Sugar Free Miniature Whole Grain Corn Muffins with Stevia - Vegetarian and Vegan Recipes

This recipe makes 9 to 12 large or 24 miniature muffins.

Stevia is a natural herb and a safe replacement for sugar.

This recipe fills 2 miniature muffin pans.

Perfect size to accompany a large Thanksgiving feast.


How to Save Calories on Thanksgiving or Other Multi-Course Meals
Although no one needs bread on Thanksgiving with all of other dishes, we often feel compelled to serve it. One way to prevent over-eating these treasured carbs is to serve them in a "miniature" package. In this recipe, I use miniature muffin tins which allows me to get 24 muffins out of same amount of batter than yields only 9 to 12 regular sized muffins. If you put a large muffin on your plate you'll probably eat it even if you're busting at the seams. If you put a miniature muffin on your plate, you'll get the joy of having some extra carbs with only a fraction of the damage. Most likely, you won't go back for more.

Making Sugar Free Muffins with Stevia Instead of Sugar
Stevia is an herb which has been used to sweeten beverages in Paraguay and Brazil since pre-Columbian times. It's popular in many parts of the world but has been kept a "secret" in this country, in my opinion, by the artificial sweetener and sugar lobbyists. It wasn't until recently that the FDA granted GRAS approval to stevia so that it can be used in "food and beverages" and not just as a "supplement" for which it was previously approved. With its popularity around the world, it has been used in large quantities for many years and has been shown to be completely non-toxic unlike many artificial sweeteners on the market.
When baking with stevia, you do not have the "volume" that you get when using sugar. In this recipe, I replace 1/4 cup of sugar with 6 (1 gram) packets of stevia, 2 tablespoons of applesauce and 2 tablespoons of oat bran. The applesauce and oat bran make up the missing volume nicely.

Fiber Fiber Fiber
As my blog readers know, I think fiber consumption is one of the most important things you can do for health and longevity. This recipe is made with "King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour" which gives you the delicate mild flavor and light color of white flour but all of the fiber and nutrition of whole wheat. I also use whole grain cornmeal which, I must admit, gives you a very grainy texture. If you don't like the texture of whole grain cornmeal, you can substitute degermed cornmeal but you will not get as much fiber. Try the whole grain cornmeal and see what you think.

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Sugar Free Vegetarian Miniature Whole Grain Corn Muffins
[makes 24 miniature muffins]
1 cup white whole wheat flour (or all purpose flour)
1 cup whole grain cornmeal (or degermed cornmeal)
3 teaspoons aluminum free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
6 (1 gram) packets stevia extract
2 tablespoons oat bran
2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
4 tablespoons virgin olive oil
1 organic, cage free, omega 3 egg, beaten
1 cup 1% organic low fat milk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease 2 miniature muffin pans that hold 12 muffins each. Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and blend. Divide batter into 24 miniature muffin tins and bake for 9 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. You can also make 9 to 12 large muffins but they will have to cook a little longer, about 12 to 15 minutes. You can also put the batter into an 8 inch square pan and bake 20 to 25 minutes.

Per miniature muffin: 63.9 calories, 2.8 g fat, 0.5 g saturated fat, 9.3 mg cholesterol, 1.8 g protein, 7.9 g carbohydrates and 1 g of fiber.

Sugar Free Vegan Miniature Whole Grain Corn Muffins
[makes 24 miniature muffins]
1 cup white whole wheat flour (or all purpose flour)
1 cup whole grain cornmeal (or degermed cornmeal)
3 teaspoons aluminum free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
6 (1 gram) packets stevia extract
2 tablespoons oat bran
2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
4 tablespoons virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons EnerG mixed thoroughly in 2 tablespoons warm water
1 cup organic soy milk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease 2 miniature muffin pans that hold 12 muffins each. Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and blend. Divide batter into 24 miniature muffin tins and bake for 9 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. You can also make 9 to 12 large muffins but they will have to cook a little longer, about 12 to 15 minutes. You can also put the batter into an 8 inch square pan and bake 20 to 25 minutes. When using EnerG egg replacement, bake the muffins immediately after preparing the batter. If they sit around a while, they may not rise properly.

Per miniature muffin: 60.5 calories, 2.7 g fat, 0.4 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 1.5 g protein, 7.5 g carbohydrates and 1 g of fiber.

Vegan Whole Grain Pumpkin Walnut Bread

Cooked pumpkin pulp scraped from baked pumpkin halves.

ENER G egg replacer. 1 1/2 t in 2 T water = 1 egg.

Pumpkin walnut bread cooling on a rack.

More Pumpkin Recipes

Judging by the large number of hits on my August 30^th post, When to Harvest and How to Cure Pumpkins and Winter Squash, I know there are many gardeners out their with pumpkins waiting for healthy recipes. I’ve already posted two: Vegan Stuffed Sugar Pumpkin with Quinoa, Pecans, Cranberries and Apples and Creamy Vegan Pumpkin Soup with Curried Gravenstein Apples. Today I will add a pumpkin bread recipe, made with whole grain goodness, omega 3 rich walnuts and to save calories and cholesterol and for the benefit of those who avoid eggs, this is made with EnerG egg replacer. Each slice has over 2 grams of fiber, has zero cholesterol and 484 mg of omega 3 fatty acid.

ENER G Egg Replacer

Although I love to eat fresh organic, cage free, omega 3 eggs, I try not to eat too many. When I was tested for food allergies, the only things I was allergic to were egg whites and egg yolks. I could have guessed that since almost every time I eat poached eggs, I immediately get a headache, a little dizzy and sometimes nausea. My husband warns me of this, to no avail, every time I start to eat this breakfast treat. When I bake, it’s easy to avoid eggs because of this egg replacer product. I was certainly skeptical at first, knowing how nicely cakes and breads rise with real eggs, but so far, every time I’ve tried using it in baking recipes that call for eggs, this product has worked like a charm. I didn’t like it in lemon pie filling, however, since it doesn’t produce a nice yellow, lemony color.

To use it, you just mix 1½ teaspoons of egg replacer with 2 tablespoons of warm water thoroughly before adding it to the recipe. It’s made mostly from potato starch, tapioca flour and leavening. Each ENER G egg equivalent only has 15 calories and no cholesterol. To compare, one large egg has around 70 calories and 211 mg of cholesterol. Of course you can’t use this product to make scrambled or poached eggs. But it works perfectly in our Vegan Whole Grain Pumpkin Walnut Bread recipe. One note of caution; use the egg substitute immediately after mixing with water and put the bread in the oven to bake quickly. If the mixture sits around, it may not rise properly.

If you do want to use eggs, just replace the EnerG egg replacer and the 1/4 cup of water with 2 slightly beaten eggs.

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Vegan Whole Grain Pumpkin Walnut Bread [makes 12 servings]

1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup cooked pumpkin pulp*

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup Sucanat or organic cane sugar

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup apple sauce

1 tablespoon ENER G egg replacer

1/4 cup warm water

1/2 cup English walnuts, chopped

1/4 cup seedless raisins

* To make pumpkin pulp from fresh pumpkin, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil. Cut pumpkin in half, remove seeds and strings and place hollow side down in the roasting pan. Bake for 1 hour or until soft. Cool a bit and scrape the pulp out with a large spoon. Reserve 1 cup for this recipe and freeze the rest in 1 cup servings.

In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg and cinnamon. In another bowl, mix together pumpkin pulp, vanilla, Sucanat, olive oil and apple sauce. Mix ENER G in warm water thoroughly and add to the pumpkin mixture (or add 2 slightly beaten eggs instead for a non-vegan version of this recipe). Add pumpkin mixture to large bowl with dry ingredients and beat with a hand mixer until smooth. Fold in walnuts and raisins. Pour into a well greased 8.5"x4.5" loaf pan and bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven and let sit in the pan for 15 minutes on a metal rack. Remove from pan and let loaf cool on the rack for another 15 minutes. Cut into slices and serve.

Per serving: 174.9 calories, 8.1 g fat, 1.0 g saturated fat, 0 g cholesterol, 3 g protein, 23.5 g carbohydrates, 2.3 g fiber, 484 mg omega 3 and 2409 mg omega 6 fatty acids.