Low Fat, Sugar Free Banana and Blueberry Muffins

A majority of people today believe that making the daunting step to changing their eating habits to be healthier to great of a change of lifestyle. There seems to be the impression that healthy eating is eating unappealing foods, fab diets and fortifying all of your favourite yummy treats. This is entirely incorrect. While eating healthy does include low fat and sugar free foods that doesn’t mean tasty meals and treats can’t be made. Healthy alternatives to previous food chose’s can be made. My blueberry and banana muffins are a great example. Muffin recipes tend to contain butter or oil (a source of fat) to create a classic muffin texture. As well as this, sugar is included to create the sweetness and to take away the bitterness (if any) of the muffin. The use of banana's in muffins is especial important when trying to create a healthy food option as it eliminates the need of having a fat source and the need for sugar. Banana's (especially when over ripe) are soft, gooey and extremely sweet. That is why my I chose to bake muffins that include banana as they have great flavour and have the ability to turns my muffin recipe from an average recipe to an extremely healthy one. The blueberries were added as an extra source of sweetness in the muffin and because I believe that the flavour of blueberries and banana is very appealing, and to prove my point that healthy food is the tastier food. This muffin recipe also contains few ingredients (five), there for it is an extremely cheap recipe as well.

The Recipe

Ingredients:

-2 cups of self-rising flour

-1 cup of Dairy Farmers Lite White milk
-1 large egg
-2 ripe bananas
-1/2 cup of blueberries (fresh or frozen)

_{Preheat the oven to 190° to 200°,}
_{Lightly grease a muffin tin or line it with paper case's,}
_{Mush two ripe bananas in a small bowl,}
_{Combined all the dry ingredients in a bowl (flour, blueberries and mushed bananas), make a well in the middle of the bowl,}
_{Combined all the wet ingredients in a jug (milk and egg),}
_{Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients bowl,}
_{Mix with a fork until the ingredients are just combined, don’t over mix,}
_{Drop heaped tablespoons of the mixture into the prepared muffin pans,}
_{Bake muffins in a moderately hot oven for about 20-25 minutes or until browned,}
_{Remove from oven and leave in tray for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool,}

(Wholemeal flour is a better alternative to white flour as it contains less GI carbohydrates while containing higher levels of low GI carbohydrates which work in the opposite way to GI carbohydrates. Wholemeal flour also contains more nutrients from the husk of the wheat. Wholemeal flour also isn’t bleached like white flour is nor is it refined as much, meaning that less sugar is realised into our bodies resulting in less fat being stored. However, I a currently am out of wholemeal self-rising flour so I had to settle for white self-rising flour)

(Skim milk can also be an alternative to Lite White milk however I proffer Lite White milk as it is a better alternate to full cream milk by far and it isn't as watery as skim milk. Skim milk contains fewer grams/kj of fat, energy and sugar then Lite White milk however I believe that this is of insignificance as it is only of small percentage. I also believe that the extra 3 grams of sugar which 100ml of Lite White milk contains over skim milk is of importance for a person who has cut added sugars out of the majority of their foods as the sugar in milk is not an added sugar but is a natural sugar named lactose. Also, Lite White milk contains more protein then skim milk, and protein is essential for growth in young humans)

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven between 190° to 200° before starting to prepare the muffin mixture

2. Grease (using low fat butter/margarine) a 12 whole muffin tin or place regular sized muffin cases in the 12 whole muffin tin

Preparation Continued

3. Peal the two ripe bananas and place them in a small bowl and with a fork mush (purée) them until they look as shown

The Mixture - Dry Ingredients

4. In a large mixing bowl combined the plain flour/wholemeal flour, mashed (pureed) banana and the blueberries then with your hand (should be already washed) or wooden spoon make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients

The Mixture - Wet Ingredients

5. In a jug combined the 1 cup of Lite White milk and the large egg, and mix

The Final Mixture

6. Pour the wet ingredients (Lite White milk and egg) which are in a jug into the mixing bowl witch contains the dry indents (plain/wholemeal flour, mashed (pureed) banana and blueberries), when pouring, pour slowly and aim the liquid at the well in the dry ingredients

7. With a fork mix all of the ingredient which are in the mixing bowl until the ingredients are just combined, do not over mix

Baking Preparation

8. With a tablespoons scoop heaped spoonful’s of the mixture and place into the prepared muffin tin

The Baking of the Muffin's

9. Place the muffin tin into the already heated oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the tops of the muffins are brown, check how cooked the muffins are by gently placing a toothpick or flat-bladed-knife into the middle muffin,
-if it comes out clean the muffins are cooked
-if it comes out with wet mixture on it then the muffin's aren't cooked

When Cooked

10. When the muffins are cooked, remove them from the oven with pot mitts and place the muffin tin somewhere where it can cool for 5 to 10 minutes, then remove the muffins and leave them on a wire rack to cool more, ensure that you turn the oven off

Enjoy Eating and Make Variations

This is an extremely healthy variation of the average muffin recipe and it is also a cheap recipe as most households would have flour, milk and eggs and the price of two banana's and a packet of blueberries aren’t that high. This recipe can be adjusted to any flavour wanted. The banana and blueberries in this recipe can be changed with any other fruit or other flavour desired. If this recipe is adjusted to be chocolate flavoured use coco powder as it contains less fats and sugar compared to melted or any other form of chocolate as it is natural. If choc-chips are desired, use darker choc-chip and fat and sugar reduce ones to keep this recipe as healthy as possible. If your variation of this muffin recipe doesn't contain banana's make sure that it does contain a healthy softer, watery substance as an alternative such as ripe fruits, fat free yogurt, fat and sugar free juice, fruit pulps or if all else fails (last resort) melted margarine. This is necessary as the muffins texture is produced from these substances. Enjoy eating these muffins and enjoy experimenting with new variations of you own and there is no need to feel guilty for eating these muffins as they are sugar free and are low fat.

STAY HEALTHY