Guilt Free Muffins

I started to look through my cookbooks last night in search of a healthy muffin recipe.  I wanted to bake something for  a couple of friends who are on the p90X diet.  I was looking for a muffin recipe that was low in fat and sugar and made with whole grains, fruits and nuts.  The recipe that caught my eye was a cranberry-oatmeal walnut cake from the "Simple, Sweet and Savory Coffee Cakes" cookbook.  What I ended up making was a blueberry pecan muffin which was my variation of the coffee cake recipe.

Sometimes my recipe experiments don't work out, but in this case it turned out beautifully.  The muffins were delicious.  They were light and crumbly goodness with a subtle hint of cinnamon. 

Blueberry Pecan Muffins
1 1/2 cup oats
2 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/2 cups nonfat buttermilk
1/4 cup molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups frozen blueberries
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Beat eggs, brown sugar and oil together in a bowl.  Stir in buttermilk, molasses and vanilla.  In a separate bowl combine,  flours, oats, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  Add dry ingredients to the buttermilk mixture.  Stir in frozen berries.  Using an ice cream scoop, scoop batter into jumbo muffin tins lined with paper liners.  Sprinkle pecans over each muffin.  Bake 20 minutes at 375. 

It is always fun to experiment with different fruits and nuts in your muffins.  Even though they really need no improvement, I am on a constant quest to reinvent recipes.  The next time that I make these muffins, I am going to substitute applesauce for half of the oil to try and cut even more of the fat.  I might even stir in a Tablespoon of wheat germ to boost their nutritional value.

Bon Appetit!