Looking for a delicious way to add more fibre and protein into your diet? These little muffins may be the solution. Their superhero ingredient? Lentils. Yes, you heard me right. Lentils. Give these little muffins a try and I can guarantee that they will give you a lovely and tasty surprise. Let’s not waste anytime getting to this different, yet healthy recipe which came from my friend who is a Registered Dietician (R.D.) and her Pulse Canada Cookbook. So you know it’s healthy when a R.D. gives you the recipe!
Healthy Cranberry Orange Lentil Muffins
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- dash of salt
- 1/2 cup margarine, melted
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup lentil puree
- 3/4 cup orange juice
- 1 zest of a whole orange
- 1 1/4 cup whole cranberries (you can use frozen or do as I did if you don’t have any frozen on hand, take 1 1/2 cups of craisins and let soak in water for 1 hour, drain and use those)
Preheat your oven to 375ºF. Line a muffin tin with muffin cup liners and lightly grease.
In a large mixing bowl combine your melted margarine, sugar and eggs and blend until completely mixed. Add the lentil puree, orange juice and zest. Add your dry ingredients together in a separate bowl, sift until combined then fold into your wet ingredients. Lastly, fold in your cranberries.
Scoop the batter into the muffin tins until they are approximately 3/4 full (a bit more is fine as well since the don’t rise too much). Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of a muffin.
Curious to know the nutritional facts on these babies? One muffin contains (also note, I find these muffins to be extremely filling, I usually have one or two for breakfast):
- 251 calories
- 5 g of protein
- 9 g of fat (14 % of your daily value); 1 g from saturated fate (5%)
- 31 mg of cholesterol (10%)
- 37 g of carbohydrates (12%); 2 g of fibre (8%)
- 47 mg of sodium (2%)
- 154 mg of potassium (4%)
- 9 mg of vitamin C (15%)
- 11 mug of folate (5%)
- 18 mg of calcium (2%)
- 2 mg of iron (14%)
So why are you still reading this? Go! Go! Go! and make these healthy little suckers!
Carlene
Hey commentors: Don’t be shy about adding beans/lentils to baking. Beans and lentils are seeds. Much like a grain of wheat. Same same – only, often, healthier!
The lentil part freaks me out (I really really don’t like them) but the rest of the muffin sounds fantastic 🙂
Give them a try! I was a bit hesitant too about adding in lentils, but you can’t taste them at all! They add a nice density to the muffins, along with moisture – not to forget the fibre and protein too!
Lentil puree? Is this something you buy or something you make?
Hi Carey,
Just throw your lentils into a food processor (with a bit of water if needed) and whip up into a puree! Easy peasy! I used canned lentils for my muffins, but you can rehydrate your lentils as well.
Hope that helps,
Carlene