d flours and uses canola oil, a heart-healthy fat.
"There are so many ingredients available to home bakers who want to offer their families healthful, flavorful, baked goods," said Richard Coppedge, Jr., chef-instructor at the Culinary Institute and a Certified Master Baker. "These five recipes not only include a wide variety of whole grains and nut flours, they also demonstrate how more unusual ingredients like canned chickpeas and extra virgin olive oil can be used in baking."
The HSPH and the CIA offer a dozen healthy baking tips that can be used to bake a healthier muffin. Here are a few from the HSPH press release:
- Downsize the portions. The mega-muffins popular in bake shops are two to three times the size of the muffins your grandmother might have baked.
- Go whole on the grains. It's easy to substitute whole wheat flour for 50 percent of the white flour in recipes without harming taste or texture. And with a few recipe alterations, delicious muffins can be made with 100 percent whole grains.
- Slash the sugar. You can cut 25 percent of the sugar from most standard muffin recipes without any negative impact on flavor or texture, and in some recipes, cut back even more.
- Pour on the oil. Liquid plant oils -- canola, extra virgin olive oil, corn, sunflower, and others -- help keep whole-grain muffins moist and are a healthier choice than melted butter or shortening.
- Bring out the nuts. For extra protein and an additional source of healthy fats, add chopped nuts.
- Scale back the salt. The best way to reduce salt is to make a smaller muffin and to pair muffins with foods, such as vegetables and fruits, that are sodium-free.
- Pump up the produce -- and flavor! Fresh whole fruit and unsweetened dried fruit naturally contain sugar, but unlike other sweeteners, they also contain fiber and important nutrients. Using fruit in your muffins means you can have a lighter hand on the added sugar. Cooked or raw vegetables, such as caramelized onions, sliced jalapeños, and chives and other fresh herbs -- together with a whole range of spices -- can add interesting textures and savory flavors to muffins.
More information about The Great Muffin Makeover and links to recipes for all five muffin recipes can be found here.
Image: Olga Utlyakova/Shutterstock.
This article originally appeared on TheDoctorWillSeeYouNow.com, an Atlantic partner site.