Lemon Blueberry Muffins

After spending an adventurous week in Blackberry Land, I came home to find a large carton of fresh Blueberries in my refrig. What to do... Great treats for the kids, but they can only eat so many raw blueberries. So I scoured my recipe books for something that nutrition packed to feed to the kiddos. Kudos to Deceptively Delicious for capturing my eye with these temptuous treats!


LEMON BLUEBERRY MUFFIN RECIPE

Ingredients

1/2 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar

4 Tbsp Butter

1 cup lowfat lemon yogurt

1 cup blueberries

1/2 cup fresh yellow squash finely shredded

1 large egg

2 tsp vanilla extract

Zest of 1 lemon, approx 1 tsp

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup masa, cornmeal

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350'F. Prep muffin tin, makes 12-18 muffins.

2. In a large bowl, beat the sugar and butter with a wooden spoon. Stir in the yogurt, egg, vanilla extract, lemon zest and blueberries.

3. Add the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, soda and salt. Stir just to combine, but do not overmix - the batter is supposed to be lumpy.

4. Fill the muffin cups approx 3/4 full. Bake until the tops of the muffins are lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center, 13 to 16 minutes. Turn the muffins out onto a rack to cool.


So, per usual, I have substituted a few things. The recipe called for flaxseed meal, I used masa a corn flour 'cuz I could not for the life of me find flaxseed meal in Ralphs! And I was not about to drop $3.50 for Lemon Extract... She likes margarine, but I can't stand the stuff and somehow feel like I am being healthier because I know butter comes from milk... PERIOD! Didn't have time to pre-make the puree so I just finely shredded the fresh yellow squash which by nature is a very soft vegetable and it seemed to be fine!

The muffins were very light and fresh, blueberries still a bit bitter and surprisingly were mostly still whole after baking. Now, I mentioned a nutrition packed muffin earlier in my thoughts. And you might wonder, there is nothing yucky - besides maybe the masa - in this to make it healthy. But as some may know, Blueberries and Lemons are quite nutritious and full of antioxidants. There wasn't too much sugar, and the added yellow zucchini brings Vitamin A, Calcium, and Potassium to the table.

Yum, yum and yum were the only words to be heard when my toddler gobbled down his 3rd muffin and the baby smeared hers across her face, high chair and new outfit! Incredible, these will definitely be gone in a few days:)