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Low-fat Blueberry Muffins cooling on granite countertop |
On a cold winter day, there's nothing better than warm homemade muffins just out of the stove. I found this recipe, now a favorite, in
Cooking Light Magazine
.
Low-fat plain, organic yogurt replaces oil, reducing fat and adding protein. They are moist and delicious. Since my son doesn't like blueberries, I split the batter and add blueberries (loaded with antioxidants) to half of the batter and dark chocolate chips to the other half. We all enjoyed a nutritious muffin for breakfast, and for a mid-afternoon snack with a cup of coffee. I made them in my favorite
nonstick muffin tin
. These are wonderful to bake on a snow day, or to bring to a friend. I brought a bunch to my nephews who enjoyed them with tall glasses of milk.
Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup Stonyfield organic plain yogurt
2 organic eggs
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon lemon zest grated (optional)
1 cup blueberries
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spray muffin tin with cooking spray (or use cupcake liners, as I did). In small mixing bowl, sift together flour and baking soda. In another bowl, combine sugar, yogurt, eggs, butter, cinnamon and lemon zest. Beat until thoroughly combined. Add dry ingredients and mix until just blended. Be careful not to overmix. Gently fold in blueberries and spoon the batter into the muffin tins, filling each cup 2/3 full. Bake for 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before serving. Makes 12 muffins.
I sprinkled muffins with Wilton yellow
sparkling sugar 
to give them a golden sparkle and a little extra sweetness.
for spritz cookies. It is basically a batter for butter cookies. The batter is then placed in a cookie press
. Now, nearly 19 years later, a heart-shaped brownie is our Valentine's Day dessert....following pale pink, heart-shaped raviolis with pink vodka sauce. This Valentine's meal, by candlelight in the dining room, has become a tradition in our family. Tonight we listened to Andrea Boccelli
, which was perfect.
. Incorporate dry ingredients separately in a big bowl. First break up the walnuts by hand and cut the craisins in thirds - less likely for the "bars" to fall apart when slicing them from the log formations. Once splatter guards are in place (I recommend them!), spoon the dry mixture into the wet mixture, about a half cup at a time.
, form two 12" by 4" logs. Tip from Mom: lightly coat your hands with flour so the dough doesn't stick to your fingers.
