The Great Muffin Experiment, No. 11 (Jump to the Recipe)

A month or so ago, I was worried that we'd never finish all the fruit I had in the freezer, as each week, we received a new boxful from the CSA. While I do still have quite a bit of apple- and pear sauce in there, along with pumpkin puree and a fair number of pear/apple/persimmon crumbles, I finished off the last of the frozen peaches in our smoothies this morning. The fruit we're getting this time of year is citrus — more conducive to juicing, in my opinion, than baking. That said, I've tried to think of ways that I can bake with oranges, and of course, that means I had to try to make some muffins.

This was yet another of those times when I used a recipe for inspiration but made way too many alterations to label this project "scientific" in its experimentation. (I changed the flour from all purpose to whole wheat pastry. I had ricotta on hand, having made white pizza a few nights prior, which I used instead of sour cream. I substituted tahini for the butter. I used agave syrup instead of sugar. I added cacao nibs. I left off the glaze.) That said, this was probably one of the best batches of muffins I've made so far — a relief as this afternoon, I'll go pick up the vegetable and fruit boxes and will have more citrus to consume.

Sugar Substitutions

The funny thing about making sugar substitutions is that, at the end of the day (or digestion), it's still sugar. Oh sure, folks might label a recipe "healthy" as it doesn't contain granulated sugar; but sugar alternatives are still sugar (as far as macronutrients go, at least).

As always, it's worth thinking about specific goals with adjusting recipes to make them "healthy." Are you simply swapping out something that sounds better but might not actually be better? (Aspartame. Stevia. I'm suspicious.) Just as importantly, you have to understand how the sugar functions because it's not simply to add sweetness to a recipe. Sugar can add brownness, crispness, moisture, or volume, for example. So getting rid of or reducing the granulated sugar might require other adjustments to a recipe — adding more or less liquid, turning down the oven temperature.

Sugar alternatives can include honey, maple syrup, agave syrup, and monk sugar. (I've listed these in my Ingredients database.) Often, I find that I can simply reduce the amount of sugar in a muffin recipe without seeing any huge difference. But I don't have a huge sweet tooth, so that's just me.

Orange Ricotta Muffins

This is based on the recipe for orange sour cream muffins on the Damn Delicious website.

Prep time: 10 minutes  ·  Cooking time: 20 minutes  ·  Servings: 12  ·  Calories: 177

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 c whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tbs baking powder
• 2 tbs collagen peptides
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 c tahini
• 1 c ricotta
• 1/3 c agave syrup
• 1 egg
• 1/4 c freshly squeezed orange juice
• zest of one orange
• 1/4 c cacao nibs

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 and line muffin tins with paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and soda, spices, salt).
3. In a large bowl, combine the wet ingredients (tahini, ricotta, egg, OJ, orange zest, agave syrup). Whisk until blended.
4. Add the wet to the dry and stir until just combined. Stir in the cacao nibs.
5. Fill muffin tins.
6. Bake for 16-20 minutes.
7. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes, then remove from muffin tins and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.