I love to indulge in baking on the weekends as there’s more time to play in the kitchen and let your creative juices flow.  Although, I am not the biggest baker, from time to time I get a hankering to concoct something simple and throw in some healthful ingredients that my kids will eat, too.

In conjunction with month’s Recipe Redux theme: Creative Quick Breads, let’s bake!  The holiday baking season is upon us.  And this month we’re going way beyond grandma’s banana bread. From sweet to savory and whole grain to gluten-free, show us your new quick bread creation fresh from the oven. 

For me, it’s a no-brainer to begin with berries and make quick bread muffins.  My mind is all about berries – blue, purple and red, after attending the  Berry Health and Benefits Symposium in Madison, WI, where I spoke at as a sponsored guest.  (FYI: This post is not sponsored; all recipes and opinions are my own).

Who doesn’t love sweet, juicy and versatile berries?  Fresh or frozen, these tiny powerhouses of nutrients are powerful players in prevention of chronic diseases like cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Today, I am whipping up a quick bread in muffin form with blueberries, oats and adding an extra nutrition boost with maple syrup – in lieu of refined sugar.

Why is maple syrup a better-for-you-bet?  According to my friend, Katie Webster, in her book, Maple: 100 Sweet and Savory Recipes Featuring Pure Maple Syrup, maple syrup has not been stripped of its micronutrients like refined sugars – therefore it has trace amounts of calcium, potassium, iron, phosphorus – as well as oodles of antioxidants.  So you are getting a double arsenal of antioxidants with the blueberries and maple syrup in these quick bread muffins!

If you don’t have buttermilk in the fridge, just mix together plain yogurt and low-fat milk.  It makes a great buttermilk double in a flash.

Keep in mind, that this recipe can be poured into a loaf pan for a quick bread or divided into small bite-sized muffins or a few large muffins to pack and bring along with you on your holiday shopping endeavors.  Wrap in a festive green, red, gold or silver cellophane and tie with a beautiful bow to give the loaf or muffins as a gift.

Blueberry Oats & Honey Quick Bread Muffins 

Makes 1 loaf or 12 muffins 

Ingredients 

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

1 cup low-fat milk

6 teaspoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 large egg

2 tablespoons 100% pure maple syrup

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour

1/2 cup oats

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, rinsed

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a small bowl, mix together yogurt and milk, add butter, egg, maple syrup and vanilla.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients: flour, oats, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  Add wet ingredients to dry and stir a few times.  Add blueberries and mix just until combined (resist the urge to over mix as the consistency of the finished product will be compromised, if mixed too much).

Dollop the batter into a lined muffin tin filling each one half-way or put it into a regular sized loaf pan.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Check doneness with a toothpick or small flat knife by poking into muffin or loaf – if clean upon removal, than it ready to remove from the oven.  Allow to cool on a rack for a 10 minutes before removing from muffin tins or loaf pan.  Enjoy!

What’s your favorite quick bread?  I’d love to hear…