Baking Healthy-Day 1

My hubby and I are dedicated to changing the way we eat, and being more conscious of what we put in our mouths. This has been an on going process for our family for about a year now,  but it's terribly hard when you're a baker to cut out the sugars and white flour. I mean I have to taste my work!

Any who, I've started hitting the pavement working out about two months now, and I've lost almost 8 lbs. Not bad right? But I know I can do better, so this week, I've been in a baking frenzy looking up healthy baking recipes, and came across a recipe from Eatingwell.com called Strawberry-Orange Muffins. 203 calories, 4 grams of protein, 9 grams fat, sounded good to me.

 

I've decided to change a few things with the recipe to make it more "healthy". Instead of using the all purpose flour I decided to use all whole wheat flour, and replaced half the brown sugar with stevia (Truvia brand). 

Results: Took a taste of the first muffin freshly out of the oven and instant reaction was, I didn't like it. The topping was bit salty to me and the orange zest with the strawberries I wasn't much a fan of. Now, the next day? MUCH BETTER. Once the flavors were able to meld and come together, these little muffins were scrumptious. Popped one of those babies in the oven, cut it open and put a pat of margarine on top, yum yum. I still wanted a bit of more sweetness to balance out the somewhat salty topping so I put a teaspoon of honey on top and it worked beautifully.

Strawberry-Orange Muffins

from www.eatwell.com

1 dozen muffins

Active Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons almonds
• 2 tablespoons plus 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, divided
• 2 tablespoons plus 1/2 cup brown sugar, divided
• 3 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest, divided (see Variation)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
• 2 tablespoons plus 1/4 cup canola oil, divided
• 1 cup white whole-wheat flour , or whole-wheat pastry flour (see Note)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup nonfat or low-fat buttermilk
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups chopped fresh or frozen (not thawed) strawberries , (about 8 ounces)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.
2. Process almonds, 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 teaspoon orange zest and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a food processor until finely ground. Transfer to a small bowl, drizzle with 2 tablespoons oil and stir to combine.
3. Whisk the remaining 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Whisk the remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 teaspoons orange zest and 1/4 cup oil in a medium bowl with buttermilk, orange juice, egg and vanilla extract until well combined. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients; stir until just combined. Add strawberries; stir just to combine. Divide the batter among the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle with the almond topping, gently pressing into the batter.
4. Bake the muffins until golden brown and a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool for at least 5 minutes more before serving. Variation: For Strawberry-Basil Muffins, omit orange zest and use 1/4 cup additional buttermilk in place of orange juice. Stir in 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil with the berries in Step 3.

Nutrition

Per muffin: 203 calories; 9 g fat ( 1 g sat , 5 g mono ); 18 mg cholesterol; 28 g carbohydrates; 4 g protein; 2 g fiber; 314 mg sodium; 88 mg potassium.