Healthy Cranberry Walnut Muffins

Paramela's Note:

We love these, especially in the fall! Though they're good anytime -- I usually throw a few bags of fresh cranberries in the freezer during the fall, so we can enjoy them year-round. Warning, this makes a large batch of muffins, usually about 18 for me, so make sure you have enough muffin tins on hand.

• Total Time: 55 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 35 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 18 muffins

• 3 cups rolled oats
• ¾ cup flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ cups cranberries , chopped
• ½ cup walnuts , chopped
• 1 cup plain yogurt (I use fat-free)
• ½ cup applesauce (I use the no sugar added type)
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. Mix the first six ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
3. Then mix the last six ingredients in a separate, smaller mixing bowl.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir just until it's all moistened.
5. Grease muffin pans or insert liners.
6. Place a large spoonful of the mix in each muffin cup -- these don't rise very much, so I usually fill them about 3/4 to almost completely full.
7. Bake at 350° for about 35 minutes.

Reviews

[AprilShowers]

These turned out really dense - more like baked oatmeal (if you've had that before) than like a muffin. Texture was weird for the kids, so they did not eat these. I liked them pretty well when I warmed them and served with fat free half and half one morning for breakfast. I halved the recipe and it made 12 regular muffins, although they do not rise, so they were somewhat short. Flavor was pretty good, just the texture was unexpected.

[Chef #612801]

These are absolutely delicious. So healthy and robust, and the flavor is just perfect. We fill a large 6-muffin tin to the brim with this recipe, instead of yielding 18. And when fresh cranberries aren't available, we've used frozen blackberries or mixed fruit (blueberries esp) -- either thawed or still frozen -- and that works out great.