During our visit, Amanda made a recipe from her Cooking Light Baby Food cookbook, Mini Whole-Wheat Apricot Muffins. Turns out muffins are great for toddlers (especially mini ones) since they are easily freezeable, portable, and a perfect size and texture for little chubby kid fingers. And just because the recipe came from a kid's cookbook doesn't mean it isn't good for adults as well. These were yummy muffins and you got three per serving at only 133 calories. This means even I was able to indulge in a few as a snack (since I have started getting serious about counting calories).
Now that I'm home from sunny California, I am inspired by Amanda's baking and cooking, and I've decided to try to find my own healthier but delicious recipes. I tried my first go-round last night, working with another Cooking Light muffin recipe but making my own changes to make it even more healthy. So I proudly present to you--Maggie's Whole Wheat Raisin Banana Muffins!
I'm going to call this recipe makeover a success--the original recipe was for a white flour based cranberry and orange muffin. It clocked in at 174 calories, which is certainly nothing to scoff at, but I thought I could do a little better. Even if I couldn't cut back a lot of the calories, at least I could pack the muffins with some more hearty ingredients.
I started by replacing all the white flour with whole wheat flour. However, wheat flour is a lot dryer than regular flour, so that means we needed some more liquid in the batter. I decided to throw in two and a half bananas (that had been sitting in the freezer for a few months). When you defrost the bananas, they end up a lot juicier so this added some more wetness. I also subbed in raisins for the cranberries--I figured they have less sugar and would pair better with the bananas. Following that logic, the orange rind had to go, so I used allspice instead. The final substitution was 1% milk for 2%--mostly because that's what I had on hand.
I was a little worried after I finished mixing up the batter, it was a good deal thicker than most muffin mix and had a consistency more like a cookie. But the muffins ended up baking beautifully, fluffing up a bit but staying within the confines of the muffin cup. It makes a dense muffin which I like; what's the point of eating those calories if it doesn't help fill you up? They have a great wheaty, nutty flavor (even though there's no nuts). The banana and spice is very subtle (I'll probably throw in an extra banana next time), and the raisins added a little touch of sweetness. If you aren't a big fan of wheat these probably aren't the muffins for you, but if you like quick and easy recipes with a hearty flavor than give them a try. You don't even need a mixer, I easily combined all the ingredients by hand with a spatula.
Maggie's Whole Wheat Raisin Banana Muffins
2 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup raisins
2/3 cup 1% milk
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg, beaten
3 bananas
Preheat over to 400 degrees. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in raisins; make a well in the center of the mixture. Combine milk, butter, allspice, vanilla, and egg; add to flour mixture, stirring until just moist. Spoon batter into 12 (my recipe made 16) muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes until muffins are brown on top. Remove from the muffin pan immediately and cool.
Note: these muffins freeze well stored in freezer bags. I also like them warmed up a bit, either in the microwave (20-30 seconds per muffin) or heated in the oven on foil for 10-15 minutes at 300 degrees.
If you are keeping track of calories, I would estimate that these end up between 130-150 calories depending on the size of your muffins. Not too shabby!
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