I like making my own muffins for a variety of reasons:
A) they make an easy on-the-go snack
B) they are easy to freeze
C) they are a good vehicle for fruits and veggies
D) my kids eat them
E) I’ll stop now (let me know your Es in the comments)
This recipe comes from Erin at 5 Dollar Dinners. I usually make banana muffins but decided to go veggie and recently tried zucchini and butternut squash. They were yummy.
This time making them I experimented a bit. With the zucchini muffins, I used all whole wheat flour but for the squash, I used half white and half wheat. I think the half and half ones turned out better because they were a bit moister.
I also cut back a little on the sugar and added some flax meal. I left some room at the top of the third cup of sugar and filled it in with flax meal. That is optional of course.
These are great to get creative with. Enjoy!
- 1 cup flour (1/2 cup whole and ½ cup white)
- 3 T canola oil (to double the recipe try 3 Tbsp applesauce and 3 Tbsp canola oil)
- ⅓ cup sugar (replace some with flax meal - optional)
- 2 eggs
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup mashed or grated fruit or veggie (mashed banana, grated apple, peeled and grated zucchini or carrots, steamed butternut squash or any other fruit or veggie)
- ½ cup chopped nuts (optional)
- Preheat oven to 350.
- In a bowl, combine eggs, oil, sugar, and mashed fruit or veggie. Mix well.
- Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon.
- Mix until it forms into the batter. Can use hand mixer beaters. Add nuts if you like.
- Mini muffins: Bake 8-10 minutes. Regular muffins: Bake 15-20 minutes. Tops will turn golden.
For more easy recipes and tips on how to serve meals to kids, check out Maryann’s book The Family Dinner Solution: How to Create a Rotation of Dinner Meals Your Family Will Love
This looks great! I just made carrot muffins and they only have 1/2 C sugar, but I like this with 1/3 C sugar. Hope you’ll come link up to No Whine Wednesdays – this would be a great recipe!
http://blog.foodonthetable.com/2010/08/no-whine-wednesday-jammin-with-salmon/
I am not the best cook but I just made two batches of these today and they came out wonderfully! The recipe was so easy that I was able to make them with my son (who is three). I made one batch with blueberries and one with apple and banana. Delicious!! I am going to try veggie ones once these are all scoffed 🙂 Thanks!
Glad they turned out Jackie!
I love those simple muffins and breads for all of your reasons as well. My son gobbles them up (as do myself and my husband). I haven’t tried butternut squash or carrots before. I will have to do that. I have made muffins with mashed banana, strawberry, and blueberry before. Those were FANTASTIC!
More reasons why muffins are awesome:
They’re almost cupcakes, but can be really healthy (read = guiltless).
Can be made one day and still taste and feel fresh the next day. Makes for an awesome breakfast that’s on the table in no time.
I made zucchini muffins yesterday also! 🙂 I find that you can usually squeeze a lot more veggies into the recipe than it calls for. The recipe I use is twice this big, but for it I use a banana and four cups zucchini. That’s a lot of veggies to hide in a snack! 🙂 Like you said, I also think the 50% white/50% wheat flour mixture works best. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Rebecca. I often add more fruits and veggies than called for in recipes. Will try it next time I make these!
I made these using your ground flax seed trick and half whole wheat and half all purpose flour. I used zucchini as the vegetable and I devored them! I made a second batch with zucchini and carrots and added cocoa powder and a small handful of chocolate chips. These turned out amazing. I will definitely keep this recipe!
They sound yummy. I’m definitely going to give this a try. Thanks for sharing!
Just made it with Apple, zucchini, beet, carrots and broccoli. I added few chocolate chips and turned out awesome! My 2 year old loved it. Thank you for sharing.