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    Home » Recipes » Muffins

    Published on: August 20, 2012 by Janice Lawandi; Updated on: March 27, 2023 10 Comments

    Hearty apple blackberry muffins

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    Jump to Recipe

    These apple blackberry muffins are made with less sugar, with grated apple instead, which adds moisture and sweetness to these hearty breakfast muffins.

    Low sugar apple blackberry muffins with a vintage muffin pan of baked muffins in the background, a cup of black tea, and a speckled ceramic plate with half a muffin and a dish of butter + knife

    These apple blackberry muffins are quite low in sugar. I'd say they definitely fall into the "healthier" muffin category, along with these blueberry bran muffins, which are also low in sugar. They are the perfect hearty breakfast muffins, made with oats, yogurt, grated apple, and blackberries.

    Jump to:
    • What you need
    • How to make them
    • Substitutions
    • Baking Tips
    • Freezer storage and defrosting
    • Other Recipes to Bake with Blackberries
    • 📖 Recipe
    Ingredients to make apple blackberry muffins measured out and ready to be mixed, including fresh blackberries, apples, brown sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, 2 eggs, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, as well as oats, yogurt, melted butter, flour, and silicone liners for baking
    Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

    What you need

    Both the blueberry bran and these apple blackberry muffins are actually variations of the same recipe and so they follow a very similar formula.

    If you compare this recipe to these rhubarb muffins with sour cream or these honey blueberry muffins, you can see that there's much less sugar in the recipe below: one-third the sugar to be exact. But remember fruit purées are a common baking substitution for replacing sugar when you are baking with less sugar. So here, we have grated apple in the muffin batter to add sweetness, but also moisture.

    Cinnamon and vanilla are two other ingredients that are good at tricking you into thinking a baked good tastes sweet. Don't cut them out of this recipe because you will end up with muffins that taste very bland.

    Finishing apple blackberry muffins placing blackberries, oats, and turbinado sugar on top before baking

    How to make them

    These muffins are mixed using the traditional muffin mixing method: your dry ingredients go in one bowl and your wet ingredients go in another, then you combine them to make the muffin batter.

    Since sugar technically falls under the wet ingredient category of baking ingredients, you will treat brown sugar like a wet ingredient in this recipe and combine it with the other wet ingredients. Were you to whisk it with the dry ingredients, the brown sugar would stay lumpy and you would run the risk of ending up with a muffin batter that is under-sweetened, with chunks of sugar hiding in places.

    Freshly baked blackberry oat muffins

    Substitutions

    One baking substitution you might consider for this recipe is to use plain yogurt instead of sour cream. While both are acidic dairy ingredients, full-fat sour cream has 14 % fat, while plain yogurt has 2 % fat (more or less depending on the product you use).

    Both yogurt and sour cream work in this recipe, but from my tests, I much preferred the muffins baked with full-fat sour cream which had a more tender and moist crumb.

    Hearty oat apple muffins with blackberries on a ceramic plate with butter and a knife, vintage muffin pan in background

    Baking Tips

    I tested baking these blackberry muffins in silicone muffin liners versus paper liners. Silicone works great, as does paper. It's up to you what you prefer to use. Just note that with silicone, the muffins might take a few minutes longer to bake since silicone is more insulating.

    Hearty apple blackberry muffins with oats, one split open on a plate with butter and a knife, served with black tea

    Freezer storage and defrosting

    These muffins keep pretty well at room temperature for up to 4 days. This recipe makes 12 muffins so you may want to freeze part of the batch for later. I freeze them in a single layer in a large freezer bag. Then when I want a muffin, I take one out and microwave it for about 30 seconds on high. This is just enough to defrost the muffin completely and heat the muffin through so that it's just like a freshly baked muffin in the end!

    Other Recipes to Bake with Blackberries

    If you love blackberries, you can also make this delicious apple blackberry crisp with an oat crumble topping and this gorgeous blackberry almond layer cake (in the style of Milk Bar cakes).

    If you tried this recipe for the best apple blackberry muffins (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

    📖 Recipe

    A plate with an apple blackberry muffin split open, served with butter and a cup of tea.

    Hearty Apple Blackberry Muffins

    AuthorAuthor : Janice Lawandi
    These apple blackberry muffins are made with oats and grated apple making these hearty breakfast muffins that are low in sugar!
    5 from 1 vote
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    Prep Time 15 minutes mins
    Cook Time 25 minutes mins
    Total Time 40 minutes mins
    Course Breakfast
    Cuisine American
    Servings 12 muffins
    Calories 253 kcal

    Equipment

    • Muffin pan
    • 3-¼ oz scoop
    • OXO balloon whisk
    Need measurements in CUPSUse the button options below to switch from Metric to US measurements! It's that easy!

    Ingredients
     
     

    • 250 grams bleached all-purpose flour
    • 65 grams rolled oats (or large flake oats) plus more for sprinkling on top of the muffins
    • 10 mL baking powder
    • 5 mL ground cinnamon
    • 2.5 mL baking soda
    • 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
    • 2 large egg(s)
    • 125 mL sour cream (14% fat) 2 % plain yogurt also works, but the muffins are better made with full fat sour cream
    • 70 grams dark brown sugar
    • 2 Golden Delicious apples grated
    • 115 grams unsalted butter melted
    • 250 grams fresh blackberries frozen works too (don't defrost!)
    • Turbinado sugar or cinnamon sugar for sprinkling on top of the muffins before baking

    Instructions
     

    • Preheat the oven to 350°F (175 °C). Line two 6-cup muffin pans with paper liners. Set aside
    • In a large bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking, powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.
    • Whisk the eggs with the sour cream and the brown sugar.
    • Grate the apples and whisk them into the wet ingredients. Drizzle in the melted butter while whisking to incorporate it.
    • Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients, and stir until just combined.
    • Fill the prepared muffin cups halfway with the batter, then place 2 berries on top of the batter.
    • Top with remaining batter and berries (press them down gently to anchor them) and sprinkle the top of each muffin with coarse turbinado sugar or cinnamon sugar and a few extra oats.
    • Bake for about 45 minutes or until golden. Use a cake tester to make sure the muffins are baked in the middle. It should come out clean and the muffins should spring back when pressed gently.
    • Let the muffins cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm or room temperature.

    Notes

    You can freeze the muffins. To defrost, place 1 muffin in the microwave and heat for 20–30 seconds (on max power). They should be hot and fluffy and just like they were freshly baked!

    Nutrition

    Calories: 253kcalCarbohydrates: 35gProtein: 5gFat: 11gSaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 53mgSodium: 121mgPotassium: 259mgFiber: 4gSugar: 11gVitamin A: 450IUVitamin C: 10mgCalcium: 83mgIron: 2mg
    Give backIf you enjoy the free content on this website, buy me a pound of butter to say thanks!
    apple blackberry breakfast muffins

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    Baking resources

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  • How to measure ingredients for baking
  • Mixing methods
  • Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Robert and Elizabeth Beck says

      September 01, 2020 at 9:39 am

      These look fantastic! I will try them soon. Stay well! Hugs.

      Reply
    2. Tanya says

      March 06, 2013 at 4:03 pm

      Thank you thank you! I made these last weekend and they were a hit!

      Reply
    3. Lena says

      August 31, 2012 at 3:24 pm

      Delicious muffins, I've baken them with half all-purpose flour and half whole wheat. Perfect for breakfast, thank you!

      Reply
    4. Olivia says

      August 30, 2012 at 12:42 pm

      These muffins look really appealing!!!

      Reply
    5. Jane says

      August 23, 2012 at 5:25 pm

      I love your impromptu muffin papers! They are adorable and, you know, people pay big money for pre-fab versions of what you did on your own. Your muffins look absolutely yummy, and I think your blog is wonderful!

      Reply
      • Jan says

        August 23, 2012 at 6:34 pm

        Thank you! And, you know what I used instead of muffin liners? Hamburger papers, as in those papers that they stick between two hamburger patties at the butcher/store! Go figure, I had no muffin liners, but I had hamburger papers 😉

        Reply
    6. Torviewtoronto says

      August 21, 2012 at 3:42 am

      muffins look wonderful

      Reply
    7. Lynn says

      August 20, 2012 at 1:25 pm

      I'm terrible at putting stuff away too. Must be genetic.

      Reply
      • Jan says

        August 23, 2012 at 6:34 pm

        If it's genetic, then there's no fixing me 😉

        Reply
    8. Medeja says

      August 20, 2012 at 6:43 am

      Perfect breakfast! Such a great and delicious combination!

      Reply
    5 from 1 vote (1 rating without comment)

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