Healthy Hummingbird Muffins

March 21, 2009 | 12 Comments

Most of us are no strangers to hummingbird cupcakes or a delectably, moist hummingbird cake. {For those who are, you must try one soon, because it will be the most flavorful cake you would’ve ever tasted}. The hummingbird muffin was invented to have these naughty little treats for breakfast and not feel overtly guilty about them.

Staying true to my recent quest of trying to incorporate healthy ingredients in my cooking, I decided to tweak the traditional hummingbird muffin recipe and bake a much healthier version. I started by eliminating white sugar in the recipe. It was replaced by brown demerara sugar, which one can argue is marginally healthier than white sugar. I added wheatgerm, which not only gave these muffins a brilliant texture, but upped their fiber content. I used olive oil instead of butter or vegetable oil. The muffins were soft, fluffy and extremely light. Spread with some light cream cheese, these would be perfect for breakfast. Alternatively, they would work just as well for a light snack topped with yogurt and some fresh fruit.

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HUMMINGBIRD MUFFINS

[Preparation Time : 20 minutes/ Baking Time : 25 minutes/ Makes 12]

Ingredients

2 cups plain flour

1 cup self-raising flour

2 tbsp wheatgerm

½ tsp mixed spice

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 cup firmly packed brown demerara sugar

½ cup dessicated coconut

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup olive oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
250g can crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup mashed ripe banana

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. Line a 12-hole, 1/3 cup capacity muffin pan with paper cases. Sift flours, mixed spice and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl. Stir in sugar and coconut. Combine eggs, oil, vanilla, pineapple and banana in a bowl. Add egg mixture to flour mixture. Stir to combine. Spoon mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes until cooked through and golden. Stand in pan for 5 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

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