Raspberry-Blueberry Muffins

I once heard someone call muffins "cupcakes without frosting." I wanted to flag them down, jump in front of them with all of my muffin recipes and beg them to reconsider. It's true that many store-bought muffins are, indeed, basically cupcakes being sold as a breakfast food. The amount of sugar in some of those things will make most nutritionists and healthy foodies shudder. But I firmly believe that muffins don't have to be like cupcakes. We need to let muffins be the cool cousin of the cupcake, the one who you can meet with all the time and who listens to your problems and consoles you.

Ok, maybe not that far. But you get my point, right? We can allow muffins to come back into the spotlight as something that can give you health benefits, something that is acceptable as a breakfast food. This involves reducing the sugar and the oil, using more fruit to add sweetness instead of relying on chocolate. It's an easy switch.

I'm not saying to never eat cupcake-muffins. Cupcake-muffins taste good. But muffins, just muffins, also taste good. Really good. Actually, I personally think they taste better. Especially when they're packed with oats and raspberries and blueberries, sweetened with a touch of sugar and undertones of vanilla. It makes it easier to have a healthy lifestyle with these guys every day than with cupcake-muffins every day. Because if I have to choose between "not-so-healthy+tastes good" versus "healthy+tastes-AHmazing," I think we all know what I end up eating.

Raspberry-Blueberry Muffins

Makes 12 servings

Quick tip: If you are using frozen blueberries when baking, toss them with about one tablespoon of flour before mixing them into the batter. This stops them from leaking blue into the rest of the muffin.

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/4c. oats (quick cooking)
• 1/2c. all-purpose flour (Plus 1 tbl)
• 1/2c. whole-wheat flour
• 1/3c. sugar OR Splenda
• 1/4c. brown sugar, unpacked
• 1 tbl. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 egg
• 1c. light soymilk
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 2/3c. frozen wild blueberries (use only 1/3 cup if they are not wild -which means small-) rinsed and drained
• 2/3c. fresh raspberries, cut in half
• Cooking spray

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Mix together the oats, flour, sugars, baking powder, and salt together in a medium-sized bowl.
3. In a smaller bowl, combine the egg, milk, and vanilla. 
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir together just until moist (over-mixing can cause unpleasant texture).
5. Mix the frozen blueberries with 1 tbl. flour until they are coated. Add in raspberries. Fold berries gently into the batter, making sure they are evenly distributed
6. Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray, and fill each muffin cup about 2/3 of the way full with batter (Tip: I like to use a ice cream scooper to fill mine. Just spray the scooper with cooking spray before hand, and the batter will slide out easily).
7. Place the muffins in the oven and cook for about 20 minutes: this changes depending on where you live (I’m high elevation, so my baking times usually take longer); just make sure to keep an eye on them! (Tip: To test if they are done, either stick a toothpick in and see if it comes out clean, or touch the top of the muffin and if it springs back it is ready). 

Nutrition Facts (using sugar):
Sodium: 227mg
Total Fat: 2g
      Saturated: 0g
      Trans: 0g
Sugar: 12g
Protein: 5g
Calories: 160