Oh the humble blackberry.  I’m afraid yet once again you have been left at the bottom of the frozen bag of mixed berries.  You know what though, I’m just leaving the best to last.  These blackberry and lemon muffins are made with ½ wholemeal, ½ plain self-raising flour and a generous amount of yoghurt.  The result is a moist and soft muffin with a hint of lemon that shines through and will brighten even the cloudiest of days.

Yoghurt, blackberry and lemon muffins

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

1 cup wholemeal self-raising flour

1 cup plain self-raising flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 eggs, lightly beaten

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup sunflower or canola oil

1.5 cups low fat yoghurt*

Zest from 1 lemon

3 tablespoons of lemon juice (you could add another tablespoon if desired for a little more punch)

2 cups frozen blackberries

Canola spray oil

Steps

• Preheat oven to 160°C
• Mix flours and bicarbonate of soda in a large bowl
• Lightly whisk eggs in a smaller separate bowl, add sugar, oil, yoghurt and lemon rind and juice
• Line muffin tray with paper cups and lightly spray with oil
• Stir egg mixture into flour mixture and until just combined (the mixture will rise rather fast due to the raising agents)
• Spoon mixture into muffin cups, distributing the blackberries between each spoonful.  I prefer doing this instead of combining the berries into the mixture earlier as it stops the berries colouring the whole mixture.
• Bake for about 20 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean

Per muffin

853 kJ, protein 6 g, total fat 6.7 g, sat fat 1.1 g, carbs 29 g (sugars 11.8 g)

* I happened to use low fat lemon myrtle yoghurt in this recipe.  This yoghurt did not have any added sugar but had a slight flavour.  Therefore I wouldn’t not use sweetened yoghurt in this recipe as it would probably be too sweet and add unnecessary kilojoules.  Instead I would opt for a natural pot set yoghurt or perhaps one that is slightly sweetened with honey or fruit juice.