Jam Muffins

Jam muffins are something I remind me of my childhood.

I remember my Mom making these delicious treats once in a while and I delighted in biting into that sweet puddle of jam in the middle and discovering what flavor she had used.

This jam muffin recipe lightens up the muffins just a bit. We are all watching what we eat these days and even muffins can use a bit of lightening up.

I love making muffins. Of course I enjoy eating a few when they are fresh and delicious, but also keeping some of the extras in the freezer.

After I have enjoyed a few yummy treats, I wrap the leftover muffins individually in plastic wrap then place them in a plastic bag and keep them in the freezer.

There is nothing nicer than waking up in the morning and realizing you have delicious muffins in the freezer that just need to be thawed to enjoy.

No baking required that day.

If you love a variety of muffins like I do, give these jam muffins a try. I think you will like them.

Why Jam Muffins?

There are so many reasons you’ll want to make these sweet muffins.

For one thing, I love recipes that you can customize. You can make these jam muffins with whatever flavor jam or jelly you want.

If you love the tartness of a good orange marmalade for example, feel free to use that as the center filling for your muffins.

Personally, I love biting into strawberry jam muffins and hitting that luscious filling of sweet jam.

That said, just think of how delicious this easy muffin recipe would be with a raspberry jam filling, sour cherry, blueberry or elderberry jam.

The list goes on and each would be wonderful when you bit into that jammy filling.

Can You Make These Low Sugar Muffins?

These muffins don’t have as much sugar in them as many recipes do, thanks in part to the addition of applesauce.

Applesauce is a fabulous ingredient for muffins. It adds sweetness without a lot of sugar, plus it adds moisture.

Still, some people will still want to cut down on the sugar in the recipe.

So can you? Yes you can!

There are several ways you can cut down on the amount of sugar in these muffins.

First of all, you can simply add less sugar than the recipe calls for. I do that often because I like to limit the amount of sugar I consume.

I will often cut the amount of sugar by 1/3 or so.

This particular recipe calls for 2/3 cup sugar, which is really not a lot for 10 muffins.

You can certainly cut the sugar and use 1/2 cup of sugar instead. For most of us that would still make a sweet enough muffin, especially since it has jam in the middle, which is sweet on it’s own.

I often use coconut sugar in equal measure to replace the white sugar in this recipe.

Coconut sugar is much lower in carbs than white or brown sugar and doesn’t affect your blood sugar as much as white or brown sugar does.

You can also try Monk fruit.

Aspartame and sucralose of course are sugar replacements and don’t affect your blood sugar at all.

I don’t use them personally because they have a lot of chemicals that I think are not good for us, but if you use them, go ahead.

The problem with using a sugar replacement though is that the volume of the product that you need to use to equal the sweetness of the sugar is very small.

That means the ratio of the batter is off and the texture of the muffins may not come out right. That said, if it means a lot to you, you can certainly try it.

You can also use a low sugar jam. I have found a couple of brands of low sugar jams that are made in Poland.

They have sugar, but about 1/3 of the amount of carbohydrates than regular jam. For some diabetics that is perfect.

How to Make Jam Swirl Muffins

The recipe as it is, calls for the jam to be placed in the center of the muffins, so you bite into a jammy center when you bite into your muffin.

You can also make jam swirl muffins. Here’s how.

Variation: Jam Swirl Muffins

Instead of having a jam filling, you can swirl the jam into the muffins. Here’s how:

Once the wet and dry ingredients for the muffins are mixed into a batter, add the strawberry jam (or whatever flavor you are using) gently with a spoon, mixing it into the prepared batter lightly.

It should look like muffin batter with streaks of jam throughout.

Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin cups and bake as it says in the recipe below.

Either way you make them, they’ll be delicious.

I hope you enjoy these yummy treats, whether you make them with a wonderful surprise of jam in the middle, or with the jam mixed into the batter to create a swirl of jam throughout the muffins.

Let us all know how you made them in the comments section below the recipe.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. Let me know what jam you used and whether you swirled or had a fun hidden center.

If you want muffins that use fresh strawberries you will find that recipe here.

You can browse all of our muffin recipes here, plus pancakes, breads and scones.

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