This recipe, adapted from Cooking Light, contains both whole wheat flour and steel-cut oats. If you’re not partial to nubbiness you can leave out the oats, but I think they give the bread a great texture. Traditionally, loaves are baked free-form in a round shape with a cross slashed on top.  This one is baked in a 9″ X 5″ bread pan, which makes slices easier to toast later on.

Of course, this is the perfect bread to serve on St. Patrick’s Day with corned beef and cabbage, but don’t stop there. It’s also good with soup, or toasted in the morning with a bit of butter and jam. I made a PB & J with it yesterday. Talk about “filling food”!

11.25 oz. whole wheat flour (about 2 1/2 cups)
2.25 oz. all-purpose flour (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup steel cut oats
2 T. brown sugar
1 T. wheat germ
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
2 cups low fat buttermilk
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Coat a 9″ X 5″ loaf pan with nonstick spray and line with parchment paper.

Combine flours with oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Gently beat egg and buttermilk together. Add to dry ingredients and stir only until just combined. Spoon into loaf pan and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 5 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool on a rack.

Makes 12 thick slices
WW points per slice: 3

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Mind you, these are cakey muffins rather than…muffiny ones. They have the consistency of a cupcake. If you use a spice cake mix you’ll get pumpkin muffins. If you use a devil’s food mix you’ll get chocolate muffins with no hint of pumpkin flavor. I prefer the pumpkin, especially at this time of year. They freeze well and make a convenient grab-and-go snack for later. Just toss a couple into a zip-lock bag when you’re on your way out the door and they’ll be defrosted by the time you eat them.

One box Spice cake mix (Duncan Hines, Betty Crocker, choose your favorite)
1 15-oz. can solid-pack pumpkin
1/2 cup mini-chocolate chips (optional, but good and the small amount doesn’t add to the individual points value)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl combine dry cake mix and pumpkin. The dough will be very stiff, but stir well until all lumps are gone. Fold in optional mini-chocolate chips.

Spray mini-muffin tins with nonstick spray and spoon 1 rounded Tbsp. of mix into each tin. Bake about 12 to 15 minutes, just until the tops of the muffins spring back when you touch them gently with your finger.

You should come out with approximately 48 muffins. If you don’t, simply add together the total calorie value for the dry cake mix and the whole can of pumpkin and divide by how many muffins you come out with. It should be in the 46 to 52 calorie range, or 1 WW point per muffin.

You can also make regular sized muffins. They can take up to 20 minutes to bake. WW points: 2

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I like to have a supply of low fat mini-muffins on hand in the freezer for a quick breakfast or a snack on-the-run. When I’m headed out the door, I toss a  couple into a plastic bag and stow them in my purse. By the time I’m hungry they’ve thawed and are almost as fresh tasting as when I baked them (minus the lovely crunchy top, of course). When we’re at home we re-heat them either in the microwave or atop the toaster.

This recipe is my new favorite. It’s low fat, yet moist and tender, it’s got the nutritional benefits of oat bran and blueberries and it comes all the way from France. Voila! From the delightful French food blog, Chocolate and Zucchini, here is an American approximation of Clotilde Dusoulier’s recipe for blueberry oat bran muffins. Clotilde writes that you can make these with either oat bran or wheat bran, so I made them with both. The mini-muffins are oat bran and the full-sized muffins are wheat bran. Choose your fiber!

1 cup oat bran (or wheat bran)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen; don’t thaw the frozen ones)
1 cup plain yogurt
2 T. vegetable oil
1/2 t. vanilla
2 eggs

Preheat over to 375 degrees. In a large bowl combine bran, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Add blueberries and toss.

In a smaller bowl, whisk together the yogurt, oil, vanilla and eggs. Pour into the dry ingredients and gently fold with a spatula, being careful not to overmix.

Spray muffin tins with nonstick spray (or line with muffin papers) and fill about 3/4 full. Bake mini-muffins about 12 minutes or just until golden brown and tops spring back when lightly pressed. Bake full-sized muffins 14-16 minutes.

Makes 12 full-sized muffins or about 24 mini-muffins (with a bit of batter left over!)

WW points per full-sized muffin: 3
WW points per mini-muffin: 1

Note: I used home made whole-milk yogurt for this recipe. You can use low fat yogurt. (Do try to make your own yogurt one day. It’s so easy and it’s the best! There’s a recipe for it here.)

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