Whole Grains :: Food and Nutrition :: Recipes

Whole Grains
by author Lucretia Schanfarber

There’s nothing like a bowl of steaming hot cereal drizzled with maple syrup to knock the chill out of a wintry morning, but whole grain cereals are more than a traditional breakfast food. They’re also the perfect, high fibre addition to muffins, pancakes, breads and rolls.

Eating several servings daily is one of the best dietary strategies for weight loss and the prevention of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.

Here’s my family’s favourite corn meal muffin recipe. Quick and easy to make, they’re an irresistible complement to soups, stews, salads, and chili.

Lucretia’s Cornmeal Muffins

1 cup (250 mL) organic whole wheat flour
1 cup (250 mL) organic yellow corn meal
3 tsp (15 mL) alum-free baking powder
1 cup (250 mL) skim milk or water
1/2 cup (125 mL) organic cane sugar or liquid honey (or to taste)
1 free-range egg
1/4 tsp (1 mL) sea salt
1/4 cup (60 mL) organic olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 F (200 C). Lightly oil your muffin tin.

In a large bowl, sift together the whole wheat flour, corn meal, baking powder, and sea salt. In a separate bowl, add the egg, milk, oil, and sugar or honey. With a wire whisk, lightly beat wet ingredients until blended (about 20 seconds).

With a wooden spoon, make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients. Pour the bowl of wet ingredients into the well of dry ingredients and mix quickly and lightly.

The secret to good muffin texture is to not overmix the batter! The batter will be thick. Spoon batter into muffin tins to within 1/2 inch (1 cm) from the top. Place immediately in a preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes until the tops turn golden brown.

Serve hot.

To make any other whole grain muffins, simply substitute your favourite finely ground whole grain cereal meal for the cornmeal in this recipe.

Source: alive #288, October 2006

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