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Healthy Berry Muffins

By: 👩‍🦳 Linda · · · 🗨 42 Comments


I had heard about agave nectar for some time but did not use it until recently. Out of curiosity I purchased a bottle from my local health food store and used it in the Crystallized Ginger Soy Smoothie that I made. It worked very well with the smoothie as it did not have a strong flavor and it blended in easily.

Agave nectar has a rich amber color similar to that of honey or maple syrup. The viscosity is more like that of the maple syrup. It does have calories but is 40% sweeter than sugar with a lower glycemic index. Thus, less is required to sweeten foods. It has a very mild taste and can be used as a general sweetener and in cooking and baking.

A special thanks to BetterBody Foods & Nutrition for sending me a sample of Xagave, their brand of agave nectar together with a cookbook recently. Xagave is a blend of nectars from the blue and white agave plants. Their agave nectar has a very neutral and clean taste.


Carob comes from the sweet edible pulp in the pods of the carob tree. These trees are native to the Mediterranean. After drying, the pulp is roasted and ground into a powder resembling cocoa powder. Carob is often used as a substitute for chocolate although the flavor and taste are not the same. It is naturally sweet and so carob products generally use less sugar. It is also free of caffeine and theobromine found in chocolate. It has a malty taste with bitter overtones. Carob chips have a very similar appearance to that of chocolate chips. To learn more about carob, please click here.


There were many interesting recipes in the Delicious Meets Nutritious, Xagave The Complete Sugar Replacement Cookbook but this one caught my eye. I had blueberries in the fridge and most of the other ingredients in my pantry. I made a few changes to the recipe to adapt to our needs and tastes. The muffins were moist and very delicious. My boys loved it!

Healthy Berry Muffins
Dry Ingredients
1 cup organic whole spelt flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp salt
½ cup rolled oats

Wet Ingredients
½ cup Xagave
1 egg
1 cup organic vanilla bean non-fat yogurt
¼ cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla

Mixed-ins
1 cup fresh blueberries
½ cup sweetened organic dried cranberries
½ cup organic carobs
½ cup chopped walnuts


Preheat oven to 325˚F. Line a 12 standard size muffin pan with muffin liners. Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl.


In another bowl, add all wet ingredients. Using a hand whisk, whisk till combined. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Fold in blueberries, cranberries, carobs, and walnuts. Spoon batter into lined muffin pan about ⅔ full. Bake for 23 to 25 minutes.


Great for breakfast or afternoon snack with a cup of tea.

Disclaimer: Although these products were sent to me for free, I did not receive any monetary compensation for this write up. What was written are my personal thoughts and view. For full disclaimer, please click here.

Enjoy…..and have a wonderful day!

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Comments

  1. jillyann says

    these look insanely good. I like baking with spelt flour too. I think it has sort of a malt taste which is very tasty in certain baked goods. Anyway…just pack up half a dozen and I'll send you my address…

    Reply

  2. Megan says

    These look fantastic….and wow! Chocked full of yummies. Spelt flour is really good, I like to use it when baking, it has a really nice taste!

    Reply

  5. zerrin says

    These muffins are heavenly with carob and agave flavors in it. I love to eat carob as it is but never seen its chips. Must be great as substitute for chocolate chips.

    Reply

  6. Patty Price says

    I love carob chips, people don't really use them that much and with the berries, what a nice combination!

    Reply

  7. IJust LoveMyApron says

    I have the same bottle haha. Love the wholewheat muffins and a pinch of cinnamon! Blueberries are in season so the timing is perfect to try this! I made strawberry muffins recently too 🙂

    Reply

  10. Magic of Spice says

    They don't look healthy? 🙂 I love agave nectar, we use it regularity. These look delirious…

    Reply

  11. leaannbrown says

    I've only used Agave Nectar once and really liked it. It was a salad dressing recipe. These muffins look mighty tasty.

    Reply

  12. Stella says

    Biren, not only do these look delicious, but they are high fiber and have no A.P. flour! That's great. Does spelt have gluten? I'm not sure, but I'm thinking these might even be gluten free. Hmm? Either way, I'm going to get some spelt and try these. Ooh, and I love that you used agave too. I'm trying really hard to lower my sugar and refined carbs, and it's so difficult. Agave helps a bit…
    p.s. I'm so happy that you said my Tofu is Asian! Yes!

    Reply

  14. rotinrice says

    Thanks Jillyann! I have been using spelt flour for a while now and I really like it. Baked goods using spelt tend to be a little more tender. Would love to send you some but with my two boys on their summer holidays, it didn't last too long 🙂

    Reply

  15. rotinrice says

    It is a good substitute for chocolate for people who do not want to take chocolate for some reason or other. However, I must say that the taste is not quite the same.

    Reply

  16. rotinrice says

    Spelt is an ancient wheat and is a cousin to the regular wheat. It is not gluten free but baked goods made with spelt tend to be more tender and that is nice. I really like the agave nectar and will be using more of it in my cooking and baking 🙂

    Reply

  17. lequan@luvtoeat says

    As you know, I am not much of a baker (but I'm working at it) so there are quite a few new things to me in this post, such as spelt flour, carob chips, and I've heard of Xagave but have never tried it. This was an interesting read for me, thank you for sharing Biren.

    Your berry muffins look delicious! I love that you added cinnamon to them too.

    Reply

  22. denise fletcher says

    Wow! Are these muffins with berries, or berries with muffin?? LOL those are just EXPLODING with berry goodness! Love that they're are healthier and if teenaged boys loved them, who else would refuse these?

    Reply

  23. NasiLemakLover says

    Hi, this is my 1st time here, you have a wonderful blog, will come back more often. This sound healthy and good.

    Reply

  24. Carolyn Jung says

    Carob is a blast from the past for me. It makes me think of college days, when I'd be eating it in trail mix because it was the "in'' healthy thing. I confess I prefer chocolate these days. But can ya blame a girl? 😉

    Reply

  31. Mary says

    What wonderful tasty muffins. I love that you were able to make them tempting and healthy. I hope you are having a great day. Blessings…Mary

    Reply

  33. Chef Dennis says

    sounds like a great muffin! I bought some agave but have not used it yet……its good to have an idea of how to use it! thanks so much for sharing!

    Reply

  34. Reeni says

    My parents used to buy me carob chips to snack on when I was a kid. I have a hard time finding them now. Your muffins are packed with delicious goodies! And I love how healthy they are.

    Reply

  38. sweetlife says

    I love agave it works perfect in any recipe and blends easily, great muffins and so cool you were sent a great product…

    sweetlife

    Reply

  40. Devaki says

    Biren – these look just too bloody good – the berries spotting the whole of the inside with the carob and nuts is too good to be true! Yummm….

    I love using agave nectar in everything 🙂

    Reply