Blackberry Breakfast Muffins

You guys. I hit the ultimate breakfast [indulgence] with this blackberry muffin recipe.

But first, let me share with you how it all came about.

It was a cold morning. It was a cold, winter morning filled with beautiful snow falling, and falling, and falling. It was an absolutely breath-taking scene out my window last Sunday, and as I watched the snowflakes pile up, I poured a steaming cup of coffee and opened my Bible. As I poured my second cup, I realized I was a tad hungry, and opened up the fridge to grab some eggs to make an omelet...because it was Sunday and I had nothing to hurry out the door for, nothing demanding my time, and I felt like making myself a filling breakfast. Then I spotted the fresh blackberries I bought the day before and remembered there was a muffin recipe I've been meaning to try. Back in went the eggs and out came the berries.

If you've never spent some time perusing Jenna's awesome recipes over at her blog, Eat, Live, Run, you are missing out. Seriously. Also, I recommend highly you pick up her culinary memoir book as well.

It's quite sad; I tagged immediately this muffin recipe years ago and forgot about it. This morning seemed liked a perfect time to make it. Plus, Mr. B hadn't gotten around to eating all of the berries yet.

However, I wanted to make it a little healthier [no surprise there], and swap a few ingredients, like taking out all the dairy because I discovered recently I have an unfortunate sensitivity to (you'll hear all about that tragedy soon). And, you know, I was making it for breakfast and wanted a less sweet muffin. (Just to be clear, for me, a muffin for breakfast feels like an indulgence.)

I was a bit nervous with all of the ingredient substitutions, and a little unsure of how these muffins would bake. I hate wasting ingredients on trial and error recipe attempts, and I was really craving these muffins! Boy did I hit the jackpot with these gems. These are absolutely perfect and probably the best muffin I've ever made or tasted. Honestly. The applesauce makes them super moist and light. The hint of orange zest is perfect with the juicy berries, and you can't even taste the avocado. It just lowers the fat content and makes for a more colorful muffin. Also, by using less sugar, feel free to indulge in a few because, trust me, you will eat more than one. Possibly three at one sitting. I'm sure this muffin recipe would work well with any berry you happened to have on hand. YOU MUST MAKE THESE. And, yes, I am shouting at you.

Blackberry Breakfast Muffins
*recipe inspired by Eat, Live, Run

makes 12 muffins

2 c whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp grated blood orange zest
2 c fresh blackberries
1/2 c mashed avocado
scant 1/2 c sugar
3/4 c unsweetened applesauce
1 egg + 1 flax egg (for the flax egg, combine 1 T ground flax seed and 3 T water, and let sit 5 minutes)
1/4 c unsweetened almond milk

Preheat oven 325 degrees. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and orange zest. Gently add in blackberries, stirring to coat. Set aside. Cream together mashed avocado, sugar, and applesauce. Add eggs, one at a time, until well combined. (NOTE: here you can opt for 2 flax eggs, making the muffins completely vegan.) Add in milk and stir. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and toss gently, being careful not to crush the berries. Scoop batter into a regular-sized 12 cup muffin tin. (Optional: sprinkle each muffin with brown turbinado sugar--or regular sugar.) Bake for 28 minutes, or until tops are golden. Let muffins cool in the pan for five minutes, then pop out and cool completely on a wire rack.

While I prefer them still warm from the oven, these are delicious at room temperature. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. I'm assuming these will keep for a week; mine did not last that long ;)

These even make for a perfect midday snack at work. YUM.

Pssst....It's National Fresh Berry Month. Celebrate with a muffin ;)

Sadly, I am out of these tasty muffins and writing this post for y'all is not helping my muffin craving.

With Love and God Bless,
Brindi