Double Post Friday-Deceptively Delicious- Muffins

The Deceptively Delicious cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld has intrigued me. Could I really hide veggies in foods and still have my kiddos like them? I owned the book for a long time before I dove in. I was intimidated by the purees, but have discovered that it really isn't that bad to make them, if you do them in mass. But I will cover that another post.

Anyway, today I am going to review the Applesauce Muffins. For copyright reasons I don't feel I can write her recipe. However, I will tell you some shortcuts I found and how I made them even MORE healthy than dear Jessica did.

First of all instead of using all-purpose flour I substituted 2/3rds of the flour with bread flour and 1/3 with whole wheat flour. Bread flour has a higher protein content, and whole wheat more fiber. Also, I sprinkled in a few tablespoons of flax seed meal into the batter the second time around and no one could tell a difference.

To make things easier, I mixed the dry and wet ingredients separately the night before and baked in the morning. That worked out okay, except that the brown sugar hardened so that was a pain. But now I just make them at night. They stay fresh for at least 24 hours just sitting out covered with a towel, but they also freeze really well. So don't be afraid to double the recipe. And if you need a quick breakfast or snack, just pop in the microwave for 30 seconds and you're good to go.

When I was making these, my kids were giving me a seriously hard time about it. They were NOT going to eat muffins that had butternut squash in them. However, once they tried them, they were hooked. DD2 said things like, "You're my hero mom!" and, "These are magnificent!" In fact, when I brought home another butternut squash to puree, DD2 was so happy because that meant more muffins!!

Overall, I give these a 10 out of 10. They are super nutritious, low fat, are very filling, and my family LOVES them. I think this recipe will stick around for a long time. Stay tuned for more reviews.