Now that I've been making these muffins once a week for a few months, I figure I better update this review... First off, the recipe is easily adaptable to personal tastes or sudden lack of ingredients. Second, it tastes absolutely wonderful! (if you couldn't already tell from how often I make them...)
Changes I made: used whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup of applesauce instead of the bananas because I utterly despise bananas, 1/2 cup of brown sugar somewhat packed, 1 cup of milk with vinegar, left out the oil, added 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp all spice, 1/2 cup of oatmeal, mixed frozen berries and Craisins.
Things to note: The type of flour you use is very important. I learned this after buying some awful whole wheat white flour from Trader Joe's. It made my muffins all dry and tough. As soon as I went back to the whole wheat flour from Fresh and Easy, they were all nice and soft and moist again. If you're going to use dried fruit, remember they tend to suck up some of that moisture, and if you use frozen fruit, they tend to add moisture (It also make your muffins look a funny swamp green if you mix leaky red and blue berries into the wet batter. Better mix it into the dry stuff first if you don't want it to look gross.)
These are my absolute most FAVOURITE muffins! I ate 3 yesterday :) I do make some substitutions though, to *hopefully* make them a little healthier:
Only whole wheat flour (therefore 1.5 cups), 1/2 c brown sugar instead of 3/4 c white sugar, wheat bran instead of oat bran (it's all I had), pecans instead of walnuts (personal preference), applesauce instead of oil, and lemon juice/skim milk instead of buttermilk (put 1 Tablespoon lemon juice in a cup measure, fill the cup with skim milk - voila!)
I also add: 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp nutmeg (YUM!) and 1/2 cup raspberries (in addition to the 1 cup blueberries). The raspberries make it SOOOO delicious! I rip each one in 2 or 3 pieces to spread 'em out and prevent the muffins from falling apart.
I use this as my "healthy muffin base" now - and can't wait to try all sorts of additions. Maybe next time it will be strawberries and apples? Or raisins and carrots? Maybe banana and chocolate chips? Blackberries and coconut??? The possibilities are endless! (Although I would probably cut the blackberries into smaller pieces, like the raspberries).
For those who found the recipe dry.... try more applesauce?
Happy Muffining!
I enjoy baked goods and this is among my favorites especially because of its health value. But I will note that I changed a few things according to what was available to me and maybe better. Changes: 1) instead of all-purpose flour I used whole wheat pastry flour 2)instead of just regular blueberries I used wild dried blueberries and dried cranberries waiting until the batter was in the muffin cups to add them -one small spoon of blueberries and one small spoon of cranberries (the amounts each covered a half of the batter's surface in the cup) -and then mixed the berries and batter in the cups (I used a chopstick for this) 3) instead of using white granulated sugar I used packed brown sugar in about the same amount as the granulated sugar if not a little bit more. I did this to continue the theme of healthy ingredients and earthy flavor. The result was an EXCELLENT muffin that in my opinion is better than some found in restaurants. The muffins are sweet fairly light for a wheat-laden muffin and has berry in every bite.
This is the best muffin recipe ever! I'm a baker and sell these at the cafe all the time. Replacing the banana for pumpkin and the blueberries for chocolate chips also turned out freaking awesome!!!
The picture doesn't do these muffins justice - mine turned out more like bakery muffins. I increased the wheat flour to 1 cup and the quick oats to 3/4 cup in place of the germ and oatbran. I also replaced half the milk w/ light sour cream. I used large frozen wild blueberries and didn't have a problem w/ the muffins turning green which one reviewer mentioned. My husband was eating these for every meal until they were gone and I am now sworn to make them again! SO GOOD. I made them again... This time I omitted the nuts and added one apple finely chopped. Turned out great!
These muffins are awesome. I didn't know what Wheat Germ or Oat Bran was or where to find it - didn't know if I had to go to a specialty health food place or not. I found them at Kroger's in the hot cereal area. These are not items I would normally have on hand...so I'm sure there are others out there asking 'what's Wheat Germ" It's in a bottle and Oat Bran is a hot cereal in a box. These muffins are awesome! Very moist. I tasted more banana than blueberry in it. I replaced the oil with applesauce...replacing it with the same amount asked for. That's all I did. Next time I would use 2 egg whites instead of 1 egg just for it to be a tad healthier. Definately put the nuts in if you have them. GREAT RECIPE!!!
Amazing! I am so impressed with this recipe. I was afraid they would come out dry and "healthy" tasting but they are really moist and flavorful. I made a few changes based on preference and what I had on hand: (1) I subbed applesauce for the bananas flax meal for the wheat germ and oats for the oat bran. (2) I added a little more than a 1/4 tsp cinnamon and 1/8 tsp nutmeg. (3) I used almost 2 cups of frozen mixed berries (blueberries raspberries and blackberries) and chopped them up a bit to make them distribute more evenly. These are SOOO yummy I will certainly be making these again soon! Thanks for an awesome healthy recipe!!
Really great muffin recipe. As I am always looking for a way to use overripe bananas this was a nice change from the usual banana bread. I have made this recipe multiple times. Being an ultra health nut I used all wheat flour about 1/2 cup brown sugar instead of the 3/4 white sugar and 1 tbsp applesauce instead of the vegetable oil. I have also tried raspberries instead of blueberries which are a nice taste addition but loose their form more than the blueberries. Since these muffins are extra moist I found I had to bake them about 10 minutes more than the recipe calls for.
Yum! The only changes I made were using strawberries (frozen chopped) instead of the blueberries (what I had on hand) and applesauce instead of the banana. Oh and I made buttermilk by using 1/4t. lemon juice with the milk (I didn't have any bananas or buttermilk). I used 1/3 c. applesauce for a half recipe and would probably reduce is just a bit next time. These muffins are extremely moist - not chewy like the typical "healthy" muffins:) Awesome and pretty easy to make and what a wonderful way to use all the healthy stuff I keep on hand! I would give this recipe 10 stars if I could!
Instead of white sugar, I use a raw sugar & sucralose 1/2 c raw & 1/4 c sucralose, grind old fashioned oats and make a flour and use only 1/4 c of A/P flour and the rest white whole wheat and oat flour to get your 1-1/2 cups, use applesauce & 1 tsp coconut oil instead of veg. oil. The taste is phenomenal.
