Sunday, October 26, 2014

Triple Berry - Carrot Bran Muffins and a @Truvia Baking Blend #Giveaway

Fall is definitely a baker's dream season. With all the hearty fruit and sweet root vegetables coming into the market, not to mention the cooler weather and concentration of holiday feasts demanding dessert and bread, it's all too simple to get lost in the once-again crave-able spices and rich flavours emanating from the oven, hearkening classic recipes your great grandmother once made.

Sometimes, though a favourite recipe needs a revamp. Waaay back when, in the infancy of this blog (and before George Brown, nutrition college or teaching ever crossed my mind) I shared my mom's favourite (at the time) recipe for cranberry blueberry bran muffins. After homemade bread made a more or less regular appearance in our kitchen, the muffins fell by the wayside, but serendipity has it's ways of turning the tides! This year, when cranberries came into season and were cheaper than chips at the market, we bought up a few bags for the classic Thanksgiving side dish. However, we had fewer people than usual at the house and only wound up needing half of one bag, which left the rest for me to play with!

Triple Berry - Carrot Bran Muffins

I knew I had to make the filling, slightly sweet quickbread with at least some of them, and about that time I was contacted by the awesome folks at Truvia. They wanted to know if I wanted to try out and review their latest product, Truvia® Baking Blend. Always trying out new baking goodies (especially healthier alternatives) I jumped at the chance, and when the package arrived I got right to work, adding pomegranate juice, extra cranberries and homegrown carrots to the batter for more flavour and texture. I couldn't have asked for a better result - moist, sweet and hearty, without the weird "leftover" taste in the back of my mouth that I normally find with white sugar. Flavour wise, it's on par with my current favourite cup-for-cup stevia, but the price is slightly lower at the grocery store and you use less per recipe, making the savings even greater.

Triple Berry - Carrot Bran Muffins
Makes 15
2 cups bran cereal twigs
1 ¾ cups pure pomegranate juice
2 ½ tbsp ground flaxseed
¼ cup Truvia Baking Blend
¼ cup melted coconut oil or butter
1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp allspice
¼ tsp cardamom
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
½ cup fresh or frozen (unthawed) blueberries
1 cup fresh or frozen (unthawed) cranberries
1 cup finely shredded carrots
  1. Preheat the oven to 400F and grease 15 muffin cups.
  2. Combine the cereal, juice, flaxseed and Truvia in a large bowl, set aside for 10 minutes.
  3. Stir in the coconut oil until well blended, then add the flour, cinnamon, allspice, cardamom, salt and baking powder and mix until just combined.
  4. Fold in the berries and carrots.
  5. Bake for 25 minutes or until muffins test done. Immediately turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 126.9
Total Fat: 4.5 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 104.8 mg
Total Carbs: 23.6 g
Dietary Fiber: 6.1 g
Protein: 2.9 g

Now for the GIVEAWAY! The awesome Truvia team has granted me a killer baking package consisting of 2 cookie sheets, a mini muffin pan, 3 whisks, a bowl scraper, an adorable dessert stand and a sample of the baking blend to give to one lucky reader!


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