Easy Yogurt Muffins

By Clare de Boer

Updated September 17, 2026

  • Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell.
Media 1 of 1
Ready In
40 min plus cooling time
Rating
4(66)
Comments
Read comments

These muffins remove the pesky aspects of baking with kids without losing any of the joy. The batter is made entirely in a food processor, so you don’t have to worry about the delayed gratification of tempering butter or the potential burns that come with using the melted kind. There are plenty of opportunities to press buttons! The food processor also lets you skip processed sugar. This recipe uses dates instead, creaming them into the butter in the first step. You can let your kids go nuts decorating the tops with whatever they like (our favorite is blueberries) before sliding them into the oven. The resulting muffins are just sweet enough to qualify as a treat, and they're lovely enough for grown-ups, too. If you don’t have a food processor, finely chop the dates and have your kid smush them with a pestle and mortar before beating them into the butter by hand.

Featured in: How a Top New York Chef Bakes With Her Kids

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: Give recipes to anyone

    As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.

    Subscribe

  • Share this recipe

  • Print this recipe

    or to print this recipe.

Advertisement

Ingredients

Yield:12 muffins

  • 8 tablespoons/113 grams unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the tin

  • 8 large Medjool dates, pitted

  • 3 large eggs

  • ¾ cup whole-milk yogurt (preferably European style)

  • 2 to 4 tablespoons maple syrup (depending on desired sweetness)

  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)

  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

  • 1¾ cups/225 grams all-purpose flour, or another flour such as spelt or einkorn

  • ½ cup/50 grams almond meal

  • 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed (optional)

  • 1 tablespoon baking powder

  • ½ teaspoon baking soda

Optional toppings

  • Banana slices

  • Fresh or frozen berries

  • Rolled oats

  • Chopped nuts

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving

36 grams carbs; 69 milligrams cholesterol; 268 calories; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 12 grams fat; 4 grams fiber; 229 milligrams sodium; 7 grams protein; 20 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Powered by

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin or line it with paper liners.

  2. Step 2

    Place the butter, dates and eggs in the bowl of a food processor. Process until light and fluffy and the dates have nearly disappeared, 3 to 5 minutes. The mixture may look a little split but it will come back together.

  3. Step 3

    Add the yogurt, maple syrup, vanilla, salt and cinnamon; process until smooth.

  4. Step 4

    Add the flour, almond meal, flaxseed (if using), baking powder and baking soda. Pulse briefly, just until no dry flour remains. Do not overmix.

  5. Step 5

    Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups (about ⅓ cup per muffin).

  6. Step 6

    Decorate the muffin tops as you like, pressing the toppings lightly into the batter. Scatter some with berries, others with chopped nuts or rolled oats. Every muffin can be different.

  7. Step 7

    Bake until the muffins are puffed, golden and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, 22 to 25 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Muffins are best eaten the day they are baked, or can be frozen for a month or two.

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Ratings

4 out of 5
66 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Comments

Kelly

Contrary to the article of putting cheffyness aside, these are pretty fussy. The reason why muffins are so appealing to make is that they can all be done in one bowl and without a mixer or food processor.

Sadly, I agree

Ugh I totally agree- breaking out the blender I automatically noped- and went back to my quick bread recipe.

SC

Using a food processor and washing it is a pain but we found the muffins to be unfussy in the sense that a three year old could make them. He did the whole thing except measure the ingredients.

Marge

I made these tonight and they turned out really well with a couple small tweaks - 1 full cup of European yogurt and I subbed the almond flour for oat flour as my son's school is nut free. I may have added a touch more salt too. I was worried from the comments that they would be dry or bland but the texture and flavor is great. They were also so easy to make especially for a "healthy" muffin that uses dates instead of sugar.

Moist?

How can I make these a little more moist? I do find them easy and tasty but they are a bit dry.

joanhc

These were GREAT!! My 4 yr old and 2 yr old grandchildren recently came to live with us. Having a one pot (or one food processor) recipe that was low in sugar was ideal. I prepped everything before we started. They dumped the ingredients in, pushed the buttons, carefully put blueberries on top. I used mini muffin pans so just 13 minutes later they were ready to eat. I thought they were fine. Kids liked them—they didn’t mind the lack of sweetness—but it was the EXPERIENCE I appreciated. Thank you!

Private comments are only visible to you.

Recipe Tags

or to save this recipe.