Healthy (and low calorie!) Apple Oatmeal Breakfast Muffin

I found this recipe one day while browsing on cookpad. It caught my eye since I wanted to eat more oatmeal for breakfast, but I didn't want to just eat plain oatmeal, and the recipe does not utilize any oil, which is also something I was looking for. The recipe also uses unsweetened almond milk as the liquid base, which was perfect since there's almost always some homemade unsweetened almond milk in the fridge. I modified the recipe by reducing the sugar and substituting dark chocolate chips for sweetness (who doesn't love chocolate chips in place of sugar?!) and adding flax and chia seeds for extra protein. The muffins are on the chewier side (due to using applesauce as substitute for oil), but still very tasty. Plus all the health benefits and low calorie makes this a great guilt-free breakfast pastry, which is just the perfect way to start the day. If you come by my house, there will usually always be a few of these in the freezer for tomorrow's breakfast.


INGREDIENTS:

• 1 Cup Old Fashioned rolled oats
• 1 Cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1 Cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 Cup brown sugar*
• 1/2 Cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 egg whites
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon 
• 72g (1/2C) Dark Chocolate chips  
• 1T Flaxseed
• 1T Chia seeds

*The original recipe calls for 1/2C of brown sugar. If you like the sweetness of store-bought pastries, then go for the 1/2C sugar ratio. I find almost all store-bought pastries to be overly sweet, so the 1/4C ratio is perfect for my liking. Please adjust to your taste.


INSTRUCTIONS 
(makes 14 muffins)

1. Soak oats in almond milk for at least one hour. I usually soak mine overnight in the fridge.
2.  Preheat oven to 350°F
3.  Add the pre-soaked oats to a mixing bowl with all the other ingredients and mix until everything is combined. Make sure the egg whites are thoroughly incorporated into the mix (or you will end up with white streaks of egg white in the final muffin). 
4. Coat muffin liner with nonstick cooking spray. (This step is very important as the muffins have no oil and will be very difficult to remove from the liner later on)
5. Spoon mixture into pan by the rounded tablespoon.
6. Bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
7. Allow muffins to cool and serve!

Soak 1 Cup of Oats in 1 Cup almond milk for at least 1 hour

Add all the ingredients to a mixing bowl and mix together with spatula

Line muffin pan with cupcake liners and spray with nonstick cooking spray

Drop batter by the tablespoon into each muffin liner. Bake 17 minutes at 350F until toothpick comes out clean. Once you can touch the muffins without burning your hands, remove them from the muffin pan and allow to cool completely. 

Another thing I started using recently was parchment paper liners instead of regular cupcake liners. These are awesome! If you use these, you don't need to pre-grease the liners, and the muffins come right off. Even healthier since no oil is used at all!

Once the muffins have cooled, remove them from the liners and wrap each one individually with seran wrap and send the ones you are not eating right away straight to the freezer. Because these are homemade and contain no preservatives, they WILL go bad within a day if not frozen (or maybe because I live in hot and humid Houston). I have to throw away some because I kept them out too long. Usually right before bed I'll take out a frozen one to let it thaw overnight, then in the morning I'll grab one for breakfast before work. If you forget to thaw overnight, you can also heat for 1 minute in the microwave before eating as well. Yum! Try these for a healthy breakfast item (or even an afternoon snack).

Nutrition (Based on 1/4C sugar)

Serving Size = 1 Muffin 

Calories 115 | Total Fat 4.3g | Sat Fat 1.2g | Sodium 27.5mg | Carb 17.8g | Fiber 2.6g | Sugars 7.2g | Protein 3.5g