Little Blueberry Muffins - less fat & more fiber [藍莓鬆餅]

These moist and fluffy muffins are one of my kids' favorite snacks. I substituted most of the oil/butter with applesauce. I also used half all purpose flour and half whole wheat flour such that the muffins contain more fiber than regular blueberry muffins. The texture is pretty much the same except this version looks more brownish than the ones with 100% all purpose flour. A good news to the busy moms, it's very easy to make. the preparation time could be less than 10min if you are used to the process.

Ingredients: (yield 24 2"muffins)
3/4 cup (105g) all purpose flour
3/4 cup (105g) whole wheat flour
1 egg
3 Tbsp sugar
200ml milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbsp applesauce
1 Tbsp oil/melted butter
1/2 tsp salt
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
50g frozen or fresh blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F
2. Whisk egg and sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla extract, salt, applesauce, oil and milk.
3. Sift together all purpose flour, whole wheat flour and baking powder.
4. Divide the sifted flour in 3 batches and add them in gradually. Use folding method as you would make sponge cake to mix the ingredients. (check this video out for folding method)
5. Fold in blueberries
6. Scoop (i like to use a small 1.5" ice-cream) the batter into a 24 muffins pan.
7. Bake 10-12 min.

Note:

1. To make muffins, we want it fluffy, instead of chewy like bread. To avoid the chewiness, we have to minimize the gluten formation after the flour mixed with liquid. The folding method can minimize the gluten formation.
2. Oil can reduce the gluten formation because it prevents the flour mixed with liquid. The reason why applesauce can substitute the oil is because it contains pectin which help absorb some of the water in the mixture. 
3. Applesauce contains sugar, so, I could use less sugar in this recipe.
4. You can substitute the remaining 1 tbsp oil/butter with applesauce. The texture is better to have at least a little bit oil added.
5. It'll be better if you grease the paper cupcake liners lightly or use silicon non-stick cupcake liners. the cupcakes would stick to the liners because we use much less oil in the recipe.
6. I use grapeseed oil because of its light taste. Some studies also claim grapeseed oil increases high-density lipoprotein (HDL-C or "good cholesterol") levels and reduces LDL levels.
7. Folding method can reduce gluten formation. It is an important step in this recipe since we use much less oil/butter here.
8. If you want even more fibers, try to use 100% whole wheat flour. The muffins will be more brownish and a little less fluffy.