I’ll admit it. On occasion, after eating what is essentially dessert for breakfast five days straight, I feel a tiny twinge of guilt.
But what’s a girl to do? A girl’s gotta eat. And this girl has got to bake!
Solution: a healthy, hearty, grainy, good-for-your-body muffin. No delicate, dainty muffin here. This is a muffin that wakes up, steps into steel-toed boots, fastens its toolbelt, and gets to work. And it works hard. It’s going to get you out of bed, out the door, and carry you all the way through ’til lunch. This muffin is not going to flake out on you. How many other muffins can you count on to do the same?
Building blocks: quinoa (it’s a super-food, you know), squash, apples, raisins, nuts.
That’s grated butternut squash, not cheddar cheese. Hmm…cheddar might not be a bad idea…next time.
Combine dry ingredients, brown a bit of butter, whisk egg with buttermilk, toss the quinoa and other tasty touches together in a bowl.
Bring it all together. Into a muffin tin and into your oven.
Golden & toasty, a little crunchy, a lot healthy, super satisfying. I call middle-right, you can have top-left.
You are going to love these wholesome, nutty muffins. They’re so good you might not even want to go back to your more decadent breakfasts next week. You may even make another batch, try another variation, other whole grains, different secret vegetal add-ins.
Or maybe you’ll rediscover the jar of nutella.
- 1½ c. All Purpose Flour
- 1 c. Whole Wheat Flour
- 1 tsp. Baking Soda
- 1 tsp. Baking Powder
- ½ tsp. Salt
- 1 tsp. Cinnamon
- ½ c. Dark Brown Sugar
- 1½ c. Buttermilk
- 1 Egg
- ¼ c. Unsalted Butter, melted and browned
- 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
- 1 c. Cooked Quinoa
- 1 c. Grated Apple (1 medium apple)
- ½ c. Grated Butternut Squash
- ½ c. Golden Raisins
- ½ c. Pecans, chopped
- Preheat oven to 375°. Butter or spray a 12 cup muffin tin.
- Combine flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, brown sugar, and cinnamon in large bowl. Mix well.
- In medium bowl, whisk together egg, buttermilk, browned butter, and vanilla.
- In another medium bowl, combine quinoa, apple, squash, raisins, and pecans.
- Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until just combined.
- Fold quinoa mixture into muffin batter and scoop into prepared muffin cups.
- Bake until golden and tester comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
This is a good recipe for me to try (Autum Harvest Quinoa Muffins) since I am person who loves muffins. I really enjoy your recipe blog and your pictures are inviting and their own work of art.
Wonderfully moist and delicious! I doubled the batch and made some changes, based on ingredients on hand. Buckwheat flour was used in place of all-purpose, carrot for squash, honey and stevia for 1/2 of the brown sugar, and pumpkin and sunflower seeds for the pecans. Also added some cardamom. Will be making again!
Wow–sounds great, especially the buckwheat flour and seeds. I haven’t made these in a long while, but think I may have to try them with some of these additions very soon!