Blueberry Oat Muffins

So, this past summer I really got caught up with all of the delicious and beautiful blueberries that were available around here, and for a great price. Well, fast forward to December where I still have like 4 large freezer bags full of frozen blueberries! Figuring that I should probably use them up soon (...and realizing that you go through blueberries only so fast from making blueberry pancakes once a week...), I decided to make these low-fat blueberry oat muffins I had bookmarked the recipe for months ago. They were delicious! Not only do they have wonderful flavour, but with lots of blueberries in them the sweetness comes from the blueberries and not from loads of sugar. Go on, try them. Use up all your frozen blueberries. Of course they would be wonderful with fresh berries too :)

Low-Fat Blueberry Oat Muffins
Source: My Own Sweet Thyme
Makes 12 muffins

1 cup old-fashioned oats, uncooked (I actually used quick oats and they turned out great)
1 cup 1% buttermilk
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp grated lemon peel
1 cup flour
3 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

1. Preheat oven to 400F; Lightly spray 12 muffins cups with cooking spray.

2. In a small bowl, combine the oats and the buttermilk, and let sit for 10 minutes. After it has sat for 10 minutes, mix in the egg whites, butter and lemon peel, stirring until well blended.

3. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, combine your dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt), mixing well.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the oats mixture, stirring until just moistened.

5. Gently fold in the blueberries.

6. Fill the muffin cups until nearly full, and bake about 20-25 minutes or until they just start to turn golden brown.

7. Cool in tins for about 5 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack. Delicious served warm or cold! Enjoy.

Heavenly Blueberry Crumb Bars

These blueberry crumb bars are so delicious! They are simply... well... heavenly. They are perfectly sweet, just enough blueberry, a hint of lemon, and the perfect amount of crumbly topping. Every time I make these they have only lasted a few days in our house before they are gone, and quite frankly I would happily eat the entire dish to myself, if I didn't know any better. My most recent excuse to make them (and really, who needs an excuse!), was to make them for my wonderful assistant at work, who has shown me so much love and support over the last 10 months. She is always so thoughtful, and was always checking in on me to see how I was doing, and so the least I could do was make these for her. Let me tell you, they were a huge hit.

I actually came across a variation of this recipe on several sites (For the love of cooking, One Perfect Bite, Smitten Kitchen, and I hear that it actually originated on Allrecipes.com), however I ended up adapting the version off Smitten Kitchen. Really though, I'm positive any one would be good.

Blueberry crumb bars
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Makes 24 medium size squares


3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup cold butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
Zest and juice of a lemon
4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
4 tsp cornstarch

1. Preheat oven to 375F; Grease a 9x13 inch pan.

2. Mix together flour, baking powder, salt and 1 cup of sugar. Stir in the lemon zest.

3. Using a fork, cut in the butter into the flour mixture until the mixture is in pieces about the size of pea. Mix in the egg and vanilla. Don't worry the dough will be crumbly! Pat about half to 2/3 of the dough into the greased pan, and set the rest aside for the topping.

4. In a separate bowl, stir together 1/2 cup of sugar, the cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently stir in the blueberries. Once combined, pour the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust.

5. Crumble the remaining dough over the berry layer.

6. Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until top is slightly brown. Let it cool completely before cutting into squares.

These bars are easiest to cut and eat when cooled, and so we keep them in the fridge. If you are to impatient to wait like we were for the bars to cool completely before devouring, they are equally as good hot! They just fall apart quite easily when they are fresh out of the oven hot... consider it a type of blueberry crisp if you're going to eat them that way :)

Light and Fluffy Blueberry Pancakes

Blueberry season here in the lower mainland is in full swing, and I am LOVING trying out all of the fabulous blueberry recipes out there. This weekend I drove out to one of the blueberry farms that are nearby, and bought three huge flats of blueberries (of which most will be frozen for future enjoyment!). With my fridge stocked with fruit, we've been eating the berries by the handfull, but I also wanted to make something else with them. I recently discovered this recipe for blueberry pancakes on Sidewalk Shoes, and I knew I had to try them. The pancakes were light and fluffy, and the blueberries added a bit of extra sweetness... YUM! Let me tell you, they were nothing like the heavy, dense pancakes that I remember having as a kid. My husband and I both enjoyed them so much, that we actually had them two days in a row - something that doesn't happen very often in our house! We will definitely be making these again.


Blueberry Pancakes
Makes approximately 10 pancakes (or if you like really big ones ~ about 5)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk (I used 1%)
2 Tbsp melted & cooled butter
1 cup blueberries (Next time, I'll probably even use 1 1/2 cups!)

1. Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.

2. In a separate bowl, wisk together the eggs and milk. Stir in the melted butter.

3. Gently stir the milk and egg mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix only to moisten the flour; don't worry about lumps, since over mixing will cause it to loose its light fluffiness.

4. Gently fold in the blueberries.

5. Ladle the pancakes into a preheated non-stick skillet (I used a bit of olive oil for cooking). Cook for about 2-4 minutes in order to brown the bottom of the pancakes (when the bubbles start to appear it's time to flip!). Flip, and cook on the other side until brown. Enjoy! You'll be coming back for seconds, that's for sure :)