Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Healthy Morning Muffins

For the past week or so, I have felt anything but productive. Time for a newsflash -- are you ready for this? It turns out, newborns require a lot of attention. I'd totally forgotten! Thank goodness I have a fully stocked freezer to utilize during these first crazy weeks!

Today my husband had the day off from work, so I actually got some things accomplished. I cleaned our bedroom, organized Andrew's closet, and baked some brownies (from a mix, but still, it took a little bit of effort). I also made these delicious muffins, which I'm sending to daycare with Andrew tomorrow. It's his day to take a snack, and I thought these muffins would be a yummy, healthy choice for him and his classmates.

Of course I had to sneak one just to make sure they tasted okay, and they absolutely did. They're low in fat, which is awesome, but they're also incredibly moist and flavorful. There's no butter here, but I promise you won't miss it one bit. I loved the combination of banana and carrot, and I actually think this recipe would make a great quick bread.

I adapted the recipe to make mini-muffins. I also added some cinnamon -- which I think these really needed; the flavor may have been slightly lacking without it -- and used vegetable oil instead of extra-virgin olive oil (since olive oil has a distinctive taste, I was concerned that I wouldn't like the flavor of it in a muffin). This recipe isn't available online that I can see, so I've listed the original as it appears in the magazine, with my changes in purple. I think I may actually make these every weekend so we have a healthy breakfast choice throughout the week.

Healthy Morning Muffins
source: Everyday Food, January/February 2010

Non-stick cooking spray
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup raisins
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (I used vegetable oil)
1 large egg
1/3 cup skim milk (I used whole milk since it's what we always have on hand for Andrew)
4 medium carrots, shredded (I used 3, which was plenty)
1 medium ripe banana, mashed

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan (or a 24-cup mini-muffin pan) with cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt until there are no lumps. Stir in oats and raisins. Add oil, eggs, milk, carrots and banana and stir until blended.

2. Fill each muffin cup with batter. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean (23 to 25 minutes for regular muffins, 15 minutes for mini-muffins). Serve muffins warm or at room temperature. To store, keep in an airtight container up to three days.

12 comments:

Monica H said...

Yes cinnamon is a must. I like your changes to this muffin. They look great!

Keri said...

These look and sound so good. And, bonus points for making homemade, healthy muffins with a newborn and a toddler. You are my hero:-)!

Sonya said...

Cassie these look so delicious:) I hope you and the little one are doing well:)

Debbie said...

They sound great Cassie. I remember my baby days....wow...just thinking about them makes me tired!!!

Unknown said...

Thanks Cassie!! I cut out the ingredients for this recipe and some how didn't cut out the rest. You had it online, thanks!! Also, it's good to know you already tried them out too! Good luck with your new baby!

Deborah said...

We love muffins,and these sound like ones I'd really love!

ds r4 said...

Yummy! Thanks for this mouth watering recipe. It is nice to visit this recipe site. I will keep visiting it very often.

Jennie Jean said...

Hi there! I like the olive oil, actually. Also we substituted almond milk as my son and hubby don't drink milk. Adds a nice flavor and cuts calories significantly as there is only 40 cal per cup. We have tried them with dried apricots, blueberries and currants. LOVE these muffins. Thanks for posting so I can share with friends.

Allison said...

Thank God for your Elvis shake suggesting this post...I have all of these ingredients just needing to be used, so I'm going to make these tonight!

Shannon said...

Made these today (following your purple version) and they are fantastic. Made 24 mini muffins perfectly! I skipped the raisins because I was out (am I the only one that starts cooking only to realize I am missing ingredients???) and they were still yummy.

Theresa @ Two Much Fun said...

Cassie, these were so delicious! We made a couple of substitutions for what we had on hand: substituted whole wheat pastry flour for all purpose flour, chopped dried apricots for raisins, and unsweetened applesauce for oil. These were hearty and delicious. My twin 2-year olds gobbled them up happily as part of their breakfast. Your batch made 24 mini muffins and 6 regular muffins. Thank you so much Cassie for a yummy, yummy muffin recipe!

Fawn said...

Found you on Pinterest...this is my personal recipe I submitted to Everyday Food and am so happy that you liked them...I too substitute a few ingredients to what I have..I have used dates instead of raisins, pumpkin pie spice in place of nutmeg (my hubby hates cinnamon so I used that is why I originally used nutmeg in place of cinnamon), almost always use whole wheat and use coconut oil in place of olive oil...super easy and great frozen for later.