Strawberry Apple Muffins

I’ve found another winner in my search for the best muffin recipes. This one is chock full of healthy, hearty ingredients, but bakes up amazingly light! Just be sure to refrigerate these – I don’t know why, but carrots start molding very quickly in baked goods. I’m sure a domestic scientist can enlighten me.

Strawberry Apple Muffins
Adapted from an incomplete entry on SparkRecipes. :) Makes 1 dozen. As written, these are 180 calories each, but you can bring them down to 150 by substituting Splenda for half of the sugar.

Ingredients:
1 cup apples, shredded or finely chopped
1 cup carrots, shredded
½ cup strawberries, chopped
½ cup chopped walnuts
¾ cup white flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup sugar
¼ cup vegetable or canola oil
1 egg, beaten
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 and prepare a muffin pan.

2. Combine dry ingredients (flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt) in a medium bowl.

3. In a separate, large bowl or batter bowl (trust me, get one if you don’t have one), combine sugar, oil, and egg. Stir in the chopped apples, carrots, and strawberries.

4. Add dry ingredients to wet and stir just until combined. Fold in walnuts. Distribute into muffin cups and bake for about 20 minutes.

Note: The batter seemed a little dry to me when it was mixed, so I added a splash of 1% milk to balance things out. You might want to increase the amount of oil, or add a little milk while blending the wet ingredients. I haven’t made these a second time yet, so I can’t provide exact instructions.