Guilt-Free Pumpkin Ginger Muffins

Ah, guilt.

This period of time between Halloween and New Year’s Day is filled with rich holiday foods, sugary cakes and candy and cookies and sweets. And I’m guilty of peppering you with those things, too. It’s like the world has given us permission to indulge without regret and without regard to our waistlines.

Even my husband’s doctor gave him a free pass to not worry about his diet until after the first of the year! And in a side note, told him that he’ll probably take him off of the Metformin (diabetes drug) in March or April. Yay!

But I admit to feeling guilty once in awhile that I’ve been concentrating on all these decadent delights, with very little in the way of good, healthy food that you can eat without guilt. You know, in between Christmas cookies and cupcakes. It’s the Jewish mother in me.

So, just for you (and hubs), I created this healthy, sweet, moist, and delicious muffin that you can serve to anyone for breakfast or as a snack, without saying that it’s good for you. In fact, if I could come up with a guilt-free frosting, you could call it a cupcake! It’s simple and quick to throw together, too.

Guilt-Free Pumpkin Ginger Muffins
(makes 12 regular-sized muffins)

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup oatmeal, ground*
1/4 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds), ground*
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup flax seed meal
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
12 packets Truvía (stevia sweetener)

4 large egg whites
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup orange juice

1/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger (optional)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375º F. Place muffin/cupcake liner papers, or silicone liners, in a 12-compartment muffin tin and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients until well combined and make a well in the center. Add all of the wet ingredients into the well, and whisk together until the batter is smooth. Fold in the crystallized ginger, if using.

Divide batter evenly into the prepared muffin liners and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a wooden skewer, inserted into the near center, comes out clean. Allow to cool for about 20 minutes before serving.

*Variation: Add 3/4 cup dried cranberries (as I did in the batch photographed here). The cranberries add an additional textural and sweet element without going over the top – delicious! This will also increase your yield by about 2 muffins, so prepare extra liners.

Notes:

I love ginger and I made these pretty ginger-assertive to complement the pumpkin. Feel free to cut the amount of ground ginger if you think it’s too strong. Won’t hurt my feelings. ->Sniff<-

As an attractive garnish, instead of adding all the crystallized ginger to the muffin batter, sprinkle half of it (about 2 Tbs) on top of the batter after loading up your muffin cups, before baking. Of course, the crystallized ginger does add sugar, so omit it if you want to go completely sugar-free.

Super low in fat, no sugar (except in the crystallized ginger, if you’re using it), and multigrain / high-fiber, not to mention all those lovely vitamins and beta carotene in the pumpkin, it doesn’t get much more guilt-free than this, people! That also makes these muffins suitable for people with sugar-restricted diets and at the very least, type 2 diabetics.

Since it’s heat-stable, I’ve been curious about baking with Truvía, one of the new stevia-based sweeteners, and I have to tell you that I’m super-pleased with this first effort. Maybe it’s the combination with the agave nectar, but there is absolutely NO artificial sweetener aftertaste in these muffins. If you didn’t know that these muffins are sugar-free, you would never be able to tell. I’m shocked, I tell you. Shocked. You may be able to prepare this recipe using another brand of stevia sweetener, but I used the Truvía and that’s what I’ll vouch for.

Like any good muffin, these freeze really well, too. Make up a batch, allow to cool completely, toss ’em into a freezer bag, and chuck ’em in the freezer.

* Measure the oatmeal and pepitas and run them through the food processor together. I used the mini food pro that came as an attachment with my immersion blender.