These muffins are low calorie (126 each), oil free, wheat free (no kidding), dairy free, vitamin packed, loaded with metabolism boosting stuff … AND they actually taste good. Here’s the story.

Briana has a habit of making requests for me to cook things that I’ve never done before. Usually it’s no problem at all, I have a pretty good grasp of what I’m doing in the kitchen. Baking on the other hand has never been something that I am comfortable with.

Well, last fall she decided that she was going to make homemade health and beauty products as Christmas gifts for everyone. So we bought a gargantuan can of “Old Fashioned Oats”. What the hell am I going to do with a huge can of oats? So I did some research and came up with a recipe for soft oatmeal cookies (I’ll share it another time). Not a problem, I’ve always been good at cookies (and pies).

So fast forward to a week or so ago. She wants some kind of “healthy, energy-boosting muffin for breakfast … You can make it with the oats right?” Oh crap. So I go into deep research mode. I’ve made cakes and cupcakes from a box, but scratch made muffins from rolled oats? A handful of hours later and I had found out what I needed to know. So I sit down with all the information in front of me and make up a recipe. Yeah, me … the non-baker. I made up a recipe for muffins.

And wouldn’t you just know … it worked. Far better than I expected too.

You know you wanna make ’em … here’s how. Read ALL instructions before starting!

Dry Ingredients:
1 & ½ cups Oat flour ( I ground up Old Fashioned oats in a spice grinder till I had enough)
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt

Flavorings (go with the dry ingredients):
1 tsp cinnamon (Bri wants to add more next time)
¼ tsp Nutmeg
1 tsp ginger (Yes, it’s a lot. Bri wanted an extra “kick”)
½ cup light brown sugar (research indicates that honey will work just as well, but I used sugar for the first batch)

Wet Ingredients:
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup unsweetened applesauce (takes the place of oil and milk)
If I were using honey, it would be with the wet ingredients. Yes, it matters.

Extras:
¾ Cup finely grated carrot

You’ll see sesame seeds sprinkled on them in the picture, I don’t HAVE a measurement for them. Bri sprinkled them on right before baking.

Mixing and prep:
Shred your carrot and get out your bowls for mixing. You’ll need one for wet and a larger one for the dry. Also get out your muffin tin and paper cups (or grease ten spaces in your tin). This recipe makes ten muffins, be prepared. Preheat your oven to 425 (yes I know it sounds high, trust me).

Combine dry ingredients in the larger bowl. I just piled it all in and mixed it up with a fork (a fork makes it easier to break up the clumps of sugar).

Mix all the wet stuff in the smaller bowl. I beat it till it was a relatively even consistency. (by hand, I don’t have a stand mixer folks)

Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the wet into it. Now you know why I suggested a larger bowl. Combine it all together till pretty well incorporated (a spatula works pretty well for this, and gives you a tool to scrape the bowl later). Dry spots are ok, you do NOT want to overmix this. Fold in the carrots and get ready to measure it out into your muffin tin.

Pour, spoon, measure or somehow get the batter into ten muffin spaces (catapult it if that suits you). I used a serving spoon and just spooned it in ’till we had ten. Pop the tin into the oven (if it’s preheated), and wait 12-14 minutes. My batch took 13.5 minutes according to my timer.

When they’re done, test ’em with a toothpick. You just (gently) stick a toothpick down into the biggest one and pull it out. If you see wet batter, they’re not done. If you see just a few tiny crumbs, you’re ready to take them out to cool. However you can pull that off without burning yourself is fine ( I dig ’em out with a butterknife). Let them cool for about 10 minutes, 20 would be better but Bri has like NO patience where noms are concerned.

Enjoy your tasty healthy awesome muffins!

dracoselene

I'm an artist, writer, ordained interfaith minister, veteran, spiritualist, androgyne, and piles of other labels that never seem to fit. I'm following my passion and attempting to make myself and the world a better place. I think that through compassion and understanding we can all become one unified race of human beings, and life is better when you remember to play.