Yummy Goji Berry, Blueberry and Honey Muffins
The goji berries and blueberries make sure these muffins are stuffed with delicious antioxidants and healthy. And more importantly, mixed with the sweetness of the honey, they are absolutely yummy!
I actually made these healthy muffins when I was in the mood for something healthy and wanted to bake. I almost always have goji berries and blueberries as a snack so I decided to make some muffins out of them. I recently saw a recipe by Lorraine Pascale for pumpkin muffins which looked delicious. I decided to take her recipe as a base to work out my own muffins. Just in case they would turn out great I decided to photograph the process and boy am I glad I did, because they turned out great!
Making Goji Berry and Blueberry Muffins
So here’s what I did to make these goji berry and blueberry muffins:
First, grab your essentials, honey, self-raising flour, wholemeal flour, oil, milk, quark (or plain yoghurt), goji berries, blueberries, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and a couple of eggs.
Next, either get some papercups, or make your own by cutting squares of parchment paper.
Next, take your squares of parchment paper and push them into your muffin tin so that the paper sticks up.
Now take your flours and sieve them.
Whatever is left over in the sieve. Keep it and set aside. We’re going to use it later.
In a bowl, add the quark (or plain yoghurt),
Milk,
Sweeten it with honey,
Add the berries. But make sure you keep some berries aside. We’re going to need them later on as well! Mix it all up and leave to soak for a couple of minutes.
Lightly whisk the eggs.
Pour the whisked eggs in te soaked milk and berries mixture.
Add the oil.
Mix it all up.
Once mixed it’s time to combine the wet with the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
Gently fold together the ingredients. Make sure you don’t overwork the mixture.
This is just perfect, don’t worry about any lumps you might see in the mixture, they’ll disappear later. It’s best not to overwork the mixture too much. If you do you’ll end up with a muffin with a tough, heavy mixture, that’s not yummy at all. So when you see the lumps, just think ‘My lumps, my lumps, my lovely muffin lumps’. You know, from the Black Eyed Peas song, My Humps…? Even if you don’t know it, when folding the mixture, just use it as a mantra not to overwork your mixture. You’ll never have a ‘heavy’ muffin again!
Now, here’s when I realised that pouring in the mixture into the muffin tin using the bowl I mixed everything up in wasn’t going to work. So I poured it in a bowl I could pour it out from. I suggest you use the correct bowl from the start, it’ll save time and dirty dishes as well.
Now pour in the muffin mixture about 3/4 into the prepared papers in the muffin tin.
Doesn’t that look lovely already?
Now take some of the leftovers of your flour that you set aside earlier and sprinkle it on top of the goji berry and blueberry muffin in the making.
Next, add some of the left over berries and sprinkle them on top as well. Doesn’t that look lovely already? It’s all in the details!
Repeat the process till you’ve filled you’re entire muffin tin. Put it in the oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes.
When done, they should look like this, well risen and when a skewer is inserted in the center it comes out clean.
Take out of the muffin tin and leave to cool on a cooling rack.
Don’t you just want to eat them just by looking them? These goji berry and blueberry muffins don’t just look cute, they are absolutely yummy as well! You can eat them as is, or you can make them a little less healthy and eat them with some cream cheese and drizzle a little honey on top. YUM!!
I hope you enjoy this recipe. As always, don’t forget to comment and rate the recipe if you’ve tried it. I’d love to hear how they turned out for you!
UPDATE: 16 May 2012
Today this recipe got mentioned on VROUW.nl an online section of one of the leading Dutch newspapers. It got mentioned on an article about how goji berries are considered a super food.
UPDATE: 2016
It looks like the newspaper has removed all links to goji berry recipes, including mine 🙁 Oh well, it was fun while it lasted 😉
Prep Time | 15 minutes |
Cook Time | 25 minutes |
Servings |
muffins |
- 60 ml vegetable oil
- 180 g self-raising flour
- 130 g wholemeal flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- pinch salt
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 100 ml quark or plain yoghurt
- 275 ml milk
- 240 ml honey
- 100 g goji berries
- 120 g blueberries dried or fresh
Ingredients
|
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. Prepare a muffin tin with paper cups. Or if you want to go the fancy route, line a muffin tin with squares of parchment paper. Push the squares down into each hole so that the paper sticks up.
- Sift all the dry ingredients (flours, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda) into a large bowl. Stir in the salt. Set aside any wholegrain that's left in the sieve.
- In another bowl, combine, milk, quark (or yoghurt), honey and most of the berries. Keep some berries aside for decoration. Let it stand for about 2 minutes so the berries can suck up some of the liquid.
- Stir eggs and oil into the honey and milk mixture and mix well.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and fold the ingredients together, but be careful not to over-work the mixture.
- Fill the muffin tin by 3/4 with the batter. Sprinkle the reserved wholegrain and left-over berries over the muffins.
- Bake in the centre of the oven for 20–25 minutes, or until the muffins are well risen and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Eat as is, or you can eat it with a little bit of cream cheese, maybe drizzle a little bit of extra honey on top. YUM!
Be careful not to over-work the muffin mixture or it will result in a muffin with a heavy texture.
Hi. I jus tried this receipe and the bottom of all my muffins are too moist.. Its doesn’t stick together. Can I seel your advice?
Hi, this hasn’t happened to me before and it’s hard to tell without seeing the product.
However, based on what you’ve written, I would try adding in a bit more flour next time (flours can differ per country on the amounts needed) or leave it in the oven for a little longer.
This is excellent !! I always look for new ways to help my customers use their wolfberries! Excellent ! Thank you !
I have been banging my head on a wall wondering how I can turn my blueberry muffins into something extraordinary and I believe this recipe will kick ass with the addition of goji berries and honey. Thank you. I will inform you on the reaction of friends an family members.
@Victor: Just try this, I’m sure you’ll like it 🙂 I can’t wait to find out what you and your family and friends think of it!
That’s my kind of muffin 🙂 Will try m soon!
I’m glad you like the recipe 🙂 It’s worth the try, they’re truly yummy!