Eat...healthier muffins

Baked goods, especially the kind that you find in cafes and most supermarkets, are nutritional wolves in sheep's clothing: loaded with trans fats, hyperprocessed carbohydrates and way too much sugar. The average commercially baked muffin can top 400 calories and 20 grams of fat so next time you find yourself looking for a treat? Skip the muffin...if you are going to spend the calories anyways, you might as well have that donut or cookie!


But before you give them up entirely, muffins can be a super healthy and convenient snack or breakfast food when you make them yourself from wholesome ingredients. Muffins are so quick and easy to make...even for a novice baker. In less than an hour, you can have a fresh stock of on-the-go snacks (put half the batch in the freezer for later!).  Friday night I tried this Banana Muffin recipe created by Ann Barnes, author of Be a Better Being and co-owner of the company Mum's Original Hemp. Since the recipe wasn't featured on their website, I asked to share it on mine! 


If you like the recipe, Ann has lots of great recipes using hemp and Salba on her own site.


What makes these so healthy? First things first, by making 24 muffins you will be making muffins of an appropriate serving size...avoiding the giant carbo-load of cafe muffins. This recipe also uses whole wheat flour, higher in fibre and nutrients than white flour. Using bananas and yogurt allows for less fat in the recipe, while retaining an exceptionally moist texture. Finally, the start of the show is hemp hearts, loaded with anti-inflammatory omega 3 fatty acids and plant based protein. Hope you love the recipe!


Recipe


Mum's Banana Muffins
(shared with permission)


Ingredients


2 cups all purpose whole wheat flour
11/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 overripe bananas
1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup plain yogurt
2 eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup Mum's Original Organic Hemp Hearts


Method


1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and lightly butter 2 muffin tins and set them aside.
2. In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.
3. Mash 2 of the bananas with a fork in a small bowl so they remain slightly lumpy.
4. In another bowl, whip last 2 bananas with sugar for 3 minutes with an electric hand mixer until smooth.
5. Add the melted butter, eggs, yogurt and vanilla to the banana sugar mixture and beat well, scraping sides of bowl once or twice.
6. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until just incorporated taking care not to overmix (15-20 strokes is a good rule of thumb!).
7. Fold in hemp hearts and mashed bananas with a rubber spatula.
8. Spoon batter into muffin tins, filling halfway and rap tins on counter to remove air bubbles.
9. Sprinkle a few hemp hearts on top of muffins before baking 18 to 20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool slightly before removing muffins from tins to cool completely.


Desiree's tip: if you like ginger, I added 1/2 cup of chopped crystallized ginger with the hemp hearts and banana! Chopped walnut would also be amazing...if you come up with any other additions that work well - please share!


In good health, 
Desiree