Blackberry Corn Muffins Vegan Whole Grain Oil-Free Date Sweetened

Rustic sweet grainy corn muffins studded with juicy blackberries. This whole food plant-based recipe contains no oil or refined sweeteners. Blackberries and corn are both summertime staples. Combining these two seasonal flavors is as natural and satisfying as a warm summer breeze, but a lot more filling!

WHY I LOVE THESE MUFFINS

I live in Seattle, Washington where midsummer is the beginning of our long and abundant blackberry season. Blackberry bushes fill every nook and cranny of the city and surrounding wilderness. Seattleites can snack on juicy berries during our walks, hikes or even while waiting for a bus! Sometimes we forage them, coming home with large bagfuls. Blackberry season overlaps with corn season which, for me, means eating and thinking about the sweet delicious goodness of corn on the cob which I prepare in large batches and add to almost everything. Since corn and blackberry flavors dominate my summertime foodie consciousness, I decided to bring them together in a compact treat that’s great for breakfast and snacking. These sweet, dense, grainy muffins are healthy and satisfying. They contain no added oil and are sweetened exclusively with whole dates and the sweetness of the blackberries themselves.

CHOOSING YOUR CORNMEAL

I used medium grind stoneground cornmeal to make these muffins because that’s my go to cornmeal for most recipes. Being whole food plant-based (WFPB) compliant as much as possible, means choosing grains that are more coarsely ground because less grinding means less processing. But for most types of baking, coarse grind cornmeal is just too gritty. These muffins are already quite rustic and gritty with the medium grind cornmeal, so I don’t recommend trying a coarse cornmeal. If you’d like to use regular finely ground cornmeal, sometimes called corn flour, that would be fine. In fact, regular finely ground cornmeal would make these muffins a bit lighter, fluffier, and more enjoyable for people that are less accustomed to the high fiber crunchy whole food plant-based way of life.

WHOLE WHEAT PASTRY FLOUR

I used whole wheat pastry flour in this recipe because it’s the lightest fluffiest whole grain option when it comes to baking. The high ratio of cornmeal in the recipe already makes these muffins quite dense so I wanted to counteract that as much as possible while sticking with whole grains. You could substitute whole wheat pastry flour with almost any other kind of flour and probably get good results. If you are plant-based or vegan but not WFPB, all-purpose flour is fine. If you are gluten-free and not WFPB, one of the leading gluten-free substitution flours like Cup4Cup would probably work well too. You could also try a whole grain gluten-free flour like brown rice flour or oat flour, though I’m less confident about the results you’d get with these.

ALMOND FLOUR AND ALTERNATIVES

Almond flour adds flavor, nutrients and moisture to this recipe. The moisture comes from the natural fat content in whole almonds. For a tree nut free option, you can substitute almond flour with sunflower seed flour. Making your own sunflower seed flour easy. Just pulse sunflower seeds in a food processor or high speed blender until smooth and flour-like.

THE MAGIC OF DATES IN WFPB BAKING

In this recipe, the muffin batter is sweetened with whole dates which have been incorporated into the liquid ingredients using a high speed blender. Nearly all of my sweet recipes get most of their sweetness from whole dried fruits, and my go to dried fruits for sweetening recipes are dates. Dates are intensely sweet with a rich caramel-like flavor that blends seamlessly with other ingredients. When pureed with liquid ingredients, preferably in a high speed blender, dates work as a binder, helping to hold batters together the way that eggs do in traditional, non-vegan, baking. Pureed dates also help to lock in moisture, acting as a substitute for added fats in whole food plant-based recipes. From a nutritional standpoint, dates are a whole plant food packed with fiber and a symphony of other nutrients. For this recipe, the dates are pureed with plant milk and other liquid ingredients.

CHOOSING YOUR DATES

My favorite dates for baking are pitted Deglet Noor because they are sweet, flavorful, widely available and usually soft and moist. You can also use other kinds of dates by prepping and measuring them in the same way as you would Deglet Noor.

PREPPING DATES FOR BAKING

When I bake with dates I always begin by slicing them. I have found that dates that are supposedly pitted are, in fact, usually not all pitted. Pre-slicing my dates gives me the opportunity to remove any hidden pits and hard stems that may still be attached. In recipes like this one where the dates will be processed in a blender or food processor, slicing the dates allows them to be processed more quickly and effectively. Finally, slicing dates allows for greater consistency when measuring. Once the dates are sliced they can be pressed into measuring cups or spoons.

BLENDER OR FOOD PROCESSOR NEEDED

You’ll need a blender or food processor for this recipe in order to create a smoothie that does so many great things for these muffins. A high speed blender is best if you have one, but if you don’t you can use a regular blender or a food process. Electronic appliances like food processors and high blenders allow us to quickly and easily harness the power of whole plant foods, eliminating the need for ingredients like oil, sugar, white flour and eggs which are calorie dense and comparatively low in nutrients. In this recipe all the wet ingredients are processed together with the dates. With a high speed blender the processing usually takes one minute or less. A conventional blender or food processor takes a bit longer. Be patient. The important thing is to have a mostly smooth blend of the ingredients. It’s ok to still see small specs of dates.

FRESH OR FROZEN BLACKBERRIES

This recipe was designed to celebrate the fresh summery flavors of corn and blackberries. But this doesn’t mean that you can’t make this recipe during other times of the year. One economical way to make this recipe anytime is by using frozen blackberries. I’m a huge fan of frozen fruits because they’re convenient and often less expensive. If you want to use frozen blackberries in this recipe, you don’t even need to thaw them. Just keep in mind that your cooking time will probably need to be about 3 to 5 minutes longer than it would be with fresh or thawed berries.

CREATING THE MUFFIN BATTER

My technique is unusual in that I incorporate whole dates into the liquid ingredients, something that wouldn’t be possible without electronic appliances. The rest of my recipe proceeds in a way that’s pretty typical of traditional baking. I start with combining the dry ingredients. After that I add the wet ingredients which have been blended together into a single smoothie incorporating dates. Finally, I fold in the chunky ingredient, fresh or frozen blackberries.

Note that I treat ground flaxseed as one of my dry ingredients instead of mixing it with water to make ‘flax egg’ as many plant-based recipes suggest. I just think pre-mixing ground flaxseed with water is an unnecessary step. Once ground flaxseeds come into contact with moisture, they become a binder just as easily whether they’re by themselves or mixed with other dry ingredients.

SCOOP INTO CUPS

Paper baking cups make being oil-free easy because there’s no need to grease anything. I like to use a large soup spoon to scoop my batter into 2-1/2 inch paper baking cups which line a standard muffin pan. Ideally all the muffins get the exact same amount of batter.

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