Table of Contents
Last wee’s recipe was a Vegan Apple and Blackberry Pie with Ready-To-Roll Shortcrust Pastry if you remember, made with our own Bramley apples from the garden and foraged blackberries. We still managed to forage some more when we took the dog (and the kids) for a forest walk nearby. This time, we made some low sugar muffins with them. These muffins are moist, fluffy and very fruity!
Low Sugar Baking
I’ll be honest, reducing the sugar in this recipe results in quite a grown up taste. Meaning that the kids tasted it and decided they needed more sugar – so in the end we added some granola and demerera sugar mixture on the top of them.
However, as you know, it’s not a bad idea to reduce the sugar content of a bake or at least try to see where you can take it. Less sugar in our diet is beneficial for a lot of reasons. I normally go in with 40-50% less when I adapt a recipe to be vegan and also low on sugar. Sometimes it works, especially in case of cookies and chocolatey sweets. This time, because of the blackberries sharpness (they were foraged and not store-bought, sweet blackberries, that are cultured to have sweet flesh) the kids said they need more sugar, but to be honest, us grown ups loved them!
So I generally suggest, taking 20-30% sugar away from a recipe can’t to too much harm, unless it’s something to do with the texture and structure. In simple bakes like loaves of cakes, cookies, muffins, etc – you won’t miss it. Like I said, you can dare to leave more sugar out – but it’s a risk. Trial and error, I say. Worth experimenting.
Tips for Making Vegan Blackberry Muffins
- You can use any kind of sugar (they’re muffins, it doesn’t really matter)
- You can swap the lemon zest for lemon essence, just use a few drops
- You can use fresh or frozen blackberries, you don’t need to thaw the frozen ones either
- You can add homemade granola, toasted oat flakes mixed with a little sugar on the top for some extra crunchiness as these are pretty moist
- Same way this recipe works with other berries too or even a mix of them
Vegan Blackberry Muffins (Low Sugar)
Ingredients
- 150 g fresh blackberries can be frozen too, don't defrost them
- 250 g all purpose flour
- 110 g vegan butter or margarine
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 130 g granulated or light brown sugar you could add more up to 200g if you prefer sweeter muffins
- 250 g vegan yogurt plain, unsweetened
- 4 tbsp plant milk
- 1 lemon zested or few drops of lemon essence
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1.4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 190°C (fan) / 375°F / Gas Mark 5. Line a cupcake/muffin tin or just grease it.Add all the ingredients - minus the blackberries - to a large bowl and combine them.Add the blackberries to the batter, folding them in gently so they don't break.
- Spoon them into the cupcake/muffin tin.Bake them for about 25 minutes in the preheated oven. Let them cool a bit before eating.Enjoy!
If you liked this Vegan Blackberry Muffins (Low Sugar) recipe, you might like my other fruity recipes, too:
Simple and Delicious Vegan Apple Muffins Recipe
Beetroot, Orange and Ginger Soup (Vegan Recipe)
Orange and Kale Salad with Pistachios (Vegan Recipe)