In 1983, when we were living in Canada, on Maxwell crescent, in London, I remember a culinary revolution. Or, well, that’s what it seemed like in my mind as a fourth grader. My mom started the happy habit of baking muffins. blueberry muffins. chocolate chip muffins. zucchini muffins. morning glory muffins, banana muffins and the list goes on and on….
Muffins were all the rage, especially healthy muffins with substitutionary ingredients like apple sauce instead of oil and oat bran instead of so much all purpose flour. My Mom embraced this new trend whole-heartedly. And so did we, especially if there were chocolate chips in her creations.
I do remember one incident where Mom made orange muffins without butter. They were supposed to have butter, but she left it out on accident. Mom is typically a pro when it comes to multi-tasking, but on that busy day the muffins fell thru the cracks and the butter was left out of the batter. Never has there been a more terrible, awful baked good than those orange muffins without butter. But, I digress…
Well, as I have been working at changing some of my personality in the kitchen, I have been looking for ways to bake and cook that are healthier. And there are a myriad of healthy choices when it comes to muffins. I have been pinning recipes, and bookmarking other options in hopes of finding something to bake.
Today, without warning, I came across the perfect muffin recipe and within moments of reading it, I was in my kitchen pulling out utensils and finding ingredients. And this is what I baked:
The kids love them. I loved them as well, especially while they were still warm with a little pat of butter. These muffins did not have butter in them either, but they were not supposed to. Since my taste-testers wanted seconds immediately, I figure the recipe might be worth sharing with you… (My Children are no respecter of baked goods. They’ve been known to stare down other muffins before and refuse to eat them.)
I got this recipe from Pioneer Woman’s website, but I edited it and made it my own, so we’ll call them:
Melody’s new favorite Muffins. (I know, I know – super creative title, right?)
Instructions:
- 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
- 1/2 cup All-purpose Flour
- 1/4 cup 7-grain cereal (similar to other dry cereals, includes flax, oat bran and other grains)
- 1 cup Regular Oats
- 1/2 cup Packed Brown Sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
- 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chunks
- 1 cup Buttermilk
- 1 whole Egg
- 1 whole Banana, Peeled And Mashed With A Fork
- 1/2 cup Applesauce
- 1/4 cup Molasses
- Extra Buttermilk As Needed For Thinning
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Thoroughly grease a 12-count muffin pan, or use muffin cup liners.
In a large bowl, combine flours, 7-grain cereal, oats, brown sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder and chocolate chunks. Stir together until combined.
In a separate bowl, mix together the buttermilk, egg, banana, applesauce and molasses.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, stirring until it just barely comes together. Batter should be wet and sticky; if needed, splash in a couple extra tablespoons of buttermilk.
Scoop 1/4 cup helpings into the muffin cups and bake for 16-18 minutes, or until deep golden brown.
Serve warm with softened butter. yum.
Hope you enjoy them!
daily portion 