'Light' Cranberry Orange Muffins

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'Light' Cranberry Orange Muffins

So I made this recipe for my Mom's birthday, as a treat she could have that would fit her diet- which is in place for medical reasons. But I love them too because, really, who doesn't want to eat muffins without the 'muffin top' appearing on their waist immediately after?

So I took my favorite cranberry orange bread recipe and tailored it to meet my needs. The original is here:
http://oceanspray.com/Recipes/Corporate/Breads---Muffins/Classic-Cranberry-Nut-Bread.aspx?courses=BreadsMuffins

As I continue to bake, I have learned there are a ton of substitutions for things if your missing something, and also healthier versions of almost everything. I pretty much just pulled out all the stops here to come up with something that fit for me. Swapping splenda for sugar, egg whites for egg, apple sauce for shortening, and fresh orange juice for bottled- which often has added sugar. You could easily make this even healthier by subbing in whole wheat flour, or one cup whole wheat, one cup all purpose. whole wheat flour makes the muffins a little more hearty, but I didn't go that route because my mother is a staunch believer in white flour, white rice, white pasta. Growing up italian means lots of carbs, and changing recipes is a sin. therefore, anything "healthified" with whole grains- unless specified in the original recipe hand written by a little italian mamma in italy- is unacceptable.

In the name of health though, almond flour, soy flour, whole wheat flour or oat flour might be good options? you may need to tweak the amount of leavening agents (baking powder and soda) to get the right amount of fluff though.

I also do want to note that unless you have a health reason, using a whole egg rather than egg whites wont add many calories/fat and the yolk does help to keep the muffins tender.

Here's how I did it:

2 cups All purpose flour
1 cup splenda
1/4 cup egg whites
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs natural unsweetened apple sauce
1 Tbs vanilla extract
2 fresh squeezed oranges
Zest of 2 whole oranges
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped- (if frozen make sure they do not have added sugar)

directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Mix all dry ingredients, and all wet ingredients separately. Add wet ingredients to dry- the dough may 'fizz' . this is normal, it's because of adding the orange juice to the baking soda.  stir all ingredients together. add in cranberries, if using frozen, stirring them in frozen is just fine.

3. In greased muffin tins, or using muffin baking cups, add dough to the tins so that each muffin tin is about 3/4 way full. bake muffins for 10- 15 min or until golden brown and tooth pick comes out clean. keep in mind- when using splenda things may not brown as much as they normally would and may also bake a little faster so keep an eye on them. If you like sugar on top of your muffins, sprinkle each muffin with a bit of sugar (the real stuff, not splenda, it won't work) with about 5 minutes remaining on their bake time.

4. Remove from tins and allow to cool, but only enough so that they won't burn your mouth. slather with butter (not healthy... but somethings simply can not be replaced) and devour.

Oh.. also, while you binge on muffins, don't feel bad. Each muffin has approximately 87 calories, 2.5 grams of sugar, and is fat free! slathering with butter/etc will add to this amount.. but really? with only 87 calories per muffin go ahead and eat a whole stick of butter with it if you want!


Enjoy!!