Would You Like Us to Assign Someone to Butter Your Muffin?

Hello! I did say I had some recipes, didn't I?  I have several, but we'll start here with these yummy raisin bran muffins I found on weightwatchers.com

I made a few tiny changes to the recipe, mostly because I was lazy and forgot to soften the butter, but doing so saved me a whole point per muffin, I just discovered, so I like them even more now. I thought 5 points for one measly muffin was kind of high, but fortunately, my change whittled them down to 4 Points each and they are pretty filling. I've had one with my coffee every morning for the last couple days and along with my vitamins and maybe some fruit, it's very filling.

Raisin Bran Muffins

Original recipe: 5 points, My Version 4 Points.

Ingredients

• 2 spray(s) cooking spray
• 1 cup(s) whole wheat flour
• 2/3 cup(s) uncooked wheat bran (I had a hard time finding this, but eventually found wheat bran at Whole Foods. Oat bran would likely work just as well.)
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon (They call for one, but I love cinnamon.)
• 4 tbsp Land O Lakes Light Butter with Canola Oil (They called for 1/4 cup(s) regular butter, softened, but I forgot to soften it and just used what was handy. I think they came out delicious and it saves a Point per muffin.)
• 2/3 cup(s) Sugar in the Raw Turbinado Sugar from Natural Cane, or other brand
• 1 large egg(s)
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup(s) raisins, chopped (I tried, but they were sticky, and I didn't see their tip about coating the knife in cooking spray first, so they weren't as chopped as I suspect the recipe wanted.)

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 400ºF. Coat a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray. I used butter-flavor, but plain works just as well.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, wheat bran, salt, baking soda and cinnamon; set aside.

Using an electric mixer (I did not use an electric mixer, I kicked it old school, stirring by hand) in a large bowl, cream butter with sugar until sugar is dissolved; add egg and beat thoroughly. Add 1/3 of bran mixture and 1/3 cup of buttermilk; mix until just combined. Repeat, alternating, with remaining bran mixture and buttermilk; fold in raisins.  (I actually forgot to alternate and just threw in the buttermilk with the egg and creamed sugar mixture. It came out just fine.)

Fill each prepared muffin hole about 2/3 full with batter; place in middle of oven. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean, about 15 to 20 minutes (I went around 18 minutes). One muffin per serving.

4 Points Plus

Overall, these are good muffins and not too dry if you don't overcook them. Mine came out of the pan easily and if you use butter-flavor cooking spray on the muffin tin, as I did, it's got a baked-in buttery flavor that didn't require that I add any actual butter.  If I had my way, I'd add nuts and more raisins, but I know that would totally make it like an 8-10 Point muffin and that's just lame. If I'm going to have an "expensive" muffin, I'll go to a good bakery, thanks.

I've started making muffins on the weekend to eat throughout the week as I don't always like to eat breakfast.  I just want something quick I can grab and a muffin is quite filling. I made the Skinnytaste banana chocolate chip muffins a couple weeks ago, which I also made some minor mods to and I'll share here soon.

Pumpkin Pie… Brioche

For those of you who know me, this isn't going to come as a suprise; baking with pumpkin is like breathing to me -- something I can not live without. I bake with pumpkin all year round and I fancy myself a pumpkin afficiando. Most of my pumpkin baked goods are in the form of cakes, pastries and pies.  I've only recently started to branch out into breads, because when I think of bread making, it scares me. And if it scares you too, I highly recommend you get Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  I know, 5 minutes?

3 Point Blueberry Yogurt Scones

I've been bombarded lately by all the blueberries at the farmer's market and in the woods (free and plentiful however you might come across a snake or two while harvesting) across from my house. I normally make smoothies with berries; quick and easy. But in an attempt to branch out from eating the same exact food every single day, I decided to try a low-calorie Blueberry Yogurt Scone recipe.  I also tried a whole wheat blueberry bagel recipe but I've got to perfect that one a little more before sharing.

Recipe Makeover: Healthy Banana Bread

As a mother of two little kids, I am always trying to find a way to incorporate as many healthy vitamin packed ingredients into simple dishes.  Let's face it, kids are picky (and if yours aren't I hate you) and while trying to make things healthier, I end up making them lower in fat and calories for me too. Bonus!  I had a bunch of bananas on their last day and decided to make bread instead of throwing them out.  Typically, banana bread isn't too horrible ingredient wise but I like to counter balance the sugar and oil with some healthier enhancements.  This is adapted from a Banana Bread recipe I received at my wedding shower 11 years ago.  Here's my hippie organic enhanced version:

Cranberry Muffins Without the Muffin Top

Ahh yes the cranberry.  That sweet, tart, little nugget of goodness.  One of the things that I ended up having to limit myself on was muffins when I first started to make changes in my life.  I used to think, “Hey, I’ll eat something healthy, like… a muffin.” It sounds like a good idea but muffins on average are packed with high fat and calories. A deceiving bunch of bastards aren’t they? Starbucks has a Cranberry Orange Muffin that looks wonderful and sounds healthy but packs about 420 calories, and 20 grams of fat! 20!!!! (That’s 10 Points in WW speak). That is insane. I could eat a friggin’ McDonald’s cheeseburger for that much.

So! I scoured around and tried a few recipes and found this one to be great.  Instead of 420 calories, these are 152.  Much better.  And the fat content is down to 4 grams which is far more fat ass friendly than Starbucks.

Cranberry Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup unbleached white flour
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1 tsp orange extract
• 1 cup fresh cranberries

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the flours, baking powder, and
cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Add the dry ingredients slowly to the large bowl and mix until blended. Do not over beat.

Pour the batter into 12 nonstick muffin cups and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove muffins from oven and let cool slightly. Remove muffins from pan and let cool completely.

This recipe yields 12 servings. Serving size: 1 muffin.

Nutrition Facts: Calories 152; Total Fat 4g;
Saturated Fat 0g; Carbohydrate 27g; Dietary Fiber 2g;

WW Points: 3 (per muffin)

Tip: To lower the calories even more you can substitute Splenda for the sugar.  I have done this and they turn out just as good.

Credits:
Recipe from “Flavorful Seasons Cookbook” by Robyn Webb, MS, (© McGraw Hill - NTC, 1996)

Nutritional information about Starbucks food found here.