Ginger Almond Oat Muffins

Enjoy a healthy treat with these nutty, fragrant, and flavorful ginger almond oat muffins. Full of protein, fiber, iron, and lots of vitamins and minerals, these muffins are anti-inflammatory and soothing. They’re both good for you and delicious!

You know how I talked yesterday about how much I’m loving ginger for relieving soreness and soothing my stomach during marathon training? Today, I’m sharing a ginger recipe with you, especially since so many of you commented that you wanted to add ginger to your diet. Ginger almond oat muffins, to be exact.

I’ve actually made several ginger recipes over the past few weeks as I work on the e-cookbook that I plan to release in September. The e-cookbook, which is titled Eat to Run: Fuel Your Fitness without Breaking the Bank, features nourishing and delicious recipes geared towards runners’ needs (but can be enjoyed by everyone) and don’t cost an arm and a leg to make. All natural and simple ingredients, easy to follow recipes, and lots of homemade goodness.

So of course there’s lots of ginger in Eat to Run. Ginger is an amazing food for runners and it’s such a versatile spice. I love it in savory dishes (like the butter chicken curry I made and photographed last night) and sweet dishes, like these ginger almond oat muffins.

These muffins won’t be in the cookbook (because I made another ginger muffin recipe!), so I want to share them with you today. Because, let’s be honest: who doesn’t love a good muffin? Muffins are my favorite baked good, but I’m super picky about them. Store-bought or bakery muffins are too cloying and crumbly for my taste, and I don’t want to waste 400+ calories on a snack with so little nutrition.

So, for years now, I’ve been mastering the art of baking a health muffin. I reduce the sugar, substitute some of the butter for applesauce, use whole wheat flour and oats, and sneak some fruit into it. I’ve shared plenty of muffins recipes here on the blog before, such as these, these, and these must-try oatmeal blueberry chocolate chip ones.

I can’t stop. If I have a love language, it’s baking. Or bacon. They sound similar enough, at least with my lingering St. Louis accent, so let’s just go with it.  

These ginger almond oat muffins are the perfect thing to bake if baking is your love language, hobby, stress relief, or whatever. They’re a fluffy, sturdy, sweet with a kick and a crunch muffin that makes for a perfect snack on the go or great accompaniment to your morning cup of coffee.

Or, as I say with that St. Louis accent, caww-fee.

So what’s all in these healthy and delicious ginger almond oat muffins?

First, we have oat bran, which is the bran from the oat grain. Technically, oat bran isn’t a whole grain, since, well, it’s not the whole part of the oat. But, it’s still a natural, minimally processed (all that’s done is milling) food that is high in protein, fiber, B vitamins, and iron. It adds a chewy but smooth texture to the muffins. You can find it in the bulk bins of Whole Foods or your local natural foods grocery store or buy the Bob’s Red Mill Oat Bran.

Next, we have candied ginger. Yes, this contains some sugar, so I overall reduced the amount of sugar in the recipe. As I’ve talked about several times before, ginger is so good for you, since it possess anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting super powers. It also flavors the muffins with a fragrant and spicy-sweet warmth.

For the sugars, I used a combination of brown sugar and maple syrup. While brown sugar isn’t the healthiest, I kept the portion modest. It adds structure and such a depth of flavor to the muffins that it’s worth the sugar. It’s all about balance, right? To reduce the use of refined sugar, I replaced some of the brown sugar with 100% pure maple syrup. Despite being so high in sugars, maple syrup does provide some health benefits, such as polyphenols, those amazing plant-based antioxidants that will fight cancer and improve how our skin looks.

You may be able to use organic cane sugar, which is less refined that brown and traditional white sugar. While I didn’t use it in this recipe, I’ve tried it in other recipes with excellent results.

Finally, there’s almonds, which provide healthy fats, protein, iron, and magnesium. The almonds also lend a great crunch to the muffins for a delightful variety of textures. While there’s nothing scientific about this other than my personal experience, but foods that have a variety of textures and some crunch are so much more satisfying that foods that are all just softness.

Ginger Almond Oat Muffins

Laura Norris

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 17 minutes mins

Total Time 27 minutes mins

Ingredients

  

• 3/4 cup oat bran
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons natural unsweetened applesauce
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 1 cup milk of choice
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup chopped candied ginger
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sliced almonds divided

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Mix together the dry ingredients (oat bran through cinnamon) in a bowl.
• In a separate mixing bowl, beat together the applesauce, butter, sugar, and maple syrup, then beat in the egg and milk.
• Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and gently stir to combine.
• Gently fold the chopped candied ginger and 1/4 cup of the sliced almonds into the mixture.
• Line or grease a muffin pan. Use an ice cream scoop or 1/4 cup measuring cup to portion out the mixture into 12 muffins.
• Top the muffins with the remaining sliced almonds.
• Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Notes

If you do not have oat bran, simply substitute ground rolled oats.

[Tweet “Healthy ginger almond oat muffins from @thisrunrecipes #fitfluential #eattorun”]

As usual, I’m linking up with Tina and Debbie for Meatless Monday. Thank you to both of them for hosting! 

Questions of the Day:
What’s your favorite flavor of muffin?
What are your weekend plans? Baking anything?
Do you have a distinct regional accent? —-> At least I don’t say I live in Warshington. I’m from St. Louis county, not the city.

Summary

Recipe Name

Ginger Almond Oat Muffin

Published On

2015-07-31

Preparation Time

0H10M

Cook Time

0H17M

Total Time

0H27M