Back in March of 2011 I shared a recipe for Blueberry muffins sweetened with agave. The original recipe called for sugar but at that time I was experimenting more with alternative sweeteners. So I altered it to use agave and have since made them many, many times that way. They are kind of my go-to baked good. It’s really just one bowl and one muffin tin. Easy to make, easy to clean up and (a bit too) easy to eat.

I haven’t been doing much baking this summer so this recipe lingered, neglected with all my other recipes on the shelf. But autumn in here now and I have the urge to bake. Plus a reader recently asked if the vegetable oil could be replaced with coconut oil. Which is a perfect idea since I am trying to add variety to my diet with more natural fats and oils. I did a little research and you can easily substitute coconut oil with vegetable oil at at 1:1 ratio when baking. (If you want you can skip the coconut and use the same amount of vegetable oil, like in the old recipe.) Maybe someday I’ll try it with butter instead. Because, who doesn’t love buttery muffins?

Recently someone also said they quadrupled the batch and they turned out too salty. I just did a double batch (therefore double the salt) with no problems. But I thought it was worth noting to keep in mind that someone had that problem, in case you are looking to make massive amounts of these.

Another helpful tip: Swirl some of the melted coconut oil in your measuring cup before measuring the agave—it helps the sticky syrup slip right out.

I’m also using larger blueberries. In the old recipe, I used the wild Maine blueberries. The larger ones are bit harder to work with in the batter but you get an awesome burst of blueberry goodness when you bite into one!

New Blueberry Agave Muffins
(makes about 8-12 muffins, depending on size desired)

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup agave nectar
3/4 cup milk (soy/almond/cow’s/rice/etc)
1/8 cup or 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
3/4 cup frozen blueberries

Pre-heat oven to 375 F.

In a bowl combine dry ingredients.

Stir in wet ingredients until you have a nice thick batter.

Fold in blueberries.

Spoon into greased muffin tins, about half to three-quarters full.

Bake for about 25 minutes, or until done and just getting browned on the top. Cooking time may be a little less or a little more depending on how big your tins are.

(Some folks in this house like a little crunch from crystal sugar sprinkled on top, so that is what you see on some of the muffins in the photos. If you allow sugar in your diet, feel free to do the same.)

I also used frozen sweet cherries in place of the blueberries and they were quite good. I just recommend you cut the cherries into quarters (or at least halves) before adding to the batter.

I’ve been experimenting trying to make them gluten free. I’ll share a recipe if I am successful.

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