Balance, balance, balance! Yin vs. Yang. Sinful cheesecake muffins vs. er… a healthy dessert!
I’m sure a lot of you wake up in the morning to cereal, or if you have the luxury of time then its a fried egg with toast and sausages and perhaps even pancakes. Or if you’re always in a hurry like me, then it has to be a ‘to-go’ breakfast. Preferably sans cheese.I consider this muffin is the perfect breakfast. You can pick a couple and enjoy them on your way to work. They are fairly simple make and they store well.
Lets skip to my variation of Martha Rose Shulman’s version. To make these sightly more special and different, I used homemade granola (post and recipe coming up shortly) that I made over the weekend. This was the first time I took the effort, but it was entirely worth it: Using a homemade granola made all the difference. It is packed with nuts, oats and fruits. 
Baked with whole wheat flour, low fat milk and yogurt. A quick whisk of simple ingredients yield these perfect muffins. Treat yourself with a generous spread of jam on one of these healthy muffins.
| Muffin Monday: Granola Muffins |
- 1 cup granola + 1-2 tablespoons (See Notes)
- 1/2 cup low-fat milk
- 1 cup golden raisins
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 large or extra large eggs
- 1/4 cup mild honey, such as clover
- 1/2 cup buttermilk or plain low-fat yogurt
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 apple peel, core and chopped
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF with a rack in the middle.
- Grease 12 muffin cups.
- In a bowl combine the granola and milk in a bowl and let sit for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, cover the raisins with hot water and soak for 15 minutes. Drain and dry on paper towels.
- Peel, core and chop the apple, toss with brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, set aside
- Sift together whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In medium bowl, beat together the eggs, honey, buttermilk or yogurt, canola oil and vanilla. Quickly whisk in the flour, then fold in the granola, raisins and apple. Combine well.
- Spoon into muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full.
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then unmold and cool on a rack.
My Variation:
- I made apple granola muffins, Tossed 1 apple with a couple of spoons of brown sugar and a teaspoon of cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Add it in batter along with the granola at the end. Gently fold it into the batter and bake right away.
- I added some granola on top of the muffin before baking which served as a nice and crunchy streusel topping.
Muffin Monday: Round Up
Kate | Food Babbles
Elizabeth | Queens Notebook
Jasmin | Cook That Book
Alan | Cooke'd With Luv
Dudut | My Twisted Recipes
Maya | Foodiva's Kitchen
Nastassia | Let Me Eat Cake
Yuri | Chef Pandita
Bianca | South Bay Rants n Raves
Annapet | The Daily Palette
Elena | 3 Green Onions
Valerie | Bon A Conquer
Anita | Slice Of My Life
Carrie | Poet In The Pantry
Caroline | When Adobo Met Feijoda
Terra | Cafe Terra
Look at all these muffins this week! What a wonderful sight! I love your addition of spiced apple to the batter. Can’t wait to see your homemade granola recipe when you post it. :)
What a great round-up of bakers and muffins! Happy Baking!
your muffins looks amazing! wish I can bake the way you do… :)
happy baking with you!
Guess what? I made my own granola too, and added the apricots and cranberries later as part of the batter. What a wonderful round-up of healthy-looking muffins! Thanks for the recipe and including me this week.
PS. I like the fact that mine can even stand its side, now that’s one fit muffin. LOL.
Wow, we have apples in mind! Great minds think alike, LOL! ;-)
Hey Miss An, Love love these granola muffins. I was just thinking I want to go on a granola everything but one thing led to another and I made nothing granola this weekend:( Would love to have some. Apple and raisins YUM! I got this new kind of raisins I got their name escapes me but something sunshine or something like that. lol
Home made granola- it cannot get better than this. Thank you so much for letting me participate. Because of MM, I managed to make my first ever batch of muffins..
what a fab round up. I have been busy visiting each of these lovely muffin bakers’ blog
Mmmhh, that is a great idea! A delightful combination. Perfect.
Cheers,
Rosa
I was contempleting the addition of apples too but the batter looked a bit loose (heh, am I an expert or what) and got worried that the juicy apples may make it even more so, so I added dried strawberries. Well, apples next time:) because i know we’ll be making these again and again, they were that good!. Thx again Anu, bummer I’ll have to miss the next two MMs!:(
Oh..this is awesome, An..granola in muffins..would be my perfect breakfast treat from now!
I love those wonderful muffins.
They seem to have the perfect mix of some of my favorites blended together into them.
Funny thing is that I was planning on making some granola this week. I’m probably going to double the recipe to get enough for some kitchen experimenting….. and those muffins will be at the top of the list.
This definitely makes for a perfect breakfast especially with granola in it! Looks amazing!!
I made some Chai Spiced Banana Oat Muffins for todays post as well and it was great too! :)
Great minds… :D we both used homemade granola and sprinkled it on top of our muffins too. Love the coconut strings in your granola, might add some for my next batch. So happy to be back baking with you. Hope you have a great day!
Ooooh… I haven’t had breakfast yet and I want one of these RIGHT NOW! I also love your addition of apples! These are so perfect for breakfast. A muffin we can all feel good about ;)
16 bakers! Wow. Sorry to have missed out on this week’s muffin but will be back in action for next week!
Thanks for a great muffin to make this week! Love your homemade granola, definitely doing that next time! :)
These look fabulous, A! You had such a great turnout this week–how exciting! I’m finally back from my vacation and I’d love to join in next week :)
Lovely muffins, An! They look so yummy! Thanks for rounding up the Muffin Monday Bakers and all your efforts to bring us together every Mon.! Have a great week!
Homemade granola certainly would make these a delicious muffin and one that would be perfect for the type of breakfast eater I am. Unless we have company, I don’t cook a full breakfast and prefer to grab just a muffin or two or a thick slice of banana bread! Love your photographs of these.
Love the idea of the crunchy granola topping! Can’t wait for you to post your homemade granola recipe :)
so true that the taste of these muffins depends on the granola, will have to make again using my own. I’m very happy to be part of growing Muffin Monday baking group :)
Granola muffins are a wonderful idea for breakfast!!! I love the idea of a crunchy granola topping.
ahhhh i love the healthy muffins you chose this week Anu! i totally missed out! spent my weekend trying to catch up on life, especially sleep and meeting friends n such :). your muffin party is getting so big! whoohoo!
I just wish I could have one of those muffins for breakfast today! Looks delicious but it’ll have to be boring granola this morning. Will keep this for future breakfasts!
I am tired of eating granola bars .. this would be a great change. It’s not only healthy but you made it look so pretty too!
Oh wow… your granola just look fantastic! With coconut insideee?? I’ve never seen one like yours before, they look really good!! Thanks for this delicious recipe =D
Hugs
Gorgeous muffins!
I love you additions to the muffin, and your granola with the muffin would make it just perfect! Hugs, Terra
Great round up! So many great recipes to try. Love this breakfast muffin. Am hungry now.
What a delicious round-up! Love those muffins!
Look at your gorgeous granola muffins! I can’t wait to see your granola recipe, An. I am craving one now before bed as a sweet little snack.:)xx