Fresh Blueberry Rye Muffins
So I’m on a baking kick right now. Between all the fresh fruit and veggies available I have been craving sweet and savory baked goods. These blueberry muffins are absolutely divine and since I’ve got a fresh bag of rye flour to use up (have you tried the zucchini, date and rye bread yet?) I wanted to incorporate that into these muffins. These muffins are refined sugar free and only sweetened with dates and fresh blueberries. I’ve really loved sweetening things with dates since baking for my little girl. And while dates still contain plenty of natural sugar, they have lots of fiber which means they don’t spike blood sugar the same way refined sugar does thanks to your body digesting them more slowly. The rye flour adds a lovely earthy flavor and these have become a fun morning or mid afternoon treat that I feel good about feeding my family. Of course, you can make these in the winter too with frozen berries, in which case you’ll want add a little flour to the berries so they don’t sink to the bottom. Regardless, I hope you and your family enjoy these berries as much as we do! Cheers to the summer bounty everyone!
Blueberry Rye Muffins
Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 25 minutes Serves: 12 muffins
- 3/4 cup Medjool dates, (about 6 large dates)
- 1/3 cup melted butter, ghee or coconut oil
- 1/2 cup whole milk plain yogurt OR milk
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup sprouted spelt flour (see note)
- 3/4 cup sprouted rye flour (see note)
- 1 cup fresh blueberries (if frozen toss blueberries with 2 Tablespoons flour)
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line a standard muffin pan with parchment liners.
- Place the dates in a bowl and cover with 1/2 cup of boiling water. Soak for 10 minutes. Add the dates, along with the water to the bowl of a food processor. Process until the mixture forms a smooth paste (a few lumps are fine!)
- In a large bowl combine the melted butter, yogurt, eggs, vanilla and dates and mix well. Add the baking soda, spices and salt. Spoon in the flours and use a wooden spoon to mix everything up, being careful to not over mix (a few lumps are okay!) Fold in the blueberries and spoon the mixture into the prepared pan.
- Place in the oven and bake until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of a muffin. About 20 minutes. Cooking times will very from kitchen to kitchen so keep a close eye on the muffins towards the end of baking.
Notes
Sprouted flours are easier to digest. You can find sprouted flour from my favorite place Second Spring (linked above)
I made the zucchini bread recipe that you posted before this one. I used Date syrup instead of using and pulverizing dates. It was not tasty, I threw it out. I like rye bread, so I’m wondering if the sprouted spelt flour is what made it so distasteful. I’d love your thoughts.
Oh bummer. I’m sorry to hear that!I don’t think the spelt flour is the issue as it’s incredibly mild tasting. I think it’s the date syrup (which I’ve tried in the past). The flavor is quite different than the date paste as it’s incredibly condensed and stronger tasting than the date paste. I’m sorry to hear you didn’t have success with that, but I think it’s the date syrup that made the flavor taste “off.”
Is it 1/2 CUP of Plain Yogurt or Milk or ??? It sounds wonderful!
Thank you for the catch! And yes, it’s 1/2 cup!
These were great. Used all purpose and regular spelt flour as substitutes. Curious if you’ve come up with a good ratio for substituting dates for sugar or other sweeteners in baked goods?