Muffins are usually a bad choice for the waistline. Harsh, I know, but really they usually pack in hundreds of calories, are full of sugar, oil, shortening, etc. Just really not the healthy choice you think they would be.
Luckily, you can make your own, and make them healthy, like these!
These tasty little muffins are low calorie, low in sugar, low fat, and a great source of fiber! Yay! And they still have that wonderful familiar muffiny taste we all love.
I adapted this recipe from a beautiful blog – Lemons & Anchovies, and made some changes here and there to up the nutritional value. I substituted apple sauce for oil, cut down on the sweetener, and added some pure vanilla extract to make up for the sweetness!
These muffins do have a little more of a savory taste, but are still delicious, so they are great for those who don’t have an overcharged sweet tooth!
These muffins are tasty tasty tasty and just lovely with a teensy-weensy smear of butter… *gasp*
…yes, this nutritionist eats butter, on occasion! Moderation is key, right!?
For all the gluten-freebies out there, this recipe can easily be made GF with the swap of a gluten free flour in place of the whole wheat flour! 🙂
- 1 cup whole wheat flour (or a GF flour)
- 1 cup cooked quinoa
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 3 Tbsp unsweetened applesauce
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- ⅔ cup unsweetened almond milk (or skim milk)
- 1 cup chopped apple
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Whisk together the flour, coconut sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
- Add in the cooked quinoa (allow quinoa to cool if just cooked).
- In a separate bowl combine applesauce, oil, almond milk, and egg, then mix into the dry ingredients.
- Add the apple and pecans to the batter, pour batter into a 12 muffin tin, lightly greased.
- Bake muffins for 20 minutes until lightly browned, then cool on a rack.
- Enjoy!
Christal
I really enjoyed these muffins. It felt weird putting quinoa into muffin batter, but it’s all good. I put walnuts instead, and added some soaked then chopped dates (reduced the sugar a bit). I put half oat flour half whole spelt. I also feel like the muffins can hold even more apples in them. I’ll be making them again for sure.
Btw, I reduced the oven temp, the suggested temp seemed way too high to me.
Hi Tea! Thanks for the comment – these changes sound great! Yes, I find that ovens vary a lot so it’s best to just keep a close eye on your baking while it’s in there!
Thanks!
Just made these muffins yesterday – they were so delicious I ate 2! I’ll definitely make them again. Just a quick question… In the blog you mentioned using vanilla extract to make up for the sweetness – how much should I use? I made mine without as I didn’t notice until after that it wasn’t in the recipe and they still came out great – but maybe they’d be even yummier with!
just a little, 1/2 tsp! 🙂
How do you think these would turn out without the coconut sugar?
I don’t think they would be sweet enough… they would be kind of savory probably! Why don’t you sub with stevia or honey?
Its me again! ha These look yummy! Was wondering if I can substitute the almond flour for the wheat flour in these? Thank you again for all your help. 🙂
Marsha
Sure! I would do the same thing I mentioned with the other muffins! 🙂
Hi! Can these be made with Quinoa flakes? I use them a lot raw, like in your Apricot & Cashew Energy Bars (instead of oats for my gluten free friend) with total success. Thanks!
Although I haven’t tried it, I’m sure the quinoa flakes would work fine! 🙂
I will give them a try , they look delicious and a great to-go breakfast option.
They are a great breakfast option and muffins usually aren’t! 🙂