I love cake… in any shape or form… fluffy, eggy, sweet and buttery. Who could resist? And just that it should be. I don’t believe in “healthy”, fat or sugar free cakes because it takes away everything that’s good about them. So until this day I have resisted making wholesome cakes because if you want to be healthy you shouldn’t have cake, or muffins, or cupcakes…
I have been asked to try and make my cakes “good for you” just that little bit too often and ultimately I succumbed and gave it a go.
I have to admit, these ones are good. Pretty, pretty good… but if you are looking for that cakey, buttery moistness, stop here. This is, primarily and soley, a breakfast muffin, full of fibres and lovely nutty seeds. It’s moist and very filling, because of the wholemeal flour that’s used. Don’t be put off by the courgette, it won’t taste like a vegetable muffin bust simply add moisture. I mean, carrots are vegetables and we all love a carrot cake, don’t we?

So here we go: beautifully cinnamony and nutty breakfast muffins. If you like it a little sweeter, up the amount of honey or add a little brown sugar. Another thing I’d like to try next time is to add a dollop of jam or sweetened cream cheese into the middle.
Happy baking :)

MAKES 12
PREPARATION 10 mins
COOKING 25 mins
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INGREDIENTS

    •    225g wholemeal flour
    •    1½ tsp baking powder
    •    2 tsp ground cinnamon
    •    a pinch of salt
    •    200ml milk
    •    2 eggs
    •    4 tbsp vegetable oil
    •    7 tbsp clear honey (you can replace this with brown sugar)
    •    150g courgette, coarsely grated (this is approximately one small courgette)
    •    40g mixed seeds such as pumkin, sesame, and sunflower
    •    25g oats (this equals one sachet of porridge oats)
    •    cream cheese or jam to add to the middle (this is optional)

PREPARATION METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C and line a muffin tray with muffin cases. Mix together the oats and seeds and set aside.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. In another bowl mix together the eggs, milk, oil, honey/sugar and courgette. Add the liquid mix to the dry ingredients and carefully combine. Don’t over-mix it as you’ll start to chop up your courgette too much, just make sure everything is incorporated.
3. Spoon your muffin mix into the tray (about 2/3 up as your muffins will rise). Sprinkle with the seed/oat mix and bake for 25 minutes. Check whether the muffins are done by inserting a wooden skewer and making sure it comes out clean.
4. Cool for a few minutes and enjoy with honey, cream cheese, greek yoghurt or jam and a nice cup of coffee. Yuuum ;)