Wholesome Cook
Australian

Wholemeal Raspberry and Blueberry Muffins

Sticky Wholemeal Raspberry and Blueberry Muffins sold in many Sydney cafesYou know the ones?? Big top, shiny brown crust, tangy berries on top… Now homemade and loved by the kidsWholesome, low sugar and dairy-free option for the lunchbox and afternoon tea.

Wholemeal Berry Muffins

Our habits often revolve around food, don’t they? Think about the ritual of sharing a meal with an old friend, or being woken up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee as you enjoy a sleep in on Saturday. Think also to weekday breakfasts at work. Or before work. Do you have breakfast at home or grab something small on the go?

When I worked in the city, I would take a leisurely 15 minute stroll to the office, stopping only twice on the way. Firstly, to grab a freshly brewed cup of coffee from Toby’s Estate across the road from where I lived. My second stop was downstairs from the office. You see they sold THOSE muffins. Wholemeal Raspberry or Blueberry kind.  Big top, shiny brown crust, tangy berries on top… I’d get one of these almost every day. They were being sold as the healthier option, but I am not sure either way because it’s so hard to tell with these sorts of food. What has gone into making them always remains a bit of a mystery. Now, it’s been over two years since I’ve had one, frankly, I’m not even sure that they still sell them. 

Wholemeal Berry Muffins

 

The moment I bit into the moist, sticky cake dotted with sweet and tangy fruits I was in heaven. Having already gone through sacks of ingredients in my quest for the perfect cafe-style wholemeal raspberry muffin I have finally managed to fine-tune the recipe! Let’s say the following mixed berry version is ultimate favourite because it always used to be so hard to decide between a tangy raspberry or sweeter blueberry fix. Of course, in an Autumnal twist on the traditional, you could make them with figs instead… Indulgent.

And for those of you who know which muffins I’m talking about, enjoy this homemade and definitely healthy version. To those of you who  are curious enough to try… I packed them into the kids’ lunch boxes the other day and, despite not being big fans of berries – yes, I know (??), they ate them with joyful glee.

Wholemeal Berry Muffins

Wholemeal Berry Muffins
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3.86 from 7 votes

Wholemeal Raspberry and Blueberry Muffins

You can also use a mixture of blueberries and raspberries or swap one berry for a couple of figs, or stick with one berry type if you prefer. The muffins are great for kids' lunchboxes or an office breakfast. For a dairy free version, substitute buttermilk with almond milk and coconut yoghurt as per option below. For a low sugar version, feel free to use natvia. I used a 1/4 cup capacity ice cream scoop to pop the batter into my cases. Makes 9-10 muffins. They'll keep uncovered for a couple of days. A note on sugar: in my original recipe I used 3/4 cup brown sugar which obviously give you a more caramelised flavour and crust. However, since cutting down on processed sugar consumption I've been using coconut sugar instead. And a good touch less.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time25 minutes
Total Time35 minutes
Servings: 9

Ingredients

  • 2 cups wholemeal flour or wholemeal spelt flour
  • 4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/3 cup coconut sugar
  • 1 tbsp gingerbread spice mix or 2 tsp ground cinnamon and 1 tsp ground cloves
  • 2 tbsp chopped walnuts optional
  • 3/4 cup frozen blueberries
  • 3/4 cups frozen raspberries
  • 1 cup buttermilk or 3/4 cup milk and 1/4 cup natural Greek yoghurt
  • 1/4 cup macadamia oil or light tasting olive oil
  • 1 egg lightly whisked

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 190C (170C fan forced, 375F, gas mark 5). Line a muffin tray (9-10 holes) with baking paper squares or cupcake patty liners.
  • Combine flour, baking powder and sugar in a large bowl. Add berries and walnuts, if using, and stir to coat. Add the buttermilk, oil and egg, and stir with a metal spoon until just combined - do not overmix.
  • Optional: If you have extra figs, quarter them, dip in brown sugar and decorate each muffin with a fig wedge.)
  • Spoon about 1/4 cup of batter into each pan. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centres comes out clean. Turn onto a wire rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Tried this recipe?Mention @wholesomecook or tag #wholesomecook

 

21 comments

Claire @ Claire K Creations February 14, 2011 at 8:48 am

Yum! They look very cafe style. Frozen raspberries are such a great thing to have on hand. I use them in heaps of things.

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nancy@skinnykitchen February 14, 2011 at 9:41 am

Beautiful looking muffins.Yum!

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Wholesome Cook February 14, 2011 at 9:47 am

Thank you Nancy. They taste even better than they look :-)

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Kristi Rimkus February 14, 2011 at 2:54 pm

I’m a big fan of muffins in general. Not the cake-like muffins you buy in the store, but warm home-baked muffins like these – loaded with fruit and good for you ingredients. Lovely muffins!

Kristi

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Wholesome Cook February 14, 2011 at 8:30 pm

Hear hear Kristi. I always try to reduce the amount of sugar in recipes and use less processed ingredients. Those sugary tea cakes and sponges make me cringe so much…

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Amanda O'Neill February 16, 2011 at 9:11 am

I made these this morning although I don’t think I added enough baking powder so they didn’t rise as much as the picture but they were delicious nonetheless. I also ran out of brown sugar and used honey on the figs as the glaze. Yummo!

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Wholesome Cook February 16, 2011 at 11:53 am

Wow! I’m impressed you got baking in the morning!

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Leah February 17, 2011 at 3:20 pm

Wow these muffins look amazing! I will have to try them this weekend! Thanks for the recipe :)

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Mamahollioni February 17, 2011 at 3:57 pm

Wow. These look amazing. I am going to try these this weekend. I’ll stop back and let you know how it went!

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Wholesome Cook February 17, 2011 at 4:02 pm

Looks like everyone is having muffins on the weekend :-) Enjoy ladies!

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katshealthcorner February 28, 2011 at 3:04 am

I love that you put a fig on top!!! Such a nice touch! :D

xoxox
Kathleen

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Wholesome Cook February 28, 2011 at 5:07 am

Thanks Kathleen! I thought it would nicely represent the fruit IN the muffins :-)

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5 of my favourite Mother’s Day online recipe finds « Wholesome Cook May 7, 2011 at 7:18 am

[…] 5. The vegetarian Mum – Cafe style fig and raspberry muffins by Wholesome Cook […]

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Sarah July 18, 2011 at 5:47 pm

Yay these look amazing, and definitely the muffins I’ve been searching the net for a recipe for… thanks :)

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Wholesome Cook July 18, 2011 at 5:54 pm

:-D I know, they are the best! Made with raspberries and apple recently and they were just as nice! Enjoy!

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Amanda@ChewTown March 6, 2014 at 8:53 am

The tops look so crispy and perfect and they look packed full of flavour!

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Michelle July 7, 2014 at 10:16 am

I was looking for something to bake with my daughter and remembered that I used to make these really delicious wholemeal muffins. This isn’t how i remember them though – have you tinkered with the recipe? What quantity of ‘normal’ sugar should I use?

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Martyna @ Wholesome Cook July 7, 2014 at 2:20 pm

Hi Michelle, I have tinkered with them… My original version called for 3/4 cup brown sugar. The rest of the ingredients remains unchanged. I’ve now made a note of this in the recipe :-)

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Michelle July 7, 2014 at 4:58 pm

Thank you! This will be tomorrow’s morning tea :)

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Mike June 8, 2016 at 5:09 pm

Awesome recipe – thanks so much. I *love* these muffins which I often buy (for a small fortune each!) from my local cafe… I will be making these ASAP. :-)

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Mike June 14, 2016 at 10:31 am

Well I had a go at these but they did not rise at all, despite what I thought was a huge amount of baking powder.
To be fair I don’t have a very good oven in my flat but other muffins I make rise just fine – perhaps I over-mixed the ingredients, though I only mixed it until all the flour and sugar etc were completely incorporated.
They still tasted nice though so I’ll give them another go sometime and perhaps use a higher temperature.

Reply

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