One of a kind blueberry muffin: extremely moist, with lots of juicy blueberries, hint of coconut and a wonderful crunch. A must with your morning coffee.

A few years ago my son came home from preschool with a mini blueberry muffin that he had helped to bake. The teacher also sent a recipe and a little note encouraging parents to try making the muffins at home. Since then I have been baking them almost weekly. How many muffins would that be?! My husband won’t start the weekend without one to go with his coffee! I have completely changed the original recipe and made several different versions, all super delicious.

In my cooking I constantly search for the best of the best. That’s the case with these muffins. They are so moist, not overly sweet, with a bit of crunch and a wonderful taste of blueberries and coconut. Honestly, I can’t imagine any other blueberry muffins that we could enjoy more! I remember while being on a vacation trip I got a blueberry muffin from a local coffee house and it tasted not good at all. Not to mention the Starbucks ones. I am sure that once you try these delicious muffins you won’t have any other.

My “Look No More: Blueberry Muffins With Coconut” originally had only the basic ingredients: flour, sugar, salt, egg, milk, oil and blueberries. At that time I was making some changes in our diet, so once while baking I used gluten free flour and flaxseed meal instead of all purpose flour. Flaxseed  is so rich in fiber, omega-3-fats and lignans which are essential to our health. I like to add it to many of my baked goods as well as sprinkle some on top of my salads. These muffins turned out very tasty so I decided to keep making more changes.

The recipe calls for 1/3 cup of oil. Next time I was baking the muffins I substituted coconut oil because it has so many health benefits and I love coconut flavor. I also added an almond meal to make them extra moist. You can replace up to half the regular flour with almond meal. This time these muffins turned out amazing!

The last change was changing to turbinado sugar. It not only has a great flavor but adds a nice crunch to the texture. Since I love coconut so much I also added coconut sugar and unsweetened coconut flakes.

What makes these muffins so exceptional is, in my opinion, the topping. It is so crunchy and sweet with a hint of cinnamon. Perfect! Don’t skip this step. Once, I was running out of time and didn’t make it and the muffins, while still good, were definitely missing something.

While making the topping it’s important to use cold butter. You want to have nice, small crumbles. If the butter is too warm you will get big chunks of it that will melt while in the oven. I like to use a food processor but a pastry bench or two forks will work great, too.

If using a food processor it, is important not to over do it, otherwise you would end up with a big chunk of dough instead of nice, small crumbles. Turn the food processor on and let it work for about 5-7 seconds, then watching it closely, pulse it 4-5 times for about 3-4 seconds. Don’t over do it!

Coconut oil changes its state depending on the temperature of the room it is being kept in. So, during a hot summer day it most likely will be a liquid. During cold days it will solidify. Depending on the time of the year you will be making these blueberry muffins, you might have to microwave the coconut oil for about 20 seconds to turn it into a liquid.

Blueberries are like precious jewels: so vibrant and rich with potent nutrients. That’s why they are called Superfoods! The recipe calls for 1 cup but sometimes I use a little bit more. It is perfectly ok to use frozen berries, too. Just remember not to defrost them since the juice will discolor the batter. If using frozen blueberries, add them to the batter, gently stir and quickly fill up the muffin pan. Sometimes, especially on a cold day, the frozen blueberries will cause the coconut oil to solidify. In that case, put the bowl with batter into the microwave and warm it up for 5-7 seconds until it softens a bit.

Cranberries can be substituted for blueberries.

Using an ice-cream scoop (a spoon will work fine, too) fill each  muffin cup only  3/4 full with the batter. Top the muffins with a generous amount of the topping, about 1 and  1/2 tablespoons. This recipe makes plenty of the topping, so often I divide it in half to have enough for a second batch. Sometimes I use all of it!

Serves: 9

Total time : 1 hr including cooling

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Bake time: 25 minutes

• 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour, white unbleached flour or gluten free flour
• 1/4 cup flaxseed meal
• 1/2 cup almond meal
• 1/2 cup turbinado sugar
• 1/4 cup coconut sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup coconut oil, microwaved for 20 seconds if solid
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries ( do not thaw)