Thursday, 15 September 2011

Recipes: Blueberry Apple Mini-Muffins!

So these are pretty amazing.
Muffins- you might think, these delicious, huge breakfast-type delights, filled with things such as fruit, what could be the harm? Let me tell you my friends. A HUGE amount of calories and fat. The average muffin at your local Tim Hortons will run you anywhere from 400-500 calories, and between 13-23 grams of fat!! Basically, stay away from the muffin man.

Not that I was ever a huge muffin person, I do enjoy treat-like things. As I cannot eat wheat or dairy, muffins were usually out of the question. Until I got creative!
Here is the recipe for the DELICIOUS (my taste-testers will vouch for this) mini muffins. So moist and delicious, virtually FAT-FREE, and you get to eat multiple, without any guilt!!

Ingredients:
  • 1 Cup Flour * (see below)
  • 1/2 Cup Unsweetened Applesauce
  • 1/2 Cup Apricot Purée (I buy the jarred baby food variety)
  • 1 Medium Banana, Peeled and Mashed
  • 1 Cup Blueberries
  • 1/2 Tsp Cinnamon
  • 1/2 Tsp Salt
  • 1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
  • 3-5 packets of Stevia
What you'll need:
  • Mini Muffin Baking Trays
  • Mini Muffin Silicone Tray Liners
  • Mixing Bowl
  • Spoon
*For the flour, of course you can use any type you prefer, but as I have wheat allergies, I choose to use either "Bob's Red Mill" brand "All purpose baking flour- Gluten Free" or the same brand carries a great Quinoa Flour. These two varieties of flour contain only 1 gram of fat and 100 calories/serving, so the points described for the recipe are based on the calories associated with these two flour varieties.

Preheat oven to 375 F (this can vary from oven to oven, I usually tend to cook at a bit higher temperature myself, around 400 F.)
Mix your dry ingredients first: your flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and stevia in a bowl. 
Mix in your apricot purée, applesauce, mashed banana, and blueberries. 
Mix together well, and evenly disperse the (delicious, trust me) batter in the muffin liners.
There should be enough batter for 24 mini-muffins.
Place in the oven for 15 minutes.

*NOTE* The time that this takes varies greatly, sometimes I'll turn my oven off after 15 minutes and let them sit in there for a while longer. The reason being is that there is applesauce instead of any butter, or oil,  or eggs. It takes a bit longer than normal muffins to stick together, but it will.
Just continuously poke the muffins with a knife, until the knife comes out clean. When it does, you know its ready.
You do not HAVE to use the silicone muffin tray liners, but I find that you can (carefully) peel them off of the muffin, and they come out MUCH better than the paper variety which likes to take a chunk of your mouth watering muffin off with it! 
I have 2 mini muffin trays (12 per tray) and a package of the silicone muffin liners, both from a store called "Ming-Wo" in Capilano Mall in North Vancouver. This place has tons of great cooking gadgets! Although Im sure you could get these things in most cooking stores. Keep in mind you COULD if you wish make 12 regular sized muffins instead of 24 mini ones, I just prefer quantity :)

Now, for the juicy details:
Yields: 24 Mini-Muffins
Points Per: 2 Mini-muffins..... ONE POINT! yes thats 1 point.(around 50 cals) And if you choose to make 12 regular size muffins, its 1 point each :) Non-Fat, Fruit Filled, Healthy, What else could you ask for?  
(Did I mention two mini muffins for one point??!!)


Hope you guys like these! Try them out and let me know what you think! Have a great night :)

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