Recipe Share - The Perfect {Healthier} Blueberry Muffin

Everybody loves a yummy muffin, and blueberry muffins are just about the best things on earth! I'm sharing the recipe I've adapted from the first cookbook I ever owned, my beloved Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook, a wedding gift.  :)

This modified recipe uses less sugar and adds a little extra nutrition.

Are you ready? ? ?

Here's what you'll need:

1 3/4 cups King Arthur or other unbleached flour

1 tbsp ground flax seed

generous dash wheat germ

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

dash sea salt

1 beaten egg

3/4 cup milk

heaping dollop of sour cream

1/4 cup cooking oil

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

cooking spray or muffin pan liners

Here's what you do:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F and line or spray muffin pan

• In medium mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients

• In a different mixing bowl, mix together milk, oil and egg; add to dry ingredients and stir gently

• Add dollop of sour cream to mixture, then blueberries. Stir gently again- lumps are fine, and batter will be thick!

  **BEWARE- if using frozen blueberries, your batter will turn purple!**

• Spoon batter into pan or liners- we use a cookie scoop. It's so easy the kids can do it on their own!

• Place in oven and IMMEDIATELY reduce oven temp to 400 degrees. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Let cool for a few minutes, top with a pat of butter, and dive right in! YUM! The sour cream gives the muffin a rich flavor and texture, the wheat germ and flax seed give an extra nutritional boost, and preheating the oven to 450 lets the muffins rise really high like those sold in bakeries and pastry shops....just don't forget to turn the temperature back down to 400! I speak from experience, folks. Those muffins were not, well, so yummy.

This recipe makes a dozen muffins, and it doubles well. Enjoy!

Kristen F asked a great question: what about using wheat flour?
I must admit I dislike the texture of the muffins with only wheat flour; HOWEVER, sometimes I substitute 1/2 cup or so of the unbleached flour with wheat flour and don't notice much of a difference. Thanks Kristen!  =)

I should also point out that these muffins are definitely not sweet- you won't mistake them for a cupcake, ha! You could add a little honey, or...AGAVE NECTAR! Have you heard of it? I saw the young, cute doctor on that midday Doctors show talking about the benefits of switching out sugar for agave nectar, so I got some and have been sweetening with it ever since. A little goes a long way!