This morning, I received the summer email that parents either love or hate: “Welcome back to school!”
Personally, I have mixed feelings about this email. Okay, mixed feelings for about two seconds and then excitement sets in. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I love August and back to school time. Maybe it’s because I was a teacher before having children. Or, and probably much more likely to be the case, I personally thrive on consistency and routine and find my children are the same way. Summer is a time when both those words have absolutely no meaning.
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It’s been a fun summer. We’ve gone to the movies on a random Tuesday night, without caring about bedtimes. (PS: Incredibles 2 is a fantastic movie–even better than the first one.) We traveled to Iceland with the kids. We’ve had fun in the kitchen, enjoyed picnic dinners at the beach, and watched way too much Netflix. <–We’re just catching up on the last nine months of new content. It’s been a good summer. And now it’s time to enjoy the last few weeks, all while preparing for a new school year.
We talk a lot about food prep here on the blog and over on Instagram. I’ve personally seen the benefits of meal prep (even if this means preparing just one breakfast item) in my own life. Meal prep has helped us simplify our full weeks, allowing us to spend less time in the kitchen during the week.
I encourage you to give meal prep a try. Start small, with just one thing. This one thing may look like preparing one breakfast item, or chopping a few veggies for snacks and lunches. By starting now, you’ll get into a routine with meal prep and build some meal prep muscles. I think you’ll be amazed at how much of an impact preparing just one thing can have on your week.
This week, here on the blog, we’re going to make muffins. The goal in sharing simple muffin recipes is to help you get started with meal prep.
Muffins are a great food to prep in advance for several reasons:
- They’re easy to make. About 15-20 minutes is all you’ll need to prep muffins.
- They keep in the fridge for about a week.
- They don’t require any special reheating. I keep muffins in the fridge and take out as many as needed when I wake up in the morning. By breakfast time, the muffins are usually around room temperature. Muffins may be reheated in a microwave, too.
- They will feed a family for multiple days, especially if paired with fluffy scrambled eggs or sunnyside up eggs, healthy yogurt bowls, or smoothies. <–This keeps the muffins from getting boring morning after morning.
- It’s easy to cook once, eat twice with muffins. Make a double batch so you can save some in the freezer for another week (or even later that week). For most flour-based recipes, I don’t recommend doubling recipes in the same bowl since the results aren’t always favorable. Use two bowls, and whisk together each batch in their own separate bowl. Sure, this means cleaning up an extra bowl, but think about the time savings in the future.
- Muffins aren’t just for breakfast. They also make a great lunchbox addition and snack.
Later this week we’re going to make a flourless, blender muffin recipe. Today we’re going to make muffins using einkorn flour.
Einkorn is known as the oldest variety of wheat making it an “ancient” grain. The ancient grain is believed to have originated in the Tigris-Euphrates region and is possibly the main grain referenced in the earliest accounts of the Bible. Einkorn is said to be the wheat men were eating in the earliest days before modern day wheat varieties. While modern wheat has undergone hybridization, einkorn still holds true to its original properties. Einkorn is slowly gaining popularity, but is still grown in only a few regions in Europe.
Einkorn is my favorite flour to work with when making traditional, flour-based baked goods. The sweet, ancient grain has a lighter texture and taste than modern day wheat, and contains a more favorable gluten ratio.
I’ve received a number of requests for particular baked good recipes made with einkorn flour. One of the requests that stood out was for a master muffin recipe. The suggestion was to create one master muffin recipe with multiple possibilities. What a great idea! Talk about simplicity.
Over the past couple of months, I’ve been tweaking this master recipe to make it just sweet enough, just moist enough, just flavorful enough to be able to work with multiple mix-in options. Today’s recipe is just that–a incredibly versatile muffin recipe that can easily be customized to your liking. Feeling like a blueberry muffin this week? No problem! Use this recipe as your base. How about chocolate chip and coconut muffins? Awesome! Do it! Start with the base recipe and add in your chocolate and coconut. What about veggie-filled muffins? Yep, add those veggies.
This recipe is perfection, in my opinion. Simple, basic perfection with so many possibilities.
Talk about the perfect way to start flexing your meal prep muscles before the busyness of the new school season.
These muffins are a great breakfast for busy school mornings. Pair the einkorn muffins alongside eggs (one of 16 different egg styles), healthy yogurt bowls, or a smoothie. For more breakfast ideas for kids (and the entire family), check out 27 Easy & Healthy Kids Breakfast Ideas.
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7 Ways to Make Einkorn Muffins
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Einkorn Muffin Recipe: One Master Recipe, Multiple Ways to Customize
Ingredients
- 8 TB unsalted butter melted
- ½ cup maple syrup (144g) or honey
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce (135g) OR plain whole milk yogurt (or a dairy-free yogurt)
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose einkorn flour (222g), sifted *
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
Equipment:
- large bowl
- medium bowl for sifting the einkorn flour
- sieve for sifting the einkorn flour
- muffin pan
- muffin liners
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease or line a muffin pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk the wet ingredients together: melted butter, maple syrup, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla extract.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients: sifted einkorn flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir to combine.
- Add any customizations desired (see notes, below). Stir to incorporate the customizations into the batter.
- Scoop the batter into the muffin pan (it will be thick). I use an ice cream scooper.
- Bake the muffins for 18-20 minutes, until firm on top. My muffins are usually done at 18 minutes, but this may vary with each oven. Allow the muffins to cool for a few minutes before enjoying.
- For storage, I keep the muffins in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to a week. They also freeze well.
Video
Notes
1 cup halved blackberries
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
1 cup shredded carrots or zucchini
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup dried fruit, such as: chopped mangoes, cranberries, or cherries
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chocolate chips + ½ cup dried cherries
1 cup chopped apples + extra ½ tsp cinnamon + ¼ tsp nutmeg
1 cup shredded carrots + ½ cup raisins For dairy-free muffins, use melted coconut oil in place of the melted butter.
Where do you find the best prices for einkorn flour?
Thank you!
Hey JLJ, Whole Foods and health food stores usually have great prices, or online through Jovial.
These came out delicious!! I used whole grain einkorn flour, yogurt instead of apple sauce and frozen blueberries! They freeze so well! Thank you for this recipe! 🙂
Hey Pamela, yum, love that! So glad you’re enjoying the einkorn muffins!
I made these muffins and they turned out great. I opted to use whole wheat flour and added chocolate chips and walnut pieces. I actually got 17 muffins out of the mix👍
That’s fantastic, Pam W! Happy to hear that.
I’ve been baking with einkorn for 5 years and have tried MANY recipes. And this is by far the best in every way! I made mini muffins (baked 13 minutes). One batch was 1/2 cup blueberries and 1/2 cup raspberries added in that kids and their friends loved. And the other was your pumpkin muffins but I used sweet potato. The kids loved it too! I’m always having to sub honey in recipes so they are never quite perfect but your recipes are! Can’t wait to try more things from your site!
Yay, Kristi! So happy to hear that. Thank you
Hi Kristin,
I love your pumpkin muffin recipe and make them all the time. I was looking to make other muffins and was looking at your basic muffin recipe here.
I notice it’s always 1/2 cup of butter or fat in the recipes.
I need to cut down on the fat for health reasons and I was wondering if I could go to 1/3 cup of butter instead of 1/2 cup in the recipe? Would I just add a little more liquid to compensate from yogurt or applesauce? Does Einkorn flour need that much fat?
Okay thanks for any tips regarding this!
Hey June, Thank you! Yes, you could try that for sure. They may be a bit more dry, but that should work the best.
Very good! I added chocolate chips and coconut flakes!
So glad you enjoyed the muffins, Tina!
This is the perfect einkorn muffin recipe. Its moisture is perfectly balanced and the texture is superb. What’s best is the flavor possibilities are endless! I made some with chocolate chips and another with fresh apple chunks. They both were yummy!
Yay, Nicole! That makes me so happy to hear. So glad you’re enjoying the muffins. I love the additions you made- apple chunks are such a great idea!!
These muffins are DELICIOUS! I made them yesterday, ate a couple while warm and fresh, and they’re still light and moist today!
I added a heaping 1/2 C finely grated carrots, 1/3 C unsweetened raisins, and 1/3 C chopped pecans. I did not squeeze the excess liquid from the shredded carrots and they came out perfectly, baked for the full 20 min.
So excited to try different variations!
Making the einkorn chicken and dumplings recipe for dinner today!
Yay, Daisy! So glad you loved the muffins. Love the different mix-ins! Enjoy the soup.
Hello! I’m excited to try these for my toddler. I plan on doing a mix of carrot and zucchini add in- would these veggies have to be squeezed dried prior to adding in? Thank you!
Hey Penelope, Great combo! Yes, I recommend squeezing out water from the veggies first. Here’s a similar recipe using zucchini where I squeeze out the water first: https://livesimply.me/einkorn-chocolate-zucchini-muffins/
I have made this muffin so many times! Thank you for sharing a treasure of a recipe!
Yay, Ashley! Thank you for sharing. SO glad you love the muffins.
This is the BEST and the NUMBER ONE muffin recipe! I always come back to it. So many muffins are dry and crumbly but not these!
Yay, so happy to hear that, Bronze.
I never comment on recipes…. But this one is damn good. Easy, quick and consistent. And I’m a throw it all in a bowl and see what happens kind of gal. I got this one on lockdown. Have made like 10 variations of these for the past 6 weeks. I even did a savory one with purple sweets and cheese!
Thank you 🙏🏻
That’s awesome, thank you so much for commenting and sharing. So glad you enjoyed the muffins and have found so many variations to make.
To make orange cranberry muffins what would I change to add a tablespoon of made the blueberry and husband went bonkers
Hey Karen, You could try that, or use this bread recipe and make muffins: https://livesimply.me/einkorn-cranberry-orange-bread/. SO glad he liked the blueberry muffins.
If I want blueberry muffins with buttermilk how would I make changes?
Hey Jenny, Since I haven’t tried using buttermilk in this recipe, I don’t have a solid recommendation. You can try replacing the applesauce with buttermilk; however, it won’t provide the sweetness of applesauce and may change the texture of the muffins. For blueberry muffins, you can just add 1 cup of blueberries as the mix-in of choice.
Made these last night with freshly milled Einkorn and oh my gosh, they are incredible! I added chopped apples and grated carrots. I LOVE all of your recipes. I made your einkorn cupcakes for my daughter’s 1st birthday, your sourdough blueberry muffins… everything always turns out amazing!
Aww, that makes me so happy, Peyton! Thank you so much for sharing. So glad you’re enjoying the einkorn recipes and the muffins.
Hi Peyton, Did you mill your einkorn berries to equal 222 grams and sift? I’m new with using freshly milled flour and haven’t made a lot yet.
Thank you. Looking forward to your response/advice.
If you want to make pumpkin muffins with puree how would this alter the recipe?
Hey Jennifer, I have an einkorn pumpkin muffin recipe here: https://livesimply.me/einkorn-pumpkin-spice-muffins/
We made the apple muffins! They were SO perfect! Especially if you use the baking spray to grease the pan, the edges were sweet & crispy and the muffins were fluffy & soft. Thank you!
Yay, Shalene! So glad you like the muffins. Apple muffins sound amazing!!
The taste is great. I used whole grain einkorn. However my muffins were flat. I didn’t sift as i freshly ground the whole grain and didn’t want to sift out the germ. I did reduce 1/4 cup. Do you have any suggestions? I would love to try the rest of your variations
Hey Wendy, Hmmm, maybe check the freshness of the leavening agents?
Excellent base recipe! This is my go-to for einkorn muffins. Perfect every time! Thank you so much, Kristin.
Yay, so happy to hear that!
I would like to try adding stewed rhubarb. Would you recommend using it in place of the applesauce or to use it in addition as you would any of your other add-ins? Thank you for the einkorn recipe! Its my new favourite grain!!
So glad you like it, Leanne! That’s a great question. I don’t work a lot with rhubarb, but I bet you could do either. I would try to use it in place of the applesauce if it’s sweet and has the same consistency.
Great idea with the rhubarb. Let us know how it turned out please