Addictive Healthy Muffins
"This recipe had come to me through several hands and has no doubt been somewhat modified although I was told the original may have come from Prevention Magazine. These keep very well and freeze beautifully. You will need a food processor to chop the oranges but the rest is done by hand You may have to do some searching in a good market or health food store for some of the ingredients but once you try them you will be glad you too will be addicted."
photo by PaulaG
- Ready In:
- 1hr
- Ingredients:
- 13
- Yields:
-
24 muffins
ingredients
- 1 1⁄2 cups oat bran
- 1 cup all-purpose white flour
- 1 cup wheat bran
- 1 cup ground flax seeds (not whole)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
- 2 navel oranges
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 cup buttermilk (or buttermilk powder and water to equal 1 C)
- 1⁄2 cup canola oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 1⁄2 cups golden raisins
directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line two medium size muffin pans (2-1/2" muffins) with paper muffin cups.
- In medium bowl put all dry ingredients together (except brown sugar) mix together and set aside.
- If using buttermilk powder, add it here and add the water with the wet ingredients.
- Wash and cut the stem end off the oranges.
- Cut into small equal pieces skins and all.
- Put into workbowl of food processor and pulse until pieces are about the size of large raisins.
- Put oranges into a large bowl, add all the wet ingredients and brown sugar.
- Mix together by hand then add in dry ingredients and stir until all are incorporated.
- Allow to stand about 3 minutes then fill each muffin cup to top.
- Each cup will take about 1/4°C These are dense and do not rise much.
- Top off each with any leftover mixture.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, remove from pan to wire rack to cool.
- To freeze; Allow to cool for at least 4 hours, I put 6 in each plastic bag. To reheat, Reheat from frozen state for one minute or thaw at room temperature and reaheat for about 15 seconds. Microwave ovens vary a lot so you may have to modify the time.
- enjoy.
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Reviews
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I used turbinado instead of brown sugar plus a little honey. I didn't have buttermilk so I used regular milk with a little sour cream. I didn't have raisins. I doubled it then split into 3 parts and added chocolate chips to one (pretty good), frozen blueberries and raspberries to one (good), and date chunks and coconut flakes to the third (very good! So yummy, I will only do this one in the future) The doubled recipe made 3 dozen muffins and they took only 28 minutes to cook. -
Check out my review of recipe #81684,which is the same recipe from Prevention. My modification (no flour) makes these muffins tastier and much, much moister. These are a favorite at my home and receive rave reviews when I bring them to brunches or to the office to share. -
eugh. I dont know what i did wrong, but these were so flavourless i couldnt even choke them down. -shudders- -
What I really like about these muffins is their texture. The brans and flax seeds make this very tasty, with a bit of a crunch. I substituted spelt flour for the all-purpose and they turned out fine. I'm happy to have something so healthy and delicious in my freezer. THANKS!! -
The original recipe does not call for using the orange peel--just the orange. I also substitute extra light olive oil (the one recommended for baking) for the oil. And finally, I'm not a big raisin fan, so I like to divide the batter in half substituting dates and walnuts for the raisins in one half and substituting chocolate chips for the raisins in the other half. The chocolate chips help my kids like this otherwise very healthy muffin! Delicious! (These freeze great!)
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Tweaks
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I used turbinado instead of brown sugar plus a little honey. I didn't have buttermilk so I used regular milk with a little sour cream. I didn't have raisins. I doubled it then split into 3 parts and added chocolate chips to one (pretty good), frozen blueberries and raspberries to one (good), and date chunks and coconut flakes to the third (very good! So yummy, I will only do this one in the future) The doubled recipe made 3 dozen muffins and they took only 28 minutes to cook.
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The original recipe does not call for using the orange peel--just the orange. I also substitute extra light olive oil (the one recommended for baking) for the oil. And finally, I'm not a big raisin fan, so I like to divide the batter in half substituting dates and walnuts for the raisins in one half and substituting chocolate chips for the raisins in the other half. The chocolate chips help my kids like this otherwise very healthy muffin! Delicious! (These freeze great!)
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I wasn't expecting these to turn out wonderfully, but they did. They smelled so good in the oven! These are the best healthy muffin recipe I've tried thus far that didn't have banana in it. I did make a few changes. I have tons of in season strawberries, so I replaced the 2 oranges with 3 cups of diced strawberries. It turned out fine. I think I'll try blueberries when they come in season. I also used olive oil for the oil and 1 extra-large egg white in place of the egg. I left out the raisins and added 1 1/2 tsp. nutmeg. They only required 28 minutes in the oven. These are surprisingly moist and as my 2 year-old said, "These are very tasty."
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Fantastic Muffin!! These have a wonderful orangey flavor and are nice and moist and tender. And healthy too? Gotta love it! I made a few subs- I had no oat bran, so I used all wheat bran instead; I subbed whole wheat pastry flour for the white (although I think that you would be fine using regular whole wheat in these too); I used an organic valencia orange rather than a navel (be sure to seed it!); substitued the brown sugar with Sucanat (in essence, organic natural brown sugar) and I didn't have golden rasins on hand, so I used monukka raisins instead (they're just regular black raisins, really, with a fancy name). I flaked and pretty much pureed the orange, but it turned out just fine! Great, great muffins. Next time I will try dried cranberries instead of the raisins, as orange and cranberries go so well together. Maybe add some spices (cinnamon, for sure, would be great in these) or nuts. Perhaps some vanilla extract or orange blossom water (I have a big bottle that I'm trying to use) I followed PaulaG's lead and filled my muffin cups very full, because you're right- these don't rise much. I only got 10 muffins for a half recipe. Really terrific- such a sunny citrus flavor! Oh! I would HIGHLY recommend that anyone who makes this makes it a point to use organic oranges- citrus is one of the foods most highly sprayed with pesticides, and since you're eating the peel in this recipe, you really ought to be careful! Thank you for a great recipe, will make again.
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This is a great little recipe. The only problem I had was that I discovered that I do not like the flavor or texture of oranges in muffins! Oops. I think I will try again with apples and cinnamon instead because the muffin itself is incredible, moist and tasty with lots of healthy stuff inside. The only change I did make was to use natural applesauce instead of oil and the taste and texture was still wonderful.
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