24 January 2013

Healthy Breakfast Muffins

A super healthy 'pumpkin spice' muffin recipe. These delicious little cakes look & taste like tempting comfort food, but with none of the guilt & calories. 


Lets face it on a cold snowy morning all you want is an extra 10 minutes in bed, with a batch of these sitting safely in your kitchen you can stay under the covers a tiny bit longer knowing that a nutritious breakfast awaits you.

If you have a couple of minutes to spare pop one in the oven or microwave to warm it up slightly for an extra dose of winter comfort.

I took my inspiration from this Martha Stewart recipe to get a rough idea of the quantities. But I basically added in whatever took my fancy (cutting out some of the more unhealthy ingredients along the way).


As a muffins go these are very nutritious, but if your feeling ultra healthy there are a few more swaps you could do to make it a completely guilt free treat!
If you're concerned about the sugar use Truvia, (a brand of Stevia in the UK) an all natural herbal sweetener with none of the nasties you find in artificial sweetners.
Or if you want to pop a muffin in your gym bag for a post workout snack, substitute some of the flour (about a 1/4) for vanilla or natural flavoured protein powder.

Pumpkin makes a great fat substitute in baking, if you have a look at the ingredients, theres just one tablespoon of coconut oil & no butter. The pureed pumpkin makes up almost half of the total ingredients.
Pumpkins are packed full of beta-carotene a powerful antioxidant that helps protect against cancer, vitamins A, C, E which are great for your skin & are also super low calorie.
You can buy tinned pumpkin from Waitrose & Wholefoods in the UK.

The other superfood ingredients hiding in this recipe are the maple syrup (antioxidant powerhouse & stabilises blood sugar), cinnamon (lowers cholesterol, anti clotting effect on the blood & many many more), ginger (anti-inflammatory), greek yoghurt (packed full of protein), coconut oil (just about every health benefit you can think of, read about it here!) & nuts & seeds (contain protein & lots of vitamins & minerals).

To make 12 medium sized muffins -

180g wholemeal spelt flour
4 tablespoons oats
100g soft brown sugar
250g pumpkin puree 
3 tablespoons maple syrup
2 eggs
125ml greek yoghurt
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
handful each of dried cranberries, chopped walnuts & pumpkin seeds

Simply mix the wet ingredients together then add them to the dry ingredients. Add the chopped nuts, berries & seeds, mix it all together.


Spoon into the muffin cases & top with a few pumpkin seeds & a sprinkling of demerara sugar.



Cook at 200 C for 15-20 minutes.

Once your kitchen is filled with a delicious warm spicy scent, have a look at them, they should have risen & have a light golden crust on top.

There you go, a low GI, low fat breakfast ready for the rest of your week. 
Each muffin should come in at around 200kcals & less than 5g of fat. SO much better for you than something like a Starbucks 'rise & shine' muffin, which looks very similar but contains 425kcals & 24g of fat.

Harriet x


2 comments:

  1. Writing out the ingredients list as I speak ! Will let you know how I get on, these sound like pure divine, guilt free goodness !!! M xo

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    1. They make your house smell INCREDIBLE as well. Next time I might add some apple puree or chocolate chips, so go with whatever extras you like!x

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