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Breakfast

Healthier Homemade Muffins – And Our Story About Them

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These little muffins are so easy to make and taste so good that your little ones will want to eat one batch all in one setting.

Homemade Muffins - Plain Muffins - Featured Muffins - At Home With Zan

But I must tell you my muffins story first. I didn’t grow up eating muffins. However, we did eat similar baked goods in the same shape that we called cakes or buns. And we didn’t eat them for breakfast – they were more of a treat or snack type of food. So the term ‘muffin’ isn’t something I grew up with. Enter college and I became familiar with muffins. But I do like them – especially warm homemade blueberry lemon muffins. Tastes so good! I’m not real big on ready-made kind. In fact, I’m not really big on any kind of ready-made foods. But that’s a different story.

As far as the rest of the family goes, hubby is used to muffins. The kids all seem to enjoy them now – two of them only like the plain ones. In the past, I only knew that one of our kids liked an occasional muffin (our eldest 7) but then our second started eating one here and there if it was made plain. When our 3 year old tried it plain, he liked it too (I was kind of surprised though as he does not like sweet baked goods). Realizing that they all seemed to enjoy plain muffins I thought I would include it in the breakfast menu. I started off making plain ones weekly for a few weeks, sometimes plain and blueberry for variation. Then as I considered my own upbringing, I thought to myself, “how is it that so many breakfast foods have sugar in them?” Hmm… sugar in muffins, breads, pancakes, waffles, french toast, etc. You name them. All of the breakfast delicacies tend to have an amount of sugar whether big or small. That too is new to me. Sugar in foods were only included in desserts as far as I remember.

And in this next photo the spots on the towel are crumbs from the muffin. Just saying. . .

Homemade Plain Muffins - At Home With Zan-

Then again, I remind myself that it is a cultural thing. But in attempt to cut down on the large consumption of sugary breakfast foods, I decided to take off muffins from the weekly menu (remember I only had it there for a few weeks). Instead, we tend to have it for a snack and an occasional quick breakfast.

Here is the thing though, at first I started making them with regular ingredients but I have been substituting regular white sugar for Pure or Organic Cane Sugar and cutting down on All-Purpose Flour by mixing it with White Whole Wheat flour. And while this may not seem like the most healthiest, it is quite healthier than the refined white sugar version. You’ll notice that the recipe below is not loaded with refined and processed ingredients. I was concerned that the kids will note the difference in taste (with the white whole wheat). I think they might have but it was not too significant to change the taste completely.

I know there are other substitutions such as apple sauce, almond milk (I’ve actually tried it in muffins), different flour variations, etc. to create even super healthier versions of muffins but for now, we kinda like this version. Recently, I used some Greek Yogurt in a batch and it tasted great. I only started with a little though but I do want to try some more variations and substitutions to see how we’d like them.

Homemade Plain Muffins - At Home With Zan

When I served muffins for breakfast I used to make them on the morning off. Because after all, nothing like a warm baked muffin straight from the oven. Albeit, in order to get breakfast on the table earlier rather than later (because we homeschool) there’s that one time I told myself I would make them the evening before. Well as you can imagine one kid started talking about how she smelled muffins. I gave her a little talk that they WERE for breakfast and not for after dinner. I tried to be firm but I got to admit that the muffins did look too good to pass up. I don’t remember if we ate one or two just to taste but I know that I myself wanted to eat one. Another time as the kids were busy playing on a Saturday I was doing some baking and I made a batch of muffins to freez for later. Well the kids of course caught on. You just can’t hide the smell of muffins from them. They ate the entire batch – well almost. I think it might have been the same afore-mentioned kid who first caught on. I gave each of them one hoping that they would be satisfied. To my disappointment our 3 year old son kept asking “more muffins please.” Before I knew it half the muffins were gone. Then three quarter. I just couldn’t give him 2 and 3 and the give the girls one. Eventually I gave up and just made another batch. By then they had enough to even ask for more. And of course, I gave them another talk that this second batch was not to be eaten right away. So that I threw in the freezer. I must admit, those things were good. Really good. Now when I make muffins ahead I make at least 2 to 3 batches. Cause ain’t no kid gonna eat all the make-ahead muffins this time. No Sir! And it made me wonder if our parents made extra batches of baked goods because they knew we’d want to eat some of it right away?

Homemade Muffins - Plain Muffins - Featured Muffins - At Home With Zan

OK, now unto the recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 3/4  cups White Wheat Flour
  • 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup Cane Sugar (pure or organic)
  • 1/2 cup butter or canola oil
  • 1 whole egg (organic)
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan and set it aside. Mix sugar and the wet ingredients together in a bowl. Set aside. Mix the other dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix thoroughly just until combined. Pour a 1/4 of the mix into each cup. Bake 12 minutes or until done. Oven times may vary. Allow muffins to cool in pan until easy to remove. Allow to finish cooling on a wire rack.
  • Note: For a 6 cup muffin pan simply divide the batter among the cups. Muffins can be frozen by placing in a food safe freezer bag. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight or heat up in a microwave for about 30 seconds.

Homemade Muffins - Plain Muffins - At Home With Zan

Do you have a muffin story to tell too? Are muffins a breakfast food in your area? Let us know in the comments below.

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