Day 309: Hearty Heart-Loving Muffins ♥ (Whole-Grain, Low-Fat, Low-Sugar Muffins with Flax, Bran, Carrot, Apple, Raisin & Surprise Ingredient)

A regular-size muffin for 120 calories? It's a miracle! This is a healthy whole-grain, no-added-fat version of the classic Morning Glory Muffin. You'll find all the traditional Morning Glory "goodies" of carrots, apple and raisins but here cloaked in a muffin batter of whole wheat flour plus good measures of flaxmeal and oat bran, just a quarter cup of sugar and a surprise ingredient. (Baby food, anyone? Yes!) What these muffins don't call for are butter or oil! The muffins are "just sweet enough" and have the texture of a regular muffin. They're moist and flavorful, just what you want in a morning muffin.

Low Fat. Low Cal. Whole Grain. Easily made vegan with easy vegan substitutes too.

~recipe & photo updated 2015~
~more recently updated recipes~

2006: Certain recipes sweep through the food blog world. And these muffins merit attention – all homes should smell so good with muffins in the oven! It started with a recipe from a package of Bob's Red Mill flaxmeal. I found it at Beyond Salmon who got 12 muffins. Then it moved on to Not as Good as Pork Cracklins who got 15 muffins.

And now me – and I got twelve muffins from half a recipe. I did want a small(er) batch but these are so good, I'm glad to have more for the freezer. And the recipe can easily be cut in half again for just six regular-size muffins. If you don't already stock whole grains, this will take a shopping trip, perhaps to a health food store. Lucky me, I had all the ingredients on hand – and was glad of good reason to use them – so these muffins were an easy choice. They will definitely be made again.

I sense this is an extraordinarily flexible recipe, for I adjusted the proportions considerably:
For still less sweetness, but still plenty sweet, I cut the sugar in half
For nutrition, I doubled the carrot and added a jar of all-vegetable baby food
For flavor, I doubled the vanilla and cinnamon
For moisture, I doubled the liquid and egg and added that jar of baby food

2015: I've meant to remake these muffins forever and ever. They are just as good as I remember. I just now realized how these muffins are so much like Morning Glory Muffins – I love those too! But Hearty Heart-Loving Muffins have half the calories! Definitely worth making, I'm adding them to my list of "signature recipes"!

COMPLIMENTS!
"Very nice muffin ..." ~ Anonymous

RECIPE for HEARTY HEART-LOVING MUFFINS

Hands-on time: 25 minutes
Oven time: 20 - 25 minutes
Makes 12 regular-size muffins

DRY INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour, fluffed to aerate before measuring or 95g
6 tablespoons (39g) milled flaxseed (some times called flaxseed meal)
6 tablespoons (42g) oat bran
1/4 cup (50g) brown sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt

MUFFIN "GOODIES"
1 cup (100g) grated carrot
1 cup (150g) grated apple
1/4 cup currants

WET INGREDIENTS
2 large eggs, whisked
6 tablespoons (75g) buttermilk
4 ounce (115g) jar baby food (sweet potatoes)
1/2 tablespoon vanilla

Heat oven to 350F/175C. Stir together the Dry Ingredients in a large bowl, then stir in the "Muffin Goodies" and then form a well in the center. Separately, whisk the Wet Ingredients and pour into the well. Mix until just combined. Transfer to greased muffin tins. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes. Serve hot and enjoy!!

Great news, these muffins stay fresh for three or four days, even left out and uncovered. (Who'd do such a thing? Not me. It would be a much better idea to refrigerate the muffins after the first day.)

ALANNA's TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES
VEGAN MUFFINS With egg and buttermilk substitutes, the muffins can easily adapted to vegan.
MAKE-AHEAD To make ahead, assemble the dry ingredients the night before. You could even mix the wet ingredients and store in the refrigerator. I wouldn't grate the apple until morning, however.
SUGAR SUBSTITUTE? I am tempted to substitute molasses for the brown sugar.
GRATING Grate the carrot on a standing cheese grater, you can often grate two carrots at once, at least about half-way through. Use the cheese grated to grate the apple too. There's no need to peel the apple first. Just cut the whole apple in quarters, cut out the core with a V cut. Then grate the flesh-side of the apple on the grater, the peel will naturally separate from the flesh.
STICKY MUFFINS? (2006) With no added fat, the muffins were a little sticky to get out of muffin pans sprayed with baking spray; muffin papers might be better. (2015) I used a baking spray with flour in one muffin tray and silicone muffin "papers" in the other. Neither one was sticky!
CINNAMON As usual, I substituted cinnamon with one of two spice blends from Penzey's which I completely love and have used for many, many years now. Check out either the "Baking Spice" or the "Cake Spice". Good stuff! (And for the record, I rarely-rarely "do" spice blends but instead mix my own.)

NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Muffin: 119 Calories; 3g Tot Fat; 0g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 257mg Sodium; 22g Carb; 4g Fiber; 5g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS: WW Old Points 2 & WW PointsPlus 4 CALORIE COUNTERS 100-calorie serving, close enough to one muffin for my sensibility!

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READER FAVORITES: FEBRUARY

~ Peasant Cabbage Tomato Soup ~
~ Slow Cooker Vegetarian Lentil Sloppy Joes ~
~ Kohlrabi & Apple Slaw with Creamy Coleslaw Dressing ~
~ Homemade Black Bean Burgers ~
~ My Favorite Winter Squash Recipes ~

MORE FAVORITE MUFFIN RECIPES

~ Hearty Heart-Loving Muffins ~
~ Savory Muffins with Sweet Potato & Feta ~
~ Morning Glory Muffins ~
~ more bread recipes ~
from A Veggie Venture

~ Banana Streusel Muffins ~
~ Gingerbread Muffins ~
~ Perfect Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins ~
~ more muffin recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade, my food column

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