A whole wheat, oat, and strawberry muffin

This recipe came out of a late night baking experiement. It has been quite a while since I have tried my hand at developing a new recipe, but I was wide awake, Atticus was being wild, and I had two cartons of strawberries on the verge of going bad in my fridge.

I used my other whole grain muffin recipes as a starting place and worked from there.

Whole Wheat, Oat, and Strawberry Muffins
Yield: 24 muffins

Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup AP flour
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsps baking soda
1 Tsp cinnamon (I might cut this down to a tsp next time)
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 eggs (lightly beaten)
5 Tsps butter (melted and cooled)
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup milk
1 Tsp vanilla
2 cups fresh strawberries (sliced)


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with cupcake papers or spray with non-stick baking spray.

Combine the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl until consistently incorporated.

Add the slightly beaten eggs, cooled butter, oil, milk, and vanilla to the to the dry ingredients and mix.

Fold in the strawberries.

Fill the muffin tins and bake for 18 minutes or until the center of the muffin bounces back when lightly pressed.

I took these to the office, and everyone seemed to enjoy them. This was my first time to bake with strawberries. I was pleased with the result. If you try them, please pop back over and leave feedback.

Happy baking, y'all!

A Whole Wheat Morning Glory Muffin

I am on a mission to develop healthy-ish, but still tasty, breakfast muffin recipes. These pumpkin muffins were a start, but I still feel a little guilty eating something with chocolate chips more than once or twice a week. When Mom mentioned that she had baked Morning Glory muffins a few weeks ago and that they froze well, I started looking for recipes. Let me tell you that there a quite a few different types of muffins that fall under the Morning Glory title. After a few hours of reading recipes, I decided to just work with the basic muffin recipe from my pumpkin muffins and use ingredients that I already had at home.

Morning Glory muffins

I am thrilled with the way these turned out. The whole grains, carrots, and apples don't over power the muffin like I was afraid they would, but they do make for a hearty taste. Steve, who usually turns up his nose at anything that appears to be healthy, was skeptical of the grated carrots, but he ended up eating a few after dinner last night and gave them a thumbs up.



Whole Wheat Morning Glory Muffins

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup AP flour
1/4 cup wheat bran
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups peeled and grated carrots
1 large peeled and grated apple
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup raisins
4 large eggs
2 ripe bananas
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons molasses
2 teaspoons vanilla

Whisk all dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

Grate carrots and apple. Combine with raisins, cranberries, and walnuts. Add to the dry ingredients and  stir until incorporated.

In a medium sized bowl, mash bananas and whisk together with eggs, oil, molasses, and vanilla. Add to the mixture in the large bowl and stir until evenly incorporated.

Coat 18-24 muffin tins or use cupcake papers. Fill tins and bake in at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

A Healthier Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffin

I've been on a muffin kick lately. I guess this is better than a cookie or cupcake habit, but we all know muffins can be deceptively high in calories. So, I took my original pumpkin muffin recipe added some whole wheat and cut back on the sugar and oil.  I actually think the wheat bran adds a nice texture, and I barely missed the sugar. I don't know the exact calorie count or nutrition breakdown, but these are definitely a step in the right direction.

Ingredients

1 cup AP flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat bran
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 15 ounce can pure pumpkin
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Whisk dry ingredients together. Mix in liquid ingredients. Then add chocolate chips, if you so desire. Coat 18-24 muffin tins with cooking spray or use cupcake papers. Divide batter among the tins. Bake 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.

These muffins also freeze well. I take them out one at a time and pop them in a warm oven for 5 minutes, and they're ready for a quick breakfast.