Almond Flax Blueberry Muffins

Time to share part II of my weekend cooking bender!

I had an abundance of fresh blueberries and was eager to put them to good use. I've had this recipe bookmarked for a while, and I figured today was finally time to give it a whirl. (With a few adjustments, of course!)

Disclaimer: if you are looking for a light, fluffy, traditional blueberry muffin recipe, keep right on looking. The muffins produced by this recipe bear little resemblance to standard muffins made with regular flour. Let's be honest. Any muffin made without flour or sugar isn't going to taste like it came from Dunkin' Donuts. 

Instead, these muffins are dense and nutty, with a slightly coarse texture. They are quite tasty, but very different. They are also low-carb, high protein, and extremely nutritious. Here's a pic of how mine came out.

Still with me? Cool. Read on for the recipe, more pics and nutritional info.

Almond Flax Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients:

1 cup almond flour

1 cup ground flaxseed meal

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

4 eggs

1/3 cup water

1/3 cup DaVinci SF sweetener syrup

2 tablespoons DaVinci SF vanilla syrup

1 cup fresh blueberries, washed and well-dried

Once again, I must apologize for no step-by-step photos. I was on a mission, people! But, here are the directions.

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Step 2: Fill a 12-muffin tin with paper liners (or grease it, but I'd go with the liners!)

Step 3: Place all dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.

Step 4: Beat eggs with a whisk. Add in water and syrup, whisk to combine.

Step 5: Add the melted butter and egg mixture to the dry ingredients. Combine and mix very thoroughly. You want to make sure that there are no hidden pockets of dry flour.

Step 6: Add blueberries (after washing, make sure they are thoroughly dried) and stir gently to combine.

Step 7: Using ladle or large spoon, fill muffin liners 3/4 of the way (or just about to the top). 

Step 8: Bake until top of muffins are lightly brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out dry. Mine took 30 minutes to bake, but since ovens are so variable, I'd begin checking them at 15 minutes.

Yum! Nutty, blueberry goodness. This is what the muffins look like on the inside.         

                   

 

I ate my first one slathered in sweet creamery butter, which melted instantly upon contact with the warm muffin. The butter helped bring out the sweetness in the blueberries as well as the nutty almond flavor. 

I had my second one along with an iced latte, and decided to make it a little sweeter and more dessert-like. Yesterday, I snagged this fantastic lemon curd at The Fresh Market. "Stonewall Kitchen" brand.

A tablespoon is only 5 carbs, which for a lemon curd, is quite good. It is so sweet that I only needed a teaspoon, which I spread thinly over the top of my muffin like an icing. The lemon was a nice accompaniment to the blueberries. 

I thoroughly enjoyed it both ways! Tomorrow, for breakfast, I think I'm going to have 1/2 butter, 1/2 lemon curd.

A few notes about this recipe:

-These store well in the freezer. Nuke them for 30 seconds to warm. 

-I use the liquid Splenda (Davinci) because I find it doesn't have the same aftertaste issues that granular Splenda has. You could try these with granular splenda, but you may need to add a bit more water as it will change the moisture.

-If you don't have the plain flavor Davinci syrup, another flavor could be substituted here. Vanilla would go well. Lemon could be interesting. Another time, I plan to try this with Gingerbread flavor syrup, and add some ground ginger, nutmeg, etc.

-You could change the ratio of almond/flax meal to suit your preferences, you could also sub in other types of nut meal. 

Below is the estimated nutritional information per muffin (assuming 12 muffins):

Calories: 153

Fat: 13.5 grams

Protein: 5 grams

Carbs: 5 grams

Fiber: 3 grams

Sugars: 1 gram