I used to be good at making muffins. I no longer am, apparently. I haven’t cared for either of my last two batches, and it’s been ages since I baked. What’s your favorite easy, HEALTHY muffin recipe? Please?
Thank you in advance. I just ate two dried up little blueberry muffins I made yesterday, and I really, really thank you.
oh, geez. I have yet to find a blueberry/fruit muffin recipe I really like, because I’m picky like that.
I have one for cornbread that’s pretty good, and if you add frozen blueberries to it, it’s even tastier. I would not say that it’s particularly healthy, though.
http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipe.asp?recipeids=456&
but you need to be a member of the cooksillustrated online to access it. They give a free 14-day trial, though.
Hey, it’s got whole grain cornmeal in it! Can’t be TOTALLY bad for you…
Go to Trader Joe’s and get one bag of oat bran and one bag flax seed meal (in the cereal section; I think both are Bob’s Red Mill). The recipe is on the flax package. It’s very, very adaptable (I often use frozen berries instead of the apples, carrots and raisins) and they freeze really well.
Please share the recipes you get! I’m always on the lookout for something like this.
Some one is supposed to be emailing me a copy of a breakfast cookie that is really good. I tried one Sunday night. I have another breakfast cookie some where and I will dig it up and email it to you in a few days. I have found that I don’t like low fat muffins.
Um, define healthy?
http://frogeatstown.blogspot.com/2007/01/creme-egg-cupcakes.html
Nuts. The url got lopped off.
http://frogeatstown.blogspot.com/2007/01/
creme-egg-cupcakes.html
My fave is the pumpkin muffin from “Vegan with a Vengeance”
1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tbsp. pumpkin pue spice
1 cup pureed pumpkin
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil*
2 tablespoons molasses
Preheat oven to 400. Sift the dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, soy milk, oil, and molasses. Pour the wet into the dry and mix. Fill the muffin cups 2/3s full. Bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. MAKES 18 MUFFINS
***Frosting
5 tablespoons margarine, softened 8 ounces vegan cream cheese, softened 1/8 teaspoon butter extract (optional) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups powdered sugar
In a mixing bowl, beat together margarine and vegan cream cheese. Beat in butter extract and vanilla. Stir in sugar. Beat until fluffy. Add more sugar (and more…and more…and more until it’s the right consistency) Spread over cake.
*Measure the oil first and then the molasses, this way the molasses won’t stick to the measuring cup
Check out the Eating Well website – they list a couple recipes. I love love love their books and magazine, and I highly recommend their food. Low fat, low cholesterol, but tastes AMAZING. You don’t even know it’s good for you.
I bought “Muffins” by Susan Reimer on Saturday and have tried three different recipes already. All have been excellent. Pumpkin muffins have to be healthy, right? It’s got vegetables in it. 😉
i’m a BIG banana bran fan. love the banana. need the bran. yum!
1/2 c white sugar
1 c bran (oat or wheat – whatever)
1 c flour
4 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
2 Tbsp butter, melted
3 bananas, mashed
1/4 c milk
preheat oven to 200 (celcius – not sure what that is farenheit). mix all dry ing in a bowl (as opposed to what? on the counter in a pile?). in a second bowl beat the eggs, butter and milk together with the bananas. add dry mix just to combine. do not overmix. (or the muffin police will apparently come after you). spoon into well greased muffin tins and bake for 15 minutes (or 10 or 20 depending on your oven).
*i have changed this recipe and been really happy with it each time. i’m allergic to dairy so i cut the butter and milk and use rice milk instead. i’m allergic to eggs so i use an egg replacer and that works fine. i use whatever flour i have on hand (white or WW – sometimes i mix them together). whenever i have bananas that are starting to go black i toss them in the freezer and then use those thawed frozen ones in the recipe – that gives it more moisture (making up for the lack of egg).
enjoy!
Muffins – healthy – in the same sentence – no!!! Could explain why I’m overweight and smiling…
Hey, I eat carrot cake as one of my 5 a day!
Keep munching.
It’s on the back of the Hodgson Mill oat bran hot cereal box. You can add lots more to it… like chopped dried fruit and nuts if you wish. Great flavor and they’re nice and moist.
1/2 c packed brown sugar
1 1/2 c oat bran cereal
1 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs OR 4 egg whites, slightly beaten
1 c applesauce, chilled
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
Preheat oven to 400 deg. F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners, or grease muffin cups. Blend together dry ingredients. Add eggs, chilled applesauce and veg. oil. Mix until well blended. Spoon batter into muffin cups. Let stand 10 minutes. Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown. (I find that 15 minutes is plenty, even if you add more ingredients).
here’s a link to those bob’s red mill bran flax muffins that lynn in tucson was talking about. i heart these too and they’re so good, they don’t even feel healthy.
http://www.recipezaar.com/188725
Here ya go:
http://members.aol.com/jimg004/mufindx.html
If you can’t find something there, you’re in trouble! Apple muffins are my favorites. Now that I think about it, I’m off to make some!
Oops, it cut off the link.
http://members.aol.com/jimg004/
mufindx.html
OMG best muffins EVER!
Honey-Raisin Bran Muffins
2 cups all purpose (Plain) flour
2 cups unprocessed bran flakes (Not toasted please, store it in the fridge, find it in the cereal section)
1 1/2 cups mixed dark and golden (sultana) raisins
1/3 cup toasted wheat germ
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs beaten
Preheat oven to 450 degrees and grease 18 regular sized muffin cups with non stick cooking spray (Fill the rest of the empty cups with water before it goes in the oven).
In a bowl, stir together the flour, bran raisins, wheat germ baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
In another bowl, using a wooden spoon, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and honey until fluffy. Beat in the yogurt, then the buttermilk and vanilla until smooth and well blended.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the creamed mixture and the beaten eggs. Beat just until evenly moistened. The batter will be a little lumpy and thick. Try not to over mix.
Spoon the batter into each muffin cup so that it is level with the rim.
Put the filled pans in the oven and immediately reduce the oven temp to 350 degrees. Bake until golden, dry and springy to the touch, about 18 to 22 minutes. If a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean it should be ready. Let cool for 15 minutes
Sorry, I got cut off there. These muffins are so good and good for you, I had no idea those two things could go together. Well, OK, they are a little naughty, just a bit.
I usually make them and then freeze a bunch. They are so tasty, my GF doesn’t like baked stuff, healthy girl, but I can always count on her eating a few. Give em a try!
Enjoy!
I make these muffins almost weekly.
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/banana_bran_muffin.html
Wonderful, and they freeze well.
I love “Morning Glory Muffins” from Earthbound Farms’ cookbook. I can e-mail you the receipt, if you’d like.
I go to:
http://www.epicurious.com
whenever I want a recipe.
Um, sweetie? I converted a French muffin-hater with my banana muffins, but I have to tell you: they once contained shortening, thanks to my mum, and then they contained butter substitute, thanks to my mum, and now they contain butter, thanks to me, because in each muffin, there is only a “bit o’ butter” and that can’t be bad. So a *lot* of people would not consider them healthy, but I consider real food to be healthy. I’m on a no-processed-crap, fresh food, coming from recognizably natural sources kick, and it makes my mouth happy, which makes me less likely to snarf food relentlessly, expecting it to taste better when it never, ever will. Butter comes from a cow and tastes good. Also, I like cows. If you want my recipe, I’ll happily give it to you, but your doctor might hate me for it….
There’s a basic recipe with variations in Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home which never fails. Also one for multi-grain muffins which isn’t too sweet and rocks. The book also contains the recipe for African Pineapple Peanut Stew, which we just refer to as “crack.”
This is a recipe for energy cookies, not muffins, but OMG they are divine! http://tinyurl.com/2j73op
I just toast all the seeds in my cast iron skillet. Also, the original recipe calls for 1 cup of chocolate chips. Why change a good thing, I wonder. I stir the toasted seeds and warm raisins with the chocolate so that it melts and makes the whole cookie chocolaty.
That same cookbook has a good healthy muffin recipe too.
Dry ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
4 cups oat bran
1 T baking powder
1 T baking soda
1 T ground cinnamon
1 T salt
Wet Ingredients:
1 cup olive oil
1 cup honey
1 cup molasses
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup raisins
3 medium apples chopped not peeled
Combine wet and dry ingredients separately. Then mix dry and wet together. Fill muffin cups very full to overflowing. Place the muffinpan on a baking sheet to catch the drips. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes. Let sit in pan for 15 minutes. That makes 24 muffins and they freeze well. I took them on a big camping outing last year and many people visited our site for breakfast. The muffins were a big draw.
Sorry Babe. My muffin knowledge is of the ‘mix one egg and a cup of water with x amount of Quaker muffin mix’ variety. Probably not what you’re looking for.
I have an apple/carrot/raisin muffin that is wonderfully yummy. I’ll have to email it too you when I get a chance to type it out later today. I just wanted to add this tip though with any muffin recipe – soak the raisins in boiling water for 5-10 min before using them. They won’t dry your muffins out that way.
I have been reading your blog for about an hour now. It’s not like I don’t have other things to do but for the whole first half of reading I thought Lala was a dog. Literally. Tell her I’m sorry I just didn’t backtrack enough. I was going to give you a muffin recipe – but I have been searching for a good tasting healthy blueberry muffin for about 12 years now. No luck yet.
This rocks. I’m totally raiding your comments for new muffin recipes. Here’s my favorite fiber-filled, fat-free, carbo colonic, oat bran muffin recipe. These are wonderfully moist, and I get tons of compliments on them. I usually add a handful of chocolate chips to them, but in that case, they wouldn’t be fat-free any longer.
INGREDIENTS:
* 1 1/2 cups oat bran
* 1 cup nonfat milk
* 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
* 1 egg (or mashed banana for vegans)
* 2/3 cup brown sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 cup whole wheat flour
* 1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup dried blueberries
* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or use paper muffin liners. Mix together bran and milk, and let stand for 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, mix together applesauce, egg, brown sugar, and vanilla. Beat in bran mixture. Sift together whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir into bran mixture until just blended. Fold in blueberries and walnuts. Scoop into muffin cups.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until tops spring back when lightly tapped.
I’m not sure how healthy this is, though I don’t think it’s too bad… but it sure is easy!
Get a box of Jiffy corn muffin mix, the little tiny one that costs 59 cents or so. Mix it up according to the package directions, with skim milk and egg, and if you like slightly sweet cornbread like I do, throw in a spoonful of sugar too. Like the box says, let the mixture rest for a few minutes, and then restir it right before you pour it into the muffin tins.
So delicious, so cheap, so easy.
My favorite muffins are called “Morning Glory Muffins”. I got my recipe from The Splendid Table (on NPR) newsletter. They have carrots, dates, apples, raisins, pineapple and coconut. I don’t have the actual recipe handy but I did a quick google search and there are many similar recipes out there. You should try them!
dude, i’m not much of a muffin maker (more on the cupcake side), but your readers rock and i want to make all these recipes. yum.
I love muffins. Can bake em from scratch. But my all time favorite is Betty Crocker bluebery muffins in a box (with a tin of REAL blueberries! Wow!). Major comfort food.
I like the low fat muffin recipe from the Joy of Cooking. It’s a little dry, so what I always do is make the recipe as is, then add 1 – 1.5 cups of ‘extras’ which can be anything you want. Just remember with frozen or chunky fruit you need to add 5 min or so baking time.
examples
cranberries and zest from one lemon (tangy!)
apples and walnuts (I don’t even peel the apples – just chop small
mixed berries
pineapple, dried apricots and coconut
mango and cinnamon (sounds weird but really good)
raisins and apples
ooooh… i’m salivating. I’m going to go bake some muffins now.
Any yummy muffins yet?
Came across your blog today and i love it, especially this bit about muffins.
I love baking muffins and use the
“Muffins” by Susan Reimer” book.
Also blogged about it myself
http://sallyinnorfolk.com/2007/01/05/muffins/
Will now have some more recipes to try out….