Banana Crunch Muffins
Best Bran Muffins
Blueberry Muffins
Carrot Apple Muffins
Sugar Free Carrot Muffins
Sugar Free Cookmuffs
Zucchini-Carrot Muffins
(Barefoot Contessa)
Makes 18 large muffins
I love these muffins. They are SO good! And they could be fiddled w/to be more
healthy, I suppose (I've just never gotten that far!)
3 c flour
2 c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 pound unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 extra-large eggs
3/4 c whole milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c mashed ripe bananas (2 bananas)
1 c medium-dice ripe bananas (1 banana)
1 c small-diced walnuts
1 c granola
1 c shredded coconut, dried banana chips, more granola (optional ... basically,
anything else you want to add)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line 18 large muffins cups w/paper liners. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder,
baking soda, and salt into a large bowl [Note: I never sift this stuff.] Add
the melted butter and blend (w/a mixer or by hand.) Combine the eggs, milk,
vanilla, and mashed bananas, and then add them to the flour-and-butter mixture.
Scrape the bowl and blend well. Don't overmix.
Fold the diced bananas, walnuts, granola, and coconut into the batter. Spoon the batter into the paper liners, filling each to the top. Top each muffin w/dried banana chips, granola, or coconut, if desired. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly, remove from the pan, and serve.
Back to the top / Back to the index
Makes 12 small muffins or 6 jumbo muffins
Wheat bran is available at health foods stores or in boxes, labeled Quaker Unprocessed
Bran, in supermarkets.
1 1/4 cups bleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsulphured molasses
1/4 cup sour cream
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons buttermilk
1 1/2 cups wheat bran
1 cup raisins
1. Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix flour through nutmeg in medium bowl; set aside.
2. Beat butter in large bowl of electric mixer or with handheld mixer at medium
speed until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add brown sugar, increase speed
to medium-high, and beat until combined and fluffy, about 1 minute longer. Add
eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly before adding the next. Beat in vanilla,
molasses, and sour cream until thoroughly combined and creamy, about 1 minute
longer. Reduce speed to low; beat in buttermilk and half the flour mixture until
combined, about 1 minute. Beat in remaining flour mixture until incorporated
and slightly curdled looking, about 1 minute longer, scraping sides of bowl
as necessary. Stir in bran and raisins.
3. Spray a twelve mold muffin tin (each mold measuring 1/2 cup) or a six mold
muffin tin (each mold measuring one cup) with cooking spray or coat lightly
with butter; divide batter evenly among molds using spoon or ice cream scoop.
Bake until a toothpick inserted into center withdraws cleanly or with a few
moist particles adhering to it, about 25 minutes. Set on wire rack to cool slightly,
about 5 minutes. Remove muffins from tin and serve warm.
January, 1998
Original article and recipes by Lisa Yockelson
Back to the top / Back to the index
2/3 cup mashed banana
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup melted butter, or coconut oil
2 cups flour
1 teas of baking powder and soda
1 cup blueberries
*Beat banana, egg, and milk and fat, then mix with rest and bake at 350 for
15 minutes.
I also have sugarless applesauce muffins here, nut butter crackers, harvest
pancakes, pumpkin muffins, frozen banana pie, fruit bars, apple oatmeal muffins,
banana date cookies, almond oat waffles, orange crumb cake, harvest cookies,
Peach pie, new england apple pie, broiled banana crisp, and thus concludes the
recipes I copied from that book.
The date and raisin syrup is just boiling 1 cup dates, 1/2 cup rasins in equal amounts of water (you can use apple juice for sweeter taste), simmer for 20 minutes then whip in a blender. I add a bit of apple pie type spice to it too. I canned a bunch of jars of this for the kids. One batch came out too thick and I left it that way and use it as a spread instead of jam or jelly.
Back to the top / Back to the index
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 lb. carrots, grate to make 2 cups
1/2 cup pecans, chopped (or any other nut or leave out if you don't like nuts)
1/2 cup raisins
3 large eggs
1 cup oil ( I use olive)
1 tsp vanilla
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and grated
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Sift 1st 4 ingredients.
Whisk in sugar.
Add carrots, pecans, raisins.
2nd bowl: Whisk eggs, oil, vanilla.
Stir in grated apple.
Add to flour mix and stir til just combined.
Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.
Bake 15-20 minutes.
Let cool in cups 5 minutes, turn out and cool completely.
Back to the top / Back to the index
These came out really good. I did not attempt to sweeten them with anything. They were mildly sweet because of teh raisins and the pineapple. You could add dry or wet sweetner to this recipe though. I would add 1/3-1/2 cups of any dry sweetner, or replace the pineapple juice with maple syrup for a wet sweetner. Instead of adding sweetner I used homemade unsweetened apple butter on these... really yummy afternoon snack for me and Isobel.
2 cups flour (1 cup whole spelt, 1 cup white spelt was what I used)
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. sea salt
2 eggs
1/2 cups coconut oil warmed till melted
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup pineapple juice
3/4 cup crushed pineapple
1 cups leftover cooked cereal (I had leftover steel cut oats -- it was really
good in these muffins)
1/3 leftover banana from breakfast (this probably isn't necessary at all, I
was just using up leftovers)
3 small carrots grated
1 small apple peeled and grated
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup raisins
Sift dry ingredients into a bowl
In food processor or blender combine eggs, coconut oil, vanilla, banana (optional), and pineapple juice. Blend till homoginized. Add pineapple, cereal, coconut, raisins, carrot, and apple; pulse until well mixed, but don't cut everything up too much.
Add wet to dry and fold together until just combined.
Spoon into oiled muffin tins and bake at 350º until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean -- about 20 minutes I think... maybe not quite that long. Depends on how big your tins are.
Back to the top / Back to the index
Ok, I have had limited success baking sweetner free, but these were not that
bad! The kids loved them, and they are pretty healthy so that works for me.
I think the recipe could be improved though.
This is a muffin recipe, but these are no muffins. First of all, they did not
rise, and they were not fluffy, they are almost more like chewy cookies, except
I baked them in muffin tins so they were like half muffins/chewy cookie tasting
things. I found they tasted better to me if I did not expect them to taste like
muffins or cookies. They held together really well, and would make excellent
energy "disc's". But anytime I can make a great sweet snack with no
sugar its all good, so I thought I would pass it on.
Heres the recipe:
1 cup shredded apple
1 1/2 cup oatmeal
a little more than 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
1/2 teas salt
1/2 cup raisins or chopped dates
1/4 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts)
couple tbs yogurt (optional)
*Mix it up, let it sit, and then bake it at 350 for 20 or so minutes. I just
packed them in muffin tins (filled about little more than halfway)
Back to the top / Back to the index
When I make these I substitute apple for the zucchini, but either way it's yummy. It's an easy recipe to alter if you want to substitute or add different ingredients like nuts or different types of liquid ingredients or oils. If you'd like I'm sure you could use regular eggs instead of egg replacer. I usually add at least 1/2 C of chopped nuts as well.
1 2/3 C spelt flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 C canola oil
1/4 C soy milk
Ener-G egg replacer for 1 egg
1/2 C maple syrup
1/4 C silken tofu (soft)
1 1/4 C shredded carrot
2/3 cut shredded zucchini
1 C raisins or dates (presoaked then drained)
Preheat oven to 375*. Combine dry ingredients & mix well. In food processor combine oil, soy milk, egg replacer, syrup & tofu. Add this mixture into dry ingredients, folding until just moistened. Fold in carrots, zucchini, raisins & nuts if your using them. Spoon batter into paper lined muffin tin. Bake at 375* for 20 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. (The original recipe calls for 20 minutes, but I seem to recall the muffins needing at least 30 minutes, but then my oven is schitzophrenic.)