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I believe that salt is to food, what food is to life. In right proportions, it can heighten the taste of what you eat..and in the wrong - destroy! Even the most delicious sweets come added with some salt...to taste!

As for me, I've never enjoyed cooking. And as contrary to my owning a food-blog as it may sound, I always think about daily, routine cooking as a chore. But my tryst with the pots and pans began when I got a kitchen all to myself...I began experimenting and exploring new worlds in my own home. Some outcomes were excellent and some plain disasters. Then sprouted the need to keep track of all those good ones...and hence this blog!

Here, I share those experiments that pleased more than one palate!




July 20, 2010

Super-soft Low-fat Eggless Whole Wheat Carrot Muffins

Over time, baking (to me) has become both an obsession and therapy. I bake when I am happy. I bake when I am sad. And, sometimes (almost all the time, really) there needs to be no excuse for me to bake. Just the joy of having the wafts of something miraculous happening in my oven gives me a high that I would think no drink could! But, this time around I did have an excuse to bake. I bought a new muffin pan (and why do I feel like a kid confessing he/she secretly bought a new toy? Haha!). Just as you guessed, it did not end at that. I had to use it the very same day...and that's exactly what I did.

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These muffins to me are very special. (Bahahaha! I know you're like say something new..who does'nt like muffins?!) Well, I have a solid reason this time around. I've always wanted to master baking. I know I am still thousands of miles away from it, but I sure want to get there - and what a delicious run it is indeed! After I started blogging and associating with so many people who really push the limits to how much you can do, my food-adventurous-side really got all fired up! Everytime I baked (until yesterday), I would take a look at some recipe online at least to make sure I knew my measurements right. But, these muffins happen to be my very FIRST experiment with baking where I have not taken a single peek at anything - online or otherwise. I had my heart in my hand as the oven did its work, and boy, was I happy at the end of it all!!



Now, with all that said, I would be a really stupid person if I do not give credit to Madhuri for having introduced me to just how delicious baked goods can be without eggs. Thanks babe! In this recipe, I've used flax seeds to replace eggs. I still remember discussing the goodness of these seeds with another friend of mine who suggested I could even add them to making chapathis etc. My instant response was, "Chapathis? No WAY! I do not want to waste them like that when you can bake with them!" *devilish grin*. And if you've been an avid follower of SSTT you'd have noticed the Microwave Chocolate Cake (Thanks to Madhuri, all over again!) I had mentioned that I was going to experiment on it. I did just that. I traded the all-purpose flour for whole wheat to keep things as healthy as I could. Also, this time I did not use the microwave and the results with the regular oven, as you can see, were fantastic, too!


I bought the muffin pan yesterday, baked these yesterday, clicked the pics today and posted it out here too! That should tell you just how excited I am about baking. LOL! Okay, let me stop jabbering and give you the recipe, NOW!

Ingredients

3/4 cup Whole Wheat flour
3/4 cup brown sugar (tightly packed)
A pinch of Salt
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp Vanilla extract
3 tsp roasted and fine-ground flax seeds mixed in 1/2 cup warm water (Or two eggs. If you opt to use eggs increase the quantity of the whole wheat flour by a fourth of a cup i.e. 1 cup)
Between 1/3 - 1/2 cup Whole Milk
Between 1/3 - 1/2 cup Cooking Oil (I've used Sunflower)
1/2 Cup grated carrots

Method
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Spray/Oil muffin pan and set aside
- Sift the whole wheat flour into a large bowl
- Add brown sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda and stir well
- Toss in the vanilla extract, oil and whole milk and mix well. This batter will be very thick
- Now, give a slight stir to the flax seeds in the warm water and add them to this batter
- Add grated carrots
- Whisk for about 5 minutes
- Line prepared muffin pan with paper baking cups and pour batter into each, upto about 3/4th of the cup. (I have used a pan that has a 1 3/4 inch (4.5cm) base diameter)
- Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes off clean out of the center of a muffin
- Cool completely and serve

Makes 12 'I-want-one-NOW' muffins.

Go ahead and bake them in dozens...then stock 'em up in your fridge. Warm them up for a couple seconds in the morning and you will no excuse to skip breakfast ever again!

19 comments:

  1. these muffins looks superb soft n delicious ...what an healthy version deepti ...even i love baking n very newbie to it n am sure the day will come when i also will make like u ...u rock dear

    Satya
    http://www.superyummyrecipes.com

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  2. looks soft and super delicious..

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  3. Wow, what a beautiful color of the muffin. I am drooling over it.

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  4. Wow Deepti!! These look super-inviting!!U bet I could have these for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert:-)). And fab clicks!!!

    And can there be a better therapy or expression of emotion than baking?? Naw...

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  5. Wow thats a wonderful recipe n addition of carrot surely adds to the zing ... beautiful combo of health n taste !!!

    - Smita
    @Little Food Junction

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  6. awesome Deepti..baking is like that...once you let go of the 'intimidating' barrier it's addictive! I've caught the bug too:) The muffins look super yum..delicioso!

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  7. Wow...really sweet of you to mention me. And am I glad I could rub some of my flax-seed mania onto you?!! Baking healthy just took a new turn with us, dont you think? :)
    Our uncanny-ness continues, cos I was planning to make some carrot muffins myself too, and today at that, since I have the day off from college. Woot! Woot! Now that I've seen these 'I-want-one-NOW' muffins, there's no looking back. Im def making them TOO! I already have my carrots grated.(Lets just hope BESCOM doesnt play spoil sport).
    Oh, and I love the pictures you've taken for this one...I love that tattered wood you've used below your plate, and from the looks of it, you seem to have shot your pics outdoors, and the lighting is just perfect. It's working wonders! I love it, I simpppply love!

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  8. woahhh ... they luk so perfect.. i tried to bake some brownies yest nite with flax seed and with whole wheat ...they were SUCH A DISASTER... tasted ok but they turned to be crumblies not brownies... yelp me yelp me yelp me nxt time online... pleeeech..

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  9. Yummmm!!!scrumptious muffins looks incredible..

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  10. Lovely muffins, and great click. I suppose those are Blue berries peeping out Very fruity look to the picture. Nice to be here, following you to keep in touch. And thanks for visiting and writing for my blog. Best wishes.

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  11. Deeps, I feel like such a douche for forgetting - I love the new look the blog is sporting...so calm, so serene and oh so soothing to the mind. I love, I love this the best from whatever you've had so far :)

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  12. Thanks everyone for the kind words!

    @ Tj - I'm just a click away! With your brownies becoming crumbles, I am guessing you did not have enough moisture because of a lack of enough grease/fat (butter/oil/milk)

    @ Sanjeeta - Yes those are 'blue-babies' indeed... LOL that is what my son calls them.

    @ Preeti - Very true. We should bake together one day. What say? Come over soon!

    @ Madhuri - You're my inspiration for getting this far.. and will continue to be. Thanks a zillion for your supportive compliments! Oh and yes, I am waiting for the 'muffins' on CCN. You know what I mean ;)

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  13. These muffins look delicious. What adds moisture? im guessing the carrots? i cant wait to try these!

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  14. They are really amazing, turns out great even without eggs....

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  15. @ Veggie Belly - There's oil, milk and water (in which the flax seeds are dissolved) that adds moisture. Do try 'em and let me know!

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  16. A few days back prasad gave me the link to this blog and Ive never thanked him more than I do now. Ive always thought there were fewer options to do some nice eggless baking at home. But I was instantly happy to see this muffin recipe. I tried it and made some truly I-want-one-NOW mini-muffins! With that, I've earned myself some real yummy healthy breakfast for the next few days... :)

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  17. I just stumbled onto your site. I made these muffins a few minutes ago and they are truly delicious.

    I apologize, but I did some substitutions. My hubby is a heart patient and also a diabetic. So, I subbed equal amount of home made applesauce for the oil. I also subbed a little more than 1/4 cup agave syrup for the sugar. I used a multigrain flour mix (whole wheat, barley, oats and coconut flours).

    Will definitely bake these again. Thanks.

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  18. can i use beet instead of carrots?

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  19. @Anonymous - I certainly think you can. You just might end up with red cuppies. Do try and let me know.

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