Healthy Muffins

Muffins are a great way to get your family to eat healthier. You can slip all sorts of things in a muffin without them whining and they’ll ask for more. You can make them ahead of time on the weekend and heat them in a toaster oven for breakfast or an after school snack.

I worry about this cupcake craze we suddenly have here in America putting even more refined sugar in our diet. Not good.

To this basic recipe you will add any of the following options to make whatever flavor you like.

Basic Muffin Recipe:

(Before mixing the batter, read your instructions for the added items below. Sometimes you change amounts or substitute ingredients.)

1 egg (Vegans can substitute a tablespoon soy powder.)

¾ cup milk (Lactose intolerant people can use water.)

½ cup vegetable oil (If you are watching your fat you can substitute applesauce.)

2 cups flour (Gluten intolerant people can substitute 1 cup oats and 1 cup oat flour.)

1/3 cup sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Grease muffin pan with 12 medium size cups. Beat eggs; stir in milk and oil. Stir in remaining ingredients all at once just until flour is moistened (batter will be lumpy). Fill muffin cups about ¾ full. Bake until golden brown, about 12-15 minutes. Immediately remove from pan.

Serve warm or cool and store in zipper bags in the refrigerator or freezer.

Alien Muffins-

It’s all in the advertising, Mom. If you hand Junior a green muffin he is going to look at you like you are crazy, But… if you tell him it is an alien muffin it suddenly becomes cool. If your child is a boy, those raisins start looking like warts and it gets real enticing.

They could be Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Muffins, Incredible Hulk or if it’s Saint Patrick’s Day you can use that title; whatever works.

Stir in:

½ cup pureed broccoli or green beans (you can use baby food but I prefer to grind fresh in my blender.)

1 cup raisins

1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Apple-Nut Muffins-

Stir in:

1 medium apple; cored and chopped.

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Substitute brown sugar for white.

Sprinkle tops with mixture of ¼ cup brown sugar, ¼ chopped nuts and ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon before baking.

Oatmeal Raisin Muffins-

Stir in:

1 cup raisins

Decrease flour to 1 cup and add 1 cup oats

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pumpkin or squash muffins-

If you have a picky child rename this one if they think they don’t like squash. I used to tell mine they were raisin muffins and left it at that.

Stir in:

½ cup pureed pumpkin or squash

½ cup raisins

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

Banana Muffins-

Stir in:

Decrease milk to 1/3 cup

1 cup mashed banana

Substitute brown sugar for white.

Blueberry Muffins-

Stir in:

1 cup fresh or ¾ cup frozen blueberries (Don’t use canned.)

Raisin Nut Muffins-

Stir in:

½ cup raisins

1/3 cup chopped nuts

Bunny Rabbit Muffins-

My son didn’t think he liked carrots so I invented this name. If your family is okay with this vegetable you can call it what it is: Carrot Raisin Muffins.

Stir in-

1 cup grated carrots

½ cup raisins

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon