Easy Healthy Muffin Recipe
Prep Time: 10 minutes
\"breakfast Recipes\"
Bake Time: 20 to 30 minutes
Yield: 8-12 muffins
This basic easy healthy muffin recipe can be varied in lots of ways. You can leave them plain, add in a cup or so of your favorite fruit and adjust the amount of sugar to suit your tastes. If you prefer larger muffins, distribute the batter among 8 of the muffin cups and pour 1/4 cup water into the empty cups to prevent them from buckling.
These muffins call for a minimal amount of fat - just 3 tablespoons for the entire batch. You can replace all the fat with a fruit puree such as applesauce, if you prefer, but that makes them too rubbery for my tastes.
Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole grain pastry flour
1/4 cup sugar, or to taste
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
3 tablespoons vegetable oil or melted butter
1 cup milk, plus more if needed
optional additions below
Recipe Instructions
Position an oven rack in the middle of the oven and heat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a standard 12-cup (2-1/2-inch) muffin pan or line the cups with paper liners.
In a large bowl, whisk tougher the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
In another bowl, whisk together the egg, vegetable oil, milk and any optional ingredients (such as 1 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries).
Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined and moistened. (The batter should still be lumpy and thick, but moist. If the batter seems too dry add a little more milk.)
Distribute the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
Bake until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 20 minutes (30 minutes for larger muffins).
Remove from the oven and let the muffins rest in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring them out of the pan and onto a wire rack to cool completely. Or enjoy warm.
9 Easy Healthy Muffin Variations
Apple Muffins: Stir in one medium peeled and chopped apple with the milk and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon with the flour. Substitute packed brown sugar for the granulated sugar.
Banana-Nut Muffins: Decrease milk to 1/4 cup, stir in 1 cup mashed bananas (2 to 3 medium) and 1/3 cup chopped nuts with the milk. Substitute packed brown sugar for the sugar.
Blueberry Muffins: Stir in 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries.
Chocolate Chip Muffins: Stir in 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips.
Cranberry Muffins: Stir in 1 cup chopped cranberries and 1 tablespoon finely grated orange peel with the milk. Sprinkle the tops with sugar before baking.
Oatmeal Muffins: Decrease flour to 1 cup and stir in 1 cup quick-cooking oats, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon with the flour.
Raspberry Muffins: Stir in 1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries and 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest.
Spice Muffins: Stir in 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger and a pinch of ground cloves and ground nutmeg with the flour.
Zucchini Muffins: Stir in 1 cup grated zucchini (squeezed dry to remove excess moisture) and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts with the milk.
One Simple Recipe for Making Healthy Muffins From Scratch You Can Modify Lots of Ways
Martha is a healthy weight loss coach, cooking coach and cookie lover, who loves to share ways to make cooking and eating simple, easy and delicious and help you stop dieting and instead discover the pleasure of happy healthy balanced eating, cooking and living. Her websites include http://www.simple-nourished-living.com and http://www.greateasyhealthyrecipes.com.