These Apricot Millet Muffins are low in sugar but high in deliciousness! Make these for your next snack or breakfast and try not to eat them all in one sitting.
PinBesides shopping at the farmers’ market for the food we eat during the week, we also like to stop when we get there and get breakfast from the prepared food vendors. For years we have been partial to pupusas, but in recent days, we’ve been switching things up a bit.
PinOne of our newest obsessions are the multi-grain muffins from Valerie Confections, a local bakery in California. They set up the most beautiful display of baked goods and it is impossible to resist stopping by to check everything out, let alone not buy something. Pastries, cookies, chocolates, hand pies and — the inspiration for today’s recipe — beautiful little muffins packed with millet and pieces of dried apricot. My kids and husband adore them.
PinI’ve tried to pry the ingredient list out of one of the owners on more than one occasion. He will only hint as to what is inside these baked marvels, and even the few ingredients he would share are more likely found in a professional bakery than in a home kitchen. So, I finally stopped grilling him and got to work on developing my own apricot muffin that would work for the rest of us.
PinThese sweet, delicious gems are truly a treat. They may not be exactly what we buy at the farmers’ market, but if you saw the crumbs left on my family’s plates after I served them the first batch I made, you’d swear I got pretty darn close! They’re packed with antioxidants thanks to the apricots and the millet gives an added fiber boost.
PinIf you’re looking for more healthy muffin recipes try my Banana Wheat Germ Muffins, Orange Date Muffins, Spinach Cake Muffins and Flourless Pumpkin Chocolate Muffins to name a few!
Apricot Millet Muffins
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup millet
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 large egg
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ripe bananas, mashed
- 3/4 cup dried apricots, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Place millet on a baking sheet and toast for 5-6 minutes. Remove and toss the millet to make sure it is toasted evenly and toast an additional 5-6 minutes. Set aside and cool.
- In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir in the toasted millet.
- In a separate bowl or standing mixer, beat the butter and sugar until combined, about 1 minute. Add the egg and beat for another minute.
- Add the mashed bananas, vanilla extract and buttermilk and beat until combined.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix in the chopped apricots until just combined.
- Grease muffin tins and fill cups 2/3 full with batter.
- Bake for 20 minutes if using regular muffin tins (or until a toothpick comes out clean) or 14 minutes if using mini muffin tins (or until a toothpick comes out clean).
- Cool muffins for 5 minutes in their tins, remove and continue to cool.
I can’t seem to find millet anywhere local. Do you think couscous would work? I found this bit of information “couscous is made from cracked millet ” on the web. Was just wondering if I would get the same crunch with couscous as with millet?
These made my “Five to Try” post this week!
Made these tonight, delicious!
You bring up a good point Ediez. I actually got into a big debate with a farmer at our market when I asked him why he didn’t sell unsulphered raisins. If you have an allergy or asthma you def. want to stay away from them, but unless you’re eating tons of them you should be ok.
These look awesome! Now I have something to use my millet for! As always your recipes offer great ideas for nutritious snacks for the whole family!
One thing I would like to suggest though, is to be cautious in the use of regular commercial dried apricots, particularly the ones that are that ‘perfect’ apricot orange. The chemical used to give them at color has been linked to the onset of an asthma attack. For those whose family members have asthma or may have a family history of it, may want to avoid this and instead go for ‘unsulfured dried apricots’. You’ll know they are unsulfured because they are the natural brown color that apricots turn when they are dried. They can usually be found in most health food stores.
You can find it at health food stores like Wholefoods and most groceries.
these look so good! i am going to buy millet today so i can make them! cant wait! =).. never used millet before where would i find it?
Thank you for the tip. I am going to the farmers market today and will pick some fresh apricots up along with lots of other things :-).
I would cut them in half, place on a baking sheet and bake in the lowest setting of your oven (200-250 degrees) until they’re dried out. Yum!
Great recipe. Any tips on drying apricots in the oven?
For this recipe, I would really just use the millet. It adds a toasty crunchy taste that really makes them. Worth the wait!
I don’t currently have millett on hand. Is there another seed/grain that would work similarly?
I’ve been wanting to make them with chopped fresh peaches. I def. think it would work. Will you tell me your results? The kids love the tart/sweet taste of the chopped dried apricots, but other dried fruits (especially cherries) would be delicious too.
Can you use fresh apricots in this? I have a bunch of fresh apricots and need to do something with then before they go bad.
YEAHHHHHHH!!!!!! So excited for a millet bread! Thank you! And being tight lipped about recipes drives me crazy! I know, the bakery has to make a living, but come on, share the love!
Going to make this today!! I was organizing my pantry and noticed I had some dried apricot and this is a perfect recipe to use them up!! Thank you for your great efforts!