Low Cal Banana Muffins

Yesterday, I had a “nonfat fruit muffin” from Whole Foods and it was gross.  Tough, tasteless, and with only strawberries that were concentrated at the top, I was mad.  Fighting mad.  When I joined Weight Watchers in April, I decided I was going to learn to eat healthily and appropriate portions so I could be healthy and become a skinnier pretty girl.  There was nothing about eating gross muffins in that.  At the end of the day, I love food, and I love baking, and I’m not sacrificing that.  And, having lost 21 pounds (and counting!), I haven’t had to.  It means being creative and working with new and different ingredients, which can be a challenge, and I love a challenge.

So, this morning, I decided to make my own healthy muffins.  Normally, muffins are sneaky.  You think they’re good for you because they have fruit, but really, they are loaded with butter, oil and calories.  Not these bad boys.  Adapted from a weight watchers recipe, they have about 110 calories a piece (2 points for those on the plan).

Preheat oven to 400.  Spray a muffin tin.  I like baker’s joy because it has flour in the spray.

Dry Ingredients:  1 3/4 cups all purpose flour (I use unbleached, because who wants to eat bleach?  yuck-o), 2 tablespoons brown sugar: the difference between brown and white sugar is that brown sugar has molasses (my dad says: “just the asses?  what about the rest of the mole?”), 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg.

Wet Ingredients:  1 cup skim milk, 1 egg, 2 tablespoons applesauce.

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Set aside.  Mix wet ingredients in a small bowl.  Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients.  Then, add in two bananas, mashed up with a fork.

Spoon into muffin tins (secret trick: use a ladle, like for soup), bake 20 to 25 minutes.  Let cool, eat.

These muffins have a lovely texture.  A bit chewier than a regular muffin, but extremely moist.  How are they moist when they have no oil or butter?  The bananas and applesauce.  There are so many fruits and veggies that can make baked goods moist without adding nasty saturated fat.  Other favorites include zuchinni and pumpkin and any member of the berry family.  These aren’t super sweet, but have a delicate, warm flavor due to the cinnamon and nutmeg.

Whole Foods: I hope you’re reading this and can amend your muffin recipe so they actually taste good.  You heard me, I’m calling you out.

Happy July 4th

Hi Everyone,

I am home for July 4th, and while refiling through my parents’ stuff, I came across a copy of “The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book” that belonged to my grandmother.  It is the 1936 edition.  I will most likely steal it, because it has some incredible historical baking recipes.  A true piece of American culinary history.

While I haven’t had a chance to completely go over all the recipes, or make any of them, I wanted to share with everyone their section on “Freezing in Mechanical Refrigerator,” so we will all be grateful for modern technology and remember an important piece of American history on this Independence Day.

FREEZING IN MECHANICAL FREEZER

Consult booklets issued by manufaturers for information about using each make of refrigerator.  Special recipe booklets are usually available.

Be sure the temperature of the refrigerator is sufficiently low for freezing desserts.  The motor may be set correctly for proper refrigeration but not low enough for freezing.  a temperature-control feature allows temporary adjustment.

Mouses, Parfaits, and all desserts which merely require packing in salt and ice can be made in mechnical refrigerators without stirring.  Pack in drawer and leave until firm.

Ice Creams. Recipes which require continuous stirring must be adapted to be successfully made in refrigerator.  For some refrigerators, the proportion of sugar to liquid must be kept low – not more than 1 to 4.  Corn sirup may be substituted for one third of the sugar.  A small amount of gelatine – 1 level teaspoon to each cup of liquid – helps the mixture to freeze more smoothly.

To Pack in the Mechanical Refrigerator. Pack homemade or commercial ice cream in individual molds or paper cups and decorate with fruit, nuts, or whipped cream put on with pastry bag and tube.  Freezing tray or a mold may be lined with ice cream, the center filled with whipped cream, sweetened, flavored, and colored, or decorated with fruits or nuts.  Set molds in the freezing compartment and leave until serving time.

Freezing stuff sure was complicated back in the day.  And “Syrup” was spelled with an “I” everywhere in the book.