Naughty Muffin, Nice Muffin

Oh boy, oh boy are these a treat!!  Saw this recipe on one of my favorite healthy recipe blogs, Baking Serendipity, and had to give it a try that very same day.  I modified only slightly.

The apples in this recipe just dissolve into the muffin "cake" while they cook and give it such a great sweet moistness.  I highly recommend these for breakfast, lunch, snack, after dinner treat...

3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup flaxseed
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup skim milk
2 tbsp coconut oil
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup fat free yogurt
1 egg
2 apples, peeled and grated
1 carrot, peeled and grated
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/3 cup dry cranberries

Yield: about 18 muffins

Heat oven to 350.  Combine your flours, oats, flax, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl.  Grate your apples and carrot and set aside.

Add milk, oil, yogurt and egg to the dry ingredients.  Stir until just combined.  Fold in the grated apple and carrot, cinnamon and cranberries.  Spoon into prepared muffin tin.  Cook for about 20 minutes or to desired doneness.

As you can see, I made good use of some leftover caramel on the muffin on the your left.  Oh my gosh, so good!!!  The little guy on the right is pretty darn good too.  The entire batch has magically disappeared and I will be making some more tonight.  Yes, they are THAT good - and not too much to feel guilty about either which is always a great thing.

Low Fat Carrot Cake as a Muffin

A while ago I posted this fabulous recipe for a "light" carrot cake using pineapple and coconut as sweeteners HERE.  I loved it soooo much that it is also my current avatar.

Now I don't know about the rest of you, but when it comes time to bake something to bring to a gathering, I always feel I have to taste it first.  Even if it's a recipe I've made 1000 times before.  I mean who can be sure you didn't forget something?!  What better way to sneak a taste than to make muffins (or cupcakes).  Way better than trying to fill in the corner of a cake where you sampled by packing the icing into the hole, and you get much more than a teensy taste (win/win situation in my book).  :)

For a neighborhood party last weekend, I knew this carrot cake would go over big time, but I also don't want to be the lady on the block who made that horrible cake for the summer party!  So here we have the carrot cake muffin.

I used the same recipe as the prior post but spooned the batter into muffin tins.  I cooled them on a rack and frosted just as I would the cake (a little sloppy as I was running late).  Even topped them with some toasted coconut strips.

My husband and I left the party early and the muffins were already gone.  We got many compliments on them and nobody could believe they were low fat.

The best part?  Because they were muffins, I got to enjoy one at home BEFORE the party - you know, as a taste test (wink, wink)!  Yuuuummmyyy!

Spinach Walnut Lemon Muffins (Yup, they're delish)

So you know when you make something knowing you're going to blog about it if it's good and all that?  You really have to take a taste right after it's done cooking to know if we're going forward with this thing or not, right?  Well, that's what I did with these muffins.  Just a teensy taste off the edge of one muffing while it was cooling.  And then another taste, and another, and another, and before you know it, as my actual dinner is in the oven, I've eaten an entire muffin (or 2...ahem).

I didn't know if these would be good or not.  I mean spinach?  In a muffin?  Eh, let's give it a try.  After all, I had all the ingredients on hand.  I'm very glad I did, they are moist and wonderful.

Recipe was found at The Chic Life and my only modification was on the kind of sugar and flour used.  You should check out her blog.  She's super cute and posts some killer healthy recipes and tips.

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 egg
3/4 cup dehydrated cane juice
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup baby spinach, run through food processor
3 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Heat oven to 350.  Whisk your dry ingredients together (flour through baking soda).

Whisk egg and sugar together and proceed to whisk in remaining wet ingredients (including your chopped spinach).

Pour dry ingredients into wet and mix.  Add walnuts if desired.  Pour into prepared muffin cups (I got 10 out of this batter) and bake for about 15 minutes or to desired doneness.

Cool (or not) and eat!  Yum!  These will make a great pre- or post-workout power breakfast.

Blueberry Coconut Macadamia Muffins

I know, I know, that combo sounds wonderful!  And it was, in all it's little muffin form glory.  This is a recipe modified from one found in Eating Well magazine.  I removed the butter and canola oil from the original recipe and replaced the white flour with whole wheat.

1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
2 tbsp + 1 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 tbsp + 1/2 cup brown sugar
5 tbsp macadamia nuts, chopped
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 large egg
1 large egg white
3/4 cup nonfat buttermilk
1 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups blueberries

Heat oven to 400.  Combine coconut, 2 tbsp flour, 2 tbsp brown sugar and 2 tbsp nuts in a small bowl.  Drizzle with 1 tbsp coconut oil and stir to combine.  Set aside.  This is your topping!

Whisk the remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl.  In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining brown sugar, oil, egg, egg white, buttermilk, applesauce and extract until well combined.  Add to dry ingredients and stir until just combined.  Add blueberries and remaining 3 tbsp of nuts and stir to combine.

Divide batter among muffin cups and top with the reserved coconut mixture.  You will have to press this into the muffins a bit to get it to stick.  As you see, this is a bit of a messy process, but well worth it.

Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.  Cool and serve with a drizzle of honey or some coconut butter.  So yummy!  Store your leftovers in the fridge so the topping doesn't get mushy.

Amazing Disappearing Muffins

OK, so I made 2 batches of these muffins in one week (one batch being about 4 hours ago), and there are only 8 left as of right now.  Not sure if I should call in an exterminator, ghostbusters or question my housemates about this.

Here is the recipe for the disappearing Banana Coco-Walnut Muffins (adapted from a recipe found online, prepared with healthier ingredients):

1 1/4 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1/4 cup vanilla fat free yogurt (plain will work too)
3 medium bananas, very ripe
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/3 cup virgin coconut oil
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375.  Combine first five ingredients until no lumps remain.  In another bowl combine remaining ingredients.  Fold into the dry ingredients.  Divide batter into paper lined or cooking spray prepped muffin tins.  Bake for about 20 minutes or until done.  Cool on a rack and watch in surprise as they start to disappear one by one (or two by two - as in my house).  Makes about 13-14 muffins.

If you cannot find virgin coconut oil (I got mine at Whole Foods), you can substitute grapeseed or another oil of your choosing, OR try applesauce.  But then you will have plain ole Banana Walnut muffins which I'm sure are just as good and will disappear just as fast.  ;-)

I only had one full size muffin tin, so I made a dozen plus 5 minis.  Cute AND yummy!

These don't really rise and fluff up as "normal" muffins, and they will be pretty dark brown from the banana but don't fret, no matter what they look like, they rock!!  And you probably can't find a more low-fat muffin that tastes this good anywhere (but if you do, please let me know ASAP).

Enjoy!  I'm off to hide my last 8 muffins.

Energy Muffins

This is a recipe from the P90X nutrition guide.  They are great as a pre or post workout treat or a quick breakfast.  I like 'em (as do the kids).

3/4 cup pear nectar
2 egg whites
2 tbsp veg oil (or applesauce)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup flour (don't see why you can't use all wheat flour)
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup low fat granola
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 to 2 pears chopped into small pieces

Heat oven to 350.  Combine first 5 ingredients in a bowl and stir.  Combine flours and sugar in another bowl.  Add granola, baking powder, nutmeg & salt.  Combine.  Add pear and toss until coated.

Add egg mixture to flour mixture until blended into a thick batter.

Spoon into 10 - 12 muffin cups.  I used 10 because I wanted some big muffins!

Bake for about 20 minutes or until done.

Nutritional Info: 227 calories; 5g fat; 5g protein; 43g carbs (the good ones again!); no cholesterol (woohoo)

My picture is a little blurry, but these are quite yummy and moist.  The granola adds a nice crunch every once in a while.  Would love to hear what you think if you try them out.

Keep moving!