Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Whole-Wheat Banana Muffins Recipe

This is a recipe that I got from allrecipes.com. My version are regular cupcake size and not giant whole-wheat muffin size. I will say that I do like banana bread but I only like the ends. I find banana bread to be too 'wet' for me. For this recipe, I added a half a cup extra of whole wheat flour to the original recipe. I also substituted the vegetable oil for canola oil.  I excluded strawberries because I didn't have any in my house and I wasn't sure if they would make the muffins too 'wet'. As an afterthought I wish that I had added raisins. I also think that if the recipe had been 'wet' my family would have been able to detect that I used whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour.

The original recipe can be found at: Source. I give all credit to the creator. This is an excellent recipe where many have added their own twist.The majority of people who used this recipe enjoyed it. They also added their own twists to the recipe. For example, some substituted a half cup of oat flour of a half cup of whole grain flour. Others used yogurt and reduced the amount of oil used ( I didn't have yogurt in my fridge. I can really see Greek yogurt and this being good friends).  Some reduced the amount of sugar, some only use 2 tablespoons of oil, some substitute vegetable oil for olive oil (I know that olive oil has a distinctive taste. I'm curious how they tasted)  some used wheat germ, some used the recipe as their very own banana bread and some added blueberries. Those that left comments seemed to enjoy the recipe and they also seemed to enjoy the flexibility that the recipe provided for them to adapt it to their needs and wants.



So for the recipe:

2 eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1-1/2  teaspoon vanilla extract
3 bananas mashed
2-1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 cup of quick oats for garnish

For the applesauce:

I've just started eating healthy so I don't have any applesauce in the house. To make applesauce, I peeled a very large granny smith apple, cut it into slices, put it into a container with a lid, poured a little water into the container, sealed the contained and put it to the microwave for a few minutes. I then put the softened apples into a food processor and processed until the apples looked like applesauce. It made a 1/2 cup of applesauce. I let this cool before adding it to the muffin recipe.

The original directions as listed on allrecipes.com (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mimis-Giant-Whole-Wheat-Banana-Strawberry-Muffins/Detail.aspx?evt19=1). Again, all credit goes to the author:

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 18 cupcake cups. (The original recipe called for 12 large muffin pans. I don't have muffin pans in the house and right now I'm practicing portion control so the 18 work for me).

2) Using a large bowl whisk eggs, applesauce, oil, mashed bananas and brown sugar. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg in a measuring cup. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Spoon mixture into cupcake cups until full. I used just under 2 tablespoons per cup. Interestingly for me (I was surprised that I didn't have to use baking powder in this recipe. I guess it's the power of eggs), the muffins rise so I didn't have to worry about the muffins overflowing onto the tops of the cupcake cups. Sprinkle the quick oats over the muffin batter (this is optional and I did it for a garnish).

3) Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven or until when lightly touched, the top of the muffins spring back.

I enjoyed the muffins. I'm still trying to get used to whole wheat flour but I didn't taste the whole wheat when I ate the muffin. There was a bit of wholewheat aftertaste but it wasn't very strong. Also, I liked how my muffins came out 'dry'. You can cut My sister also tried a muffin and she didn't know that I had added whole wheat to the muffin. She ate two today. She did suggest that I spray the cupcake tin with PAM to prevent the muffins from sticking to the cupcake time. I'm not sure if this is the best solution but I'm guessing that for next time it is worth a try.

These are going to be my snack muffins. I'm going to take out 5 for this week and put the rest in the freezer.

So now for what you all have been waiting for. The nutritional information:



The numbers from left to right represent calories, carbs, fat, protein, sodium and sugar content. 

The whole wheat flour really does contain a lot of calories. The overall per serving value of calories and fat does seem okay to me. I'm open to corrections from my readers. I'm new to weight loss and I'm still trying to discover ways to eat healthier and cut calories. I also think that I could have cut down on fat content by using vanilla non-fat Greek yogurt.

Have any of you tried this recipe before? Would you like the recipe just as is or are you curious to put your own spin on it? Would adding raisins destroy the health factor of the muffins?  Do any of you have your own healthy muffin recipes? Would you all like me to add more healthy recipes to the blog?  Don't be afraid to leave a comment. Thanks for reading.

Again, I got this recipe from Source and just wanted to share it with you all. All credit goes to the maker of this great recipe. I would give it four out of five stars.

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