Easy Grain-Free Blueberry Muffins

I have noticed that the food I make myself just seems to taste better. I know this is a very selfish thing to say. In fact, this kind of selfishness is quite common. We humans overvalue the things we make for ourselves. For example, that Ikea furniture that we put together. It's not the greatest furniture ever but assembling it adds to its value for us.

I was reading about this in Dan Ariely's book The Upside of Irrationality. "Pride of creation and ownership runs deep in human beings." Ariely says that creating food is a good example of this. Even semi-homemade items taste better to us: steps such as adding some herbs to a bottled pasta sauce, mixing curry paste with chicken pieces, or adding eggs to a cake mix. These at-home adjustments give us a feeling of agency over our food, and hence the food tastes better to us.

But often homemade really does taste better, right? It's not just psychology that fresh from the oven muffins taste better than store bought. Adding fresh chopped parsley to a bottled sauce does, indeed, make it taste more fresh. (Although there is a line beyond which I don't think this is true; adding eggs to a cake mix may not actually taste better than a not-at-all homemade factory cake.)

Making muffins at home is so easy and, yes, it does taste better than shop-bought. These grain-free blueberry muffins are something I couldn't easily find at the store anyway, so they are even more valuable to me.

This dish is part of our Wednesdays with Donna Hay blogging group. The rest of the group are making Hay's grain-filled blueberry muffins, but I made a grain-free version. The recipe I used is here, by Everyday Maven. They have a great springy texture, thanks to the tapioca flour which is added to an almond flour base. I plan to use the same recipe again to make lemon zest muffins, and some other fruit flavours as well.

If you want to join us, next week we are making breakfast parfaits. (I'll be posting a recipe for grain-free museli with this recipe.) You are welcome to join us; no long term commitment is required. Visit the others in my blogging group to see if they liked the recipe.

Have you observed the tastiness and value of creating something for yourself?

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