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.)

Grain-Free Honey Cakes

This is the best textured grain-free baking I have done so far. These beautiful little cakes are fluffy and light even though they are made with coconut flour.

Coconut flour is much more dense than wheat flour and also soaks up a lot of liquid. Hence for bakers used to normal cupcake recipes, there is an relatively large quantity of wet ingredients in this recipe.

Pumpkin and Cranberry Muffins (Grain-Free)

What I love about cranberries is the way they make my mouth pucker. My teeth pop them open and the acidic juice quirts out. Just thinking about eating one of these muffins is making my saliva start to run. Does that happen to you when you think about eating sour foods?

applesauce muffins

My main reasons for eating? It tastes good! And it's healthy! That is to say, it can be healthy when I make good choices. Taste is most important for me, though. And you?

But I'm interested in whole grain baking because it is good for me and so I've been learning a lot about it lately. You can expect to read more about baking with whole wheat flour and other healthy stuff over the next few months.

But is whole grain baking tasty? If not, why bother? May I present Exhibit A, these applesauce muffins.

morning glory muffins

How can I help a group of twelve-year-olds learn to use algebraic symbols to describe a matchstick pattern? What activity would help a group of fifteen-year-olds who have already been labelled as "bad at maths" experience some success (and enjoyment!)? Can I develop an interactive way of teaching the standard normal distribution?

apple ideas

For the last two years, my mother has given me a page-a-day calendar at Christmas time. My "Teachers" calendar sits next to my work computer and has provided a few good classroom ideas and a few good laughs. Yesterday I was surpised to see a list of recipe ideas for apples. I'm not sure that here in the UK they have the idea that students bring their teachers apples. But apples are a firm favourite of mine; they are the perfect autumn fruit, so ruddy and crispy. Their colours remind me of the autumn leaves from home, which I dearly miss. They are cheap and plentiful at this time of year, and they are local. I am actually quite impressed by the apple ideas on this page. Here are some other apple ideas.

For an afternoon snack, eat sliced crisp apple with blobs of brie.

For "night lunch" (a bedtime snack), eat sliced apples sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Drink a glass of milk on the side.

Make your own chunky apple sauce by simmering apples in a bit of water (with or without added sugar). Cook until the apples disintegrate. Mash a little if you like. Serve over porridge or yogurt, sprinkled with toasted hazelnuts and a little honey.

Apple crumble is always a fantastic and easy baked dessert.

Make oatmeal muffins with added chopped apple.

courgette muffins

Since we both stayed home from work today, we kept ourselves busy with the internet, books, a movie (Michael Clayton), a bit of TV, some organising, and cooking. I made these zucchini/courgette muffins to eat with tea as we curled up under the duvet on the couch. They were a bit dry and I ate mine with Greek yoghurt.

For supper we had some slow-cooked beef and a coleslaw (recipe from Sarah's gift of How to Cook Everything).

baking muffins

My dad is a famous muffin maker. He has so many muffin cookbooks that he has an index book to help him find the muffin recipe he wants. I, however, have only one muffin recipe. I use it for everything. I like it because (a) it has hardly any sugar, (b) it has hardly any oil, (c) it contains lots of oats--and I make it even healthier by putting in oats and bran, (d) it only requires one mixing bowl, speeding up both the preparation and the washing up. Here it is.

Chocolate Chip Muffins
adapted from More with Less
makes 12 large or 18 small muffins

Mix together in large bowl:
1 1/2 c (190 g) flour
1/4 c (25 g) sugar
1 T baking powder

Stir in:
1 c (90 g) oats
1 c (180 g) chocolate chips (or 1/2 c [75 g] raisins or anything else that you fancy)

Add:
3 T oil
1 egg, beaten
1 c (250 ml) milk

Stir only until combined. Fill muffin cups and bake at 425 F (205 C) for 15 minutes.