Do You Know the Muffin Man?

Mini-Muffin Tins Aid in Maintaining Portion-Control

Muffins often get a “bad rep,” and rightfully so, as the majority of muffins are composed of butter, oil, pastry flour and sugar.  Nutrition fail.  Recipe for disaster when the goal is geared towards healthy eating.

Until now…

For those of you who adore muffins, yet are still watching your figure, the following two muffins are fantastic, healthy alternatives.  And no… they do not taste of cardboard/bland “health food.”  Exploding with whole grains, natural sugar from Organic apple juice and berries, wheat germ and flax seed, the following Oatmeal and Blueberry muffins are absolutely worth at least trying.

Oatmeal muffins

1/2 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour or Whole Wheat Flour.  (May even substitute ½ Quinoa flour)

1/4 cup Ground Flaxseed

1/4 cup Toasted Wheat Germ

1 c Ground Oatmeal – Use food processor and pulse oatmeal until it reaches the consistency of flour

1 Tb + 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Salt

2 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Cloves

2 tsp Madagascar Vanilla Bean Paste (optional)

2 Tbsp Walnut Oil

Oatmeal Muffin without Raisins (May Include Dried Fruit)

2 Egg Whites

1 1/2 cup Organic Apple Juice

1 cup of Raisins/Currants

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and line muffin tin with muffin liners.

In one large bowl, combine the following “dry” ingredients: flour, ground flax, wheat germ, oatmeal, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cloves.  (If desired, may also add in Madagascar Vanilla Bean Paste – about 2 tsp – adding minimum sugar).  Mix well. 

In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, walnut oil and organic apple juice.  Mix well, then slowly mix into the dry ingredients, while stirring constantly with a spatula.  Take your time when incorporating the wet into the dry, as to prevent lumps from forming.  There is nothing worse than biting into a muffin or bread, and tasting a little clump of baking powder or flour.  Believe me, it does not simply “cook together…” Yes, I do speak from experience.  Rather than ruining a batch of muffins, take the additional time to achieve a uniform and smooth batter.  When fully incorporated, mix in raisins or currants.

With an ice cream scoop (in order to achieve uniformity in size), scoop the same amount of batter into lined muffin tins.  Bake 375 degrees F for about 23-25 minutes.  Muffins will be fully cooked if you stick a knife blade/toothpick into the muffin and it “comes out clean,” – meaning that there is no uncooked batter residue on the blade/toothpick.  If raw batter is found on the utensil, place muffins back into the oven until fully cooked.

Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry muffins

1 1/2 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour or Whole Wheat Flour (May even substitute ½ Quinoa flour)

1/4 cup Ground Flaxseed

1/4 cup Toasted Wheat Germ

1 Tb + 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Salt

2 Tbsp Walnut Oil

2 Egg Whites

1 1/2 cup Organic Apple Juice

1 cup Organic Frozen Blue Berries

                                                                                                                

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and line muffin tin with muffin liners.

In one large bowl, combine the following “dry” ingredients: flour, ground flax, wheat germ, baking powder and salt, cinnamon and cloves.  Mix well. 

Organic Apple Juice - My Preference is
Santa Cruz

In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, walnut oil and organic apple juice.  Mix well, then slowly mix into the dry ingredients, while stirring constantly with a spatula.  Take your time when incorporating the wet into the dry, as to prevent lumps from forming.  When fully incorporated, add in frozen blueberries and barely stir. 

With an ice cream scoop (in order to achieve uniformity in size), scoop the same amount of batter into lined muffin tins.  Bake 375 degrees F for about 23-25 minutes.  Muffins will be fully cooked if you stick a knife blade/toothpick into the muffin and it “comes out clean,” – meaning that there is no uncooked batter residue on the blade/toothpick.  If raw batter is found on the utensil, place muffins back into the oven until fully cooked.

Because these muffins do not contain granulated sugar, you can expect them to be significantly less sweet than a normal recipe.  However, by adding a plethora of blueberries to the blueberry recipe, as well as more cinnamon than usual to the oatmeal recipe, these aid in providing a natural sweetness to the muffins.  The sweetness also is determinant upon the sugars in the Apple Juice.

The flavors in the muffins become more pronounced on subsequent days, as the spices are able to “marinate.”  In addition, muffins may be stored in the freezer, then thawed at room temperature and enjoyed.  By using smaller muffin tin molds, portion sizes are more appropriate.  Less is more, in a sophisticated-sense.

j9sTyle Pink and Red Fashion Show 2012
Designs by Jay Grishby Jr.

How do you like them, muffins?

Back to Dallas this evening, but until then, all my love from Marshall,TX y’all,

sb