MUFFINS and Substitutions and my story :)

Applesauce Blueberry Muffins

I've got my first 2 dozen in the oven cooking, and will be adding to and editing this post for the next hour or so.

Okay so I started with my basic banana bread recipe, one that I frequently make into muffins instead, and decided to triple my recipe because I've got several hungry mouths who eat lots (my older boys and hubby will eat 1-1/2 dozen between them); it's a two bowl, one larger than the other recipe.  However today I don't have bananas dark enough so I substituted applesauce, something I have done before often, 3-1/2 cups.  Then I put in 3/4 cup of oil, nothing changed there, then I put in 3/4 cup of honey and 1/2 cup of molasses (so you should end up with 1-1/4 cup of liquid sweeteners, but can decrease honey to 1/2 cup) for the sugar, then the eggs, well all I have are the tiny eggs from my neighbor so I put in 4 of these little darlings (instead of 3 normally when I triple the recipe).  This is in bowl [bigger] One, mix them all together well.

Now for Bowl Two:  okay, while I was digging [in my freezer] for blueberries, I found a bag with graham cracker crumbs, along with my ground flax seed meal wheat germ.  I pulled them all out with the blueberries., then I started measuring.   2-1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs, then about 1/2 cup each of the flax seed meal & wheat germ (bought both of these from Smith's in the baking aisle, they are Bob's Red Mill).  Then I added 3 cups of flour & 1 cup of rolled oats (oatmeal).  Then for the leavening:  I put in 4-1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. of baking soda (recipe called for 3/4 tsp, but since I used honey I just rounded up to a full teaspoon), 1 tsp cinnamon (rounded up again from 3/4 tsp, 'cuz I like cinnamon).

With the electric mixer running in liquids bowl, dump in dry ingredients slowly, mixing carefully after each addition.  Then add 2 cups of fresh or frozen blueberries, and if desired 1-2 cups of chopped nuts or sunflower seeds; I didn't because my pecans are frozen and I don't have any sunflower seeds.

Baking:  well the website said that you should decrease the baking temperature by 25 degrees, but I decided to keep the temp at 350 deg Farenheit.  Still am figuring out how long, as I've been cooking 2 dozen [regular-sized] muffins at a time. Normal cooking time for 1 dozen muffins is 18-20 minutes.
Okay cooking time for 2 dozen is 25-28 minutes!!   I got exactly 4 dozen muffins by using my 1/4 cup ice cream scoop, I put a heaping scoop into each muffin cup.

Now...  here's the original Banana Bread Recipe

1-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 [lrg] egg
1 cup mashed bananas
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup oil
1/2 tsp. lemon zest (optional)
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Mix flour, cinnamon, baking powder and soda together thoroughly.  Mix egg, sugar, bananas, oil, and zest together thoroughly; add dry ingredients to wet ingredients 1/3 at a time, mixing well after each addition; fold in nuts.  Bake in a greased 4x8 or 5x9 loaf pan at 350 degrees Farenheit for 20-30 minutes.

NO Sugar Challenge for a week

So I've joined my friend KayDee Johansen Owens [on Facebook] in a week-long challenge of going without sugar.  We started on Sunday and I've done pretty good though I had an "OOPS" moment on Tuesday afternoon.

Anyhow we agreed that we could use honey & molasses as substitute sweeteners (besides the other artificial sweeteners), just not refined sugars.

So I've been really craving some blueberry muffins, and think I'll make some this morning, but I needed to know how much honey to use in place of each cup of sugar.  After googling my question, I found this website and am posting about this because I thought there might be others around who'd be interested.  :)

I have plans to do lots today, so I'd better get going on it all.  Hope you all have a great day!

=) Gayle