Saturday, February 5, 2011

Chocolate Cherry Oatbran Muffins


Chocolate and cherries - a timeless classic winning combination.  It does not fail to please in this amazingly healthy muffin.  Show me any other muffin that uses a mere 1 tsp. sugar plus 1 tsp. fat and delivers this kind of satisfaction and you will have my utmost admiration!  One word comes to mind as I enjoy this with my morning cup of organic english breakfast tea: Superb!

Ingredients
1 cup oatbran
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup almond flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 tbsp. + 2 teaspoons cocoa powder
2 tbsp. + 2 teaspoons ground golden flaxseed

2/3 cup unsweetened soy milk
2 tbsp. + 2 teaspoons agave syrup
2 tbsp. + 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup (more or less - see instructions) Kiju mango/orange juice
1 cup bing cherries (chopped small pieces)
organic sugar (1/4 teaspoon per muffin sprinkled on top)

Instructions
Mix the first 7 dry ingredients together in a large bowl.  Mix the milk, syrup, olive oil and juice together in a 2 cup measure.  These combination of liquids should total 1 1/2 cup -- if you are short --- add a little more juice till you have the required amount. Mix the liquid into your dry ingredients. Now fold in your cherries. See the following paragraph for how I prepare my cherries before using them in baking.

I buy canned bing cherries - rinse and drain them.  Then freeze in a container. I then slice the frozen cherries into nice small pieces so that they are incorporated evenly throughout the batter (smaller pieces tend not to sink to the bottom of your muffin).  Use about 1 cup for this recipe.

Put 1/4 cup batter into each prepared muffin cup (I am back to using the If You Care Muffin Liners as they are reformulated and are again perfect for releasing low fat muffins).

Sprinkle each muffin with 1/4 teaspoon of organic white sugar (optional - but it does add a nice touch). If you figure it out these muffins are very low fat and very low sugar.  Approximately 3/4 teaspoon of each per muffin when you make 11.  The extra 1/4 teaspoon makes it approximately 1 teaspoon per muffin - well worth the little sprinkle! Enlarge the photo and you will see that the sugar creates a crunchy & sparkly topping that looks and tastes yummy.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 16-18 minutes. Made 11 muffins @ 1/4 cup batter per muffin.

2 comments:

  1. this combination of chocolate and cherries sounds delicious, and i love that they are low in sugar. can't wait to make some for my kids!

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  2. I hope they work out for you - let me know. I love them. I was amazed at how little sugar you can actually get away with. Has given me the courage to start slashing sugar in more recipes! These freeze well - thaw out and even a minute or two in the toaster oven works well to give them that fresh out of the oven flavor. I mention the toaster oven as I know many people do not favor the use of a microwave. I do use - but not often. I prefer to heat my food on the stove - I personally find food tastes better heated the old fashioned way.

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