Everybody loves muffins and it is easy to eat.  But knowing my daughter, she will ask, “What’s the point of eating it? Isn’t it just empty calories?”

So on this rainy Phuket afternoon, I decided to experiment and come up with my version of turbo-charged cornmeal muffins that taste like a treat still, rather than bland health food.

The first thing I did was reduced the flour content, because white flour is just a filler. I used 75% Organic Blue Corn Meal from Arrowhead Mills.  Corn meal is made by grinding corn kernels into a coarse powder. Though it is still mainly carbohydrates, the carbs in corn meal is rich in dietary fibres, good for healthy digestion and also keeps a ravenous teenager full 🙂

Corn meal is rich in iron and phosphorus.  We might know a lot about the importance of iron in our diet, but phosphorus is less well-known. It helps make up your DNA, forms a component of your cell membranes and also contributes to bone mineral tissue. Your cells also use phosphorus to help activate or inactivate enzymes, so getting enough phosphorus also supports healthy enzyme function.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

70g unbleached organic white flour

180g corn meal

75g granulated white sugar

50g sesame and flax seed mix

30g chia seeds

3 tablespoons sunflower seeds

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Zest (outer yellow skin) of one lemon (optional)

240 ml fresh or frozen blueberries (if using frozen, do not defrost)

1 large egg (see safe eggs)

240 ml milk

60 ml UDO oil

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees ).  Line the muffin cups with paper liners.

In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients and lemon zest. Gently stir in the berries.

In another bowl whisk together the egg, milk, and oil.

With a rubber spatula fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are combined. Do not over mix the batter or tough muffins will result.

Evenly fill the muffin cups with batter, using two spoons or an ice cream scoop. Sprinkle with sunflower seeds. Bake until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 15 – 20 minutes.

Enjoy!