Maple Oatmeal Muffins

The holidays didn't really slow down my efforts at "healthy baking", but they did put a big crimp in my ability to experiment with new recipes. Every year, I make peanut butter cookies for my husband's work associates and when I say that, I mean that I make hundreds of cookies as he likes to give quite a few of his compatriots 5 cookies each. With all of that baking, I fell off of the regular posting bandwagon for this blog. Hopefully, I'll have the time to play with more recipes again.

I'm starting with a favored variation on my basic oatmeal muffin. It gives you the flavor of maple without the sugar or calories. It's light and delicious and goes great with a cup of tea or a mug of coffee for breakfast. Though I garnished these with half a walnut, the nutrition information is for muffins made without the garnish. If you add a half walnut, you'll need to add about 13 calories to the total for each muffin.

Maple Oatmeal Muffins (low-fat, sugar-free, whole grain):

3/4 cup rolled oats (not quick cooking)
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 medium egg
3/4 cup skim milk
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tbsp. vinegar
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup Splenda granular
1 tsp. maple extract (I use McCormick)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp. baking powder

1. Spray the bottoms only of 6 muffin cups with cooking spray.
2. Add the vinegar to the skim milk and allow to rest.
3. Grind the oats in a food processor until relatively finely ground. 
4. Put the oats in a large bowl and add applesauce, egg, milk and vinegar, salt, Splenda, maple extract, and vanilla. Stir until well mixed.
5. Sprinkle the whole wheat flour onto the oat mixture and gently stir to just moisten. Allow to rest for about 10-20 minutes.
6. Add the baking powder and stir just until well mixed. Don't overwork the flour or the muffins will be tough.
7. Spoon into the prepared tins and bake at 190 degrees for 35 minutes.
8. Allow to cool for 15-30 minutes and run a butter knife around the edges of the tin to loosen the muffins. Gently tap the bottom if they stick.  

 Nutrition information courtesy of the SparkRecipes calculator: