Strawberry Shortcake Muffins (and some healthy baking tips)

Strawberries have been on sale at the grocery store a lot lately so I’ve been looking for recipes to use them for. I’m not a very good baker and I’m not really a muffin person but for some reason these strawberry shortcake muffins on Dashing Dish just spoke to me. The best part is it is super healthy!

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cup oats
• 1 cup plain low fat greek yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup Stevia
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 cup strawberries, diced, and patted dry + (reserve handful to place on top of muffins)
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• Optional: ¼ teaspoon lemon zest

*Important: The paper liners don’t work well when baking with a base that does not include flour. If you don’t have a silicone muffin tin or liners, I recommend only using foil cupcake liners.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line muffin tins with silicone or foil liners.

2. Place all of the ingredients (except the strawberries) in a blender or food processor, and blend until oats are smooth. Add strawberries and pulse a few times just to get some of the strawberry flavor into the mix but not so much so that all of the strawberries are chopped.

3. Divide batter among cupcake liners, add a few diced strawberries on top and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Yummy!

Make baking healthier

After many failed attempts at baking I pretty much gave up. Not only did my food always turn up somehow “off” I hated that every recipe called for a cup of sugar or oil – yuck! I found some really great healthy substitutes for common baking recipes in Oxygen Magazine that I have started using to healthify my recipes.

If a recipe calls for heavy cream, substitute it with evaporated skim milk.

If a recipe calls for 1 egg, substitute it with 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce.

If a recipe calls for 1/2 cup of butter, substitute it with 1 smashed ripe banana.

If a recipe calls for all-purpose flour, substitute it with whole wheat flour or 1/2 to 1/3 cup of protein powder for that fraction called for.