Goji Green Tea Raspberry Muffins

Ah, Saturday.  Unfortunately there is no sleeping in when one has an energetic 2-year-old, but at least it is a day of slower pace for me.  No rushing to get out the door and squeeze into an over-capacity subway train on the commute to work.  Not on Saturday.  I can relax and enjoy my 3 feet of personal space and fresh air today.

My Saturday started at 6:30am today.  As I said, it's hardly sleeping in, but the "Mommy, I'm hungry"chant over and over drove me out of bed and into the kitchen.  While Preciosa devoured a cup of soy yogurt, I made myself a cup of goji berry green tea and was inspired to incorporate the tea into a batch of muffins.

I've used tea in muffins before and I had a bag of frozen raspberries begging to add their intense flavour and natural sweetness to a sugar-free weekend treat. 

Goji Green Tea Raspberry Muffins
2 cups unbleached white flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 packets Stevia
2 tbsp agave nectar
3 tbsp ground flax + 6 tbsp water
1/2 cup hot water with steeped tea
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/4 cup oil (I used olive oil)
3/4 cup (frozen) raspberries

Preheat oven to 400F.  Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and stevia in a large mixing bowl.  In a seperate bowl, combine all remaining ingredients except raspberries.  Pur wet mixture into dry, and stir until just mixed.  Fold in berries.  Pour into lightly oiled muffin tin and bake for 20 minutes.  Remove from muffin tin, and cool on a cool slightly before devouring.

 

Preciosa could hardly wait for them to cool before she got her hands on one.  Halfway through eating her warm muffin, she asked me to put peanut butter on it.

And just a recap and some photos from my recent 10k run that I mentioned in a previous post:  I was one of 50,000 people that came out for the Sun Run on Mother's Day, May 9th.  At the finish line there was plenty of fresh bananas, oranges, water, juice, and live music.  And a very cute little girl waiting for her mama.  It was the perfect Mother's Day gift.

Z4VBNSMYGWSW

Almost Sugar-Free Blueberry Rooibos Muffins

I have become fascianted with using tea in unlikely places.  So today when I was making muffins and I discovered that I had no more "milk" I happily used tea instead.  If I was to make this recipe again I might steep the tea in almond or soy milk rather than plain water but I'm still happy with the way these turned out.

This recipe is as sugar-free and fat-free as I could manage.

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup unbleached white flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp stevia

2 tbsp ground flax
2 bananas, mashed
1 cup water, boiled and steeped with Rooibos tea, then cooled to room temp
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp agave nectar
3/4 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 400 (F).  In a medium mixing bowl, combine flours, baking powder, cinnamon, sevia and flax.  In a seperate bowl, mash bananas and stir in tea water, agave nectar and vanilla.  Add wet ingredients to dry until just mixed, then fold in the berries.  Scoop into ceramic baking tray or lightly oiled muffin tin.  Bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown.  Makes 12 muffins.