A Heathly Breakfast Muffin

Majority of muffins that are sold in grocery stores and coffee shops should not be considered a suitable breakfast food. They are closer to a cupcake without frosting, and some of them even have frosting! I'm on the hunt to create a recipe for a breakfast muffin that is healthy AND good for you. I've had three tries so far, and I think I've almost got it.

Blueberry bran muffins by Lucinda Scala Quinn's cookbook Mad Hungry. I love this cookbook, I bought it a couple weeks ago and have already made several things out of it. The entire book is about making good, wholesome food and bringing families together. In this recipe she uses maple syrup to cut down on plain sugar needed, and the addition of wheat bran or germ adds fiber. When I made them they were very moist, but not too sweet. Just make sure not to use old frozen berries like I did and they'd be delicious.

Banana breakfast muffins were a complete invention of mine. Adding banana to anything breakfast is great because they have so many good nutrients, add healthy sugars, and make baked goods moist. These muffins were just a bit too hearty. I used whole wheat flour and wheat germ (which I've decided has a very strong flavor and should only be used in small amounts and it should always be toasted first). I used all the old bananas I had in the fruit basket (2-3) and honey as a natural sugar so I didn't have to use too much plain sugar. And just a bit of lemon juice to react with the baking soda since I used regular milk and not buttermilk (my favorite).

And the best of all three, my healthy breakfast muffins. The recipe was a combination of several different ones on MarthaStewart.com, and some things I threw in all on my own. The first additive was ground almonds mixed with whole wheat flour and regular flour. There were mashed bananas and honey and some buttermilk. The topping was a regular streuselwith brown sugar, oats, and butter. Next time I'll add just a bit more warm spices, and they have to be eaten the day they're made otherwise the topping gets soggy from the moist muffin. But these are healthy, hearty, and will give you a great start to your day.