Healthy Muffins

I've not been doing very well on my diet. To be honest, I fell off it ages ago. I lost about half a stone, then put it all back on again.

Sigh.

But I really must shed some weight. I'm not comfortable being this size, and I've gone and put my name down to do the Great South Run again, so I

really

MUST

diet!

But I can't do without cake, I simply can't! Luckily I have a recipe that will help, a healthy muffin packed full of goodness that will satisfy my cake cravings without doing too much damage.

 

 

Ingredients

 

100g Plain Flour

100g Wholemeal Flour

170g Demerara Sugar

100g chopped Walnuts

100g Sultanas

250g Carrots (approx. 3 medium)

1 Apple

2 large Eggs

125ml Low-fat Yoghurt (I just use whatever flavour I have in the fridge ~ today was apricot!)

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Salt

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

 

Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / Gas 4

 

Line a tin with fairy cake cases.

 

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt into a bowl. Grate the carrot and mix it well into the dry ingredients, then add the walnuts and sultanas.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, yoghurt, and vanilla extract. Peel and core the apple then grate it into the egg mixture and give it a good stir.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until combined, it doesn't look like it will ever mix properly but don't worry, it will!

Fill each cake case with approx. 1 heaped tablespoonful of mixture and bake for approx. 25 mins.

 

This recipe makes 24 small muffins that are packed full of healthy ingredients and give a really satisfying bite, and they're only 119 calories each. If you want to make larger muffin-sized muffins then by all means do so, you'll need to increase the cooking time by about 5 minutes and obviously the calorie count will be doubled.

 

These muffins freeze well, and defrost in the microwave in about a minute on full power. Due to the incredibly low fat content (most of the fat is contained within the walnuts!) they do tend to stick to the paper cases but careful peeling deals with that nicely.

 

As with all my recipes, I've added the info to My Fitness Pal for those of you who like to count their calories.

 

Don't forget to comment on my blogiversary giveaway post to be in with a chance of winning a surprise goodie pack!