how do you make this recipe healthy?

Question

Pumpkin Muffins

Serves: 9
Serving Size: 1 muffin

Sweet treat for dessert, or at any time of the day.

INGREDIENTS
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup water
1-2/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup nuts, chopped (optional)

Answer 1

2 egg whites and 1 whole
1 cup of splenda baking sugar (is great! a cup for a cup)
the rest looks great unless you want to use fresh cooked pumpkin

Almonds would be a good choice for nuts, since it has less fat.

Answer 2

wow. Ok, you can use egg beaters instead of the eggs. Egg beaters are basically fake eggs that are healthier than real ones, or you can try using both real eggs but just one yolk. Reduce the sugar to 1/2 cup, or do away with it all together (though I'm not sure how that would taste). The olive oil is ok because it's the kind of fats that your body needs and it helps to keep the muffin moist and fluffy. Everything else should probably be fine. You can reduce the amount of pumpkin you put in it but then you'll have less flavor. If you only use pumpkin which has no other additives, then you should be fine. Spices are fine too.

Answer 3

PUMPKIN RAISIN MUFFINS WITH EQUAL

32% calorie reduction from traditional recipe.

3/4 cup canned pumpkin
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 egg
2 egg whites
1 tablespoon light molasses
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup Equal® Spoonful*
1/2 cup raisins
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine pumpkin, oil, egg and egg whites, molasses and vanilla. Stir in combined flour, Equal®, raisins, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt just until all ingredients are moistened. Fill paper lined 2 1/2 inch muffin cups about 3/4 full.
Bake in preheated 375°F 18 to 20 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack 2 to 3 minutes. Remove muffins from pan and cool completely on wire rack.

Makes 12 muffins.

* May substitute 24 packets Equal® sweetener.

Answer 4

You've actually got a very healthy recipe already!

I would just cut the salt to half a teaspoon and reduce the sugar to 3/4 cup. Also make the nuts pecans, walnuts or almonds. Those are the most beneficial of nuts.

The cinnamon and nuts are both items that regulate blood sugar, naturally. The olive oil is the healthiest oil you can cook/bake with and canned pumpkin is an incredibly beneficial food.

You've got a great snack there already. enjoy it, whether you alter the recipe or not.

Answer 5

This recipe is very healthy already. If you want to use 1 cup whole wheat flour and 2/3 cup unbleached flour instead of white. If you want it low fat (olive oil is very healthy) use 1 cup applesauce in place of the oil. You may substitute 2 egg whites for one of the eggs if desired. Sugar substitute is not a healthy subsitute, they are all artificial and have side effects. You can use brown or raw sugar, but if you try to substitute sugars you will get a different texture you may not like. You do not need that much salt, you can cut it in half if you like. Don't leave out the nuts unless you are allergic to nuts, they are very healthy.

Answer 6

- Use egg substitute for the eggs. Generally, 1/4 cup of the substitute is equivilant for one egg.
- You could use baking Splenda instead of sugar, or just keep the sugar.
- Use applesauce instead of the oil
- Cut the salt to 1/4 or 1/2 teaspoon
- Use unbleached flour or another whole wheat flour or even Fiber One cereal instead of all-purpose flour. Personally, I'd go with the Fiber One cereal as it will add fiber to your treat and make it as healthy as it could possibly be. No need for the flour at that point.

Outside of that, it sounds like a pretty decent recipe.

Answer 7

you might reduce the oil to 1/4 cup and add 1/2 cup applesauce for moistness other than that it seems fine. you also could reduce the sugar to 3/4 cup as I am sure there is plenty of flavor from all the spices and leave out the nuts if you are counting calories.

Answer 8

You could use Ener-G Egg replacer (1 tbsp replacer to 4 tbsp of water to replace the two eggs) and mix it thoroughly before adding to the batter. Ener-G Egg is starches and leaveners designed for people who cannot eat egg products (Egg Beaters have actual eggs in them).

You could use a little less sugar and use turbinado (raw) instead of refined.

Make sure the canned pumpkin is nothing more than actual pumpkins.

You could use canola oil and sub half of it with applesauce.

If you're really worried, don't use nuts.

But it doesn't seem terribly unhealthy to me.

Answer 9

It's got a lot of either "pretty healthy stuff," or "not awful stuff" in it already.

The biggest offenders are the cup of sugar, and the olive oil. You can use Splenda or apple sauce in place of the sugar, and canola oil (can't imagine why you'd need 3/4 cup!!) or margarine in place of the olive oil.

Leave out the nuts, too.

Answer 10

Everything is good except for the sugar. If you can stand the taste of Splenda, then replace the sugar with splenda. Then you will be almost eating sugar free/low carb muffins!

If you want to reduce the fat in this recipe. Only use the egg whites, and either add two more egg whites(to replace the egg yolks) to the recipe to keep it moist, or replace the yolks with applesauce.

Cheers and Healthy Eating! :-)