Chock Full of Healthy Muffins

 Chock Full of Healthy Muffins

This week, I came across a recipe I just had to try.  Despite the fact this recipe does call for a LOT of ingredients, I had all the ingredients on hand.  I love that!  The recipe comes from a blog called "Vanderbilt Wife" and the link for the original recipe can be found HERE.  I stirred together this batter after making some Christmas cookie dough, which also has a ton of ingredients.  As I was assembling the wet ingredients for the muffins, I kept thinking it looked like there would not been enough moisture.  The dough came together okay but it wasn't until I had the muffins in the oven that I realized I left out two of the wet ingredients... honey and maple syrup! Doh!   Of course the muffins came out less sweet than I would have liked but thankfully, the Christmas cookies I made this holiday weekend called for some lemony icing.  Icing to the rescue!   

Chock Full of Healthy Muffins (from www.vanderbiltwife.com)
1 cup all-purpose, unbleached flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or use all whole wheat, I think it would work fine)
3/4 cup flax seed meal
3/4 cup oat bran
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 T honey
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
2 T melted butter or coconut oil (I think vegetable oil would have worked as well - I used butter)
2 cups shredded carrots (I used 4 carrots)
2 apples, shredded (can peel if you want; I didn't.)
Optional mix-ins: 1/2 cup raisins, 2 T sunflower seeds, and/or 1 cup mixed nuts (I added chopped walnuts)

In one bowl, combine flours, flax seed meal, oat bran, brown sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Whisk to combine.

In another bowl, stir together maple syrup, honey, milk, eggs, vanilla, butter or oil, carrots, apples, and mix-ins.

Add wet ingredients to dry and stir together until just blended. Pour into lined muffin tins. Bake at 350 F for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry.

Makes 18 muffins.
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Since I am at high altitude, I baked my muffins for 14 to 15 minutes and they were done.  They are very moist and tender despite accidentally omitting some wet ingredients.   Since I accidentally left out the honey and maple syrup, I added some icing since my muffins were understandably un-sweet. The icing is made from some sifted powdered sugar, some half-n-half, some lemon extract, and a little drop of yellow food coloring (leftover icing from cookies).  Cream cheese frosting would be awesome on these muffins, but I am certain that the muffins would be awesome (without any icing or frosting) had I followed the directions!

I look forward to making these muffins again someday, without the icing. The name of the recipe is a perfect name for these muffins. Full of vitamins and fiber. Chock Full of Health for sure! Good stuff!



Thankfully I made the icing for these cookies. The lemony icing goes well on the muffins, too!