins! 

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Fresh Blueberry Syrup

The blueberry flavor really shines in this fresh blueberry syrup and, with only four ingredients, it could not be easier to make. Serve it in/on everything from ice cream to pancakes and cocktails.

I was reminded recently during a trip to France, how many different ways we can cook fruit. Syrups, like this one, that are pourable, along with thicker concoctions with more fruit and less sugar like coulis or compote, and, of course, the sweetest of all, straight up jams, preserves and jellies. And I've probably missed out a couple.

When our host for this month’s Foodie Extravaganza chose National Blueberry Month for our theme, I knew I’d make one of the above. I settled on fresh blueberry syrup when I came across a cocktail calling for fruit syrup and I thought, ooooh, great idea!

So there will be a cocktail in our near future. Meanwhile, you can use it to my rhubarb fool one, just sub the blueberry syrup for the rhubarb syrup.

Fresh Blueberry Syrup

This syrup is lovely over pancakes, waffles or ice cream.  Once cooled, I also like to brush it on cakes or muffins as a glaze. This makes about about 2 1/4 cups or 532ml of syrup, unstrained.

Ingredients

1 lb or 450g fresh blueberries

1 cup or 240ml warm water

1 1/2 cups or 300g white sugar

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Method

Put the blueberries, water, and sugar in a medium pot over low heat and stir until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. 

Increase heat to medium and bring a gentle boil, stirring often, until the syrup starts to thickened, about 15 minutes. 

The blueberries should break down but if needed, you can press them with a potato masher to break them down more quickly.

Cook for a further 15 to 20 minutes more OR until the syrup is of your desired syrup consistency, keeping it mind that it will thicken a bit more as it cools. I cooked mine down by about a third, stirring frequently. 

Stir in the lemon juice. You can choose to strain out any blueberry solids, if desired, but I like the little bits of blueberry in the syrup.

Use immediately or cool in a sealed jar. 

Enjoy!

Are you a fan of blueberries? If so, July is your month! As I mentioned above, we are celebrating National Blueberry Month today. Check out the links below. Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• Blueberry Lemon Turnovers from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Fresh Blueberry Syrup from Food Lust People Love
• Grilled Pork Chops with Herbed Blueberry Sauce from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Grilled Peach and Blueberry Salad from Palatable Pastime
• Keto Mini Blueberry Coconut Flour Pancake from Sneha's Recipe
• Oatmeal Spice Cake Mix Cookies with Blueberries from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice

Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays by cooking and baking together with the same ingredient or theme each month. Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board.

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