What’s Cooking: Wake up to healthy muffins

If you don’t have or don’t want to use flaxseed meal, simply increase the amount of wheat bran by 2 tablespoons (for a total of 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons).

Make ahead: The muffins can be made a day in advance and kept (covered) at room temperature or frozen individually to preserve freshness (for up to 2 weeks), then defrosted in their wrappings. Reheat, loosely wrapped in aluminum foil, in a 300-degree oven for 10 minutes or until warmed through.

From cookbook author Lisa Yockelson.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a standard-size 12-well muffin pan with cooking oil spray. Whisk together the whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, bran, flaxseed meal, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar in a large bowl.

Lightly beat the eggs in a separate mixing bowl, then whisk in the buttermilk, sour cream and vanilla extract. Blend in the oil, mixing well. Thoroughly stir in the mashed bananas. Quickly pour the banana mixture over the flour mixture, scatter over the cranberries and pumpkin seeds, and stir to form a thick batter. Let it stand, uncovered, for 2 minutes, to allow the flours to be absorbed into the batter and steadies the rise of the muffins during baking.

Divide the batter equally among the muffin pan wells, mounding the portions slightly.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the muffins have risen and set and have browned. A wooden pick inserted in the center of a muffin will withdraw clean or with a few moist crumbs.

Cool the muffins in the pan on a wire cooling rack for 10 minutes, then turn them out and cool completely (right side up) on the rack.

These muffins will remind you of carrot cake. Recipe from allrecipes.com, tested by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tins to hold about 15 muffins.

Crack eggs into a small bowl and beat well. Add brown sugar, oil and vanilla, and whisk together until smooth.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, salt and grated sweet potato. Make a well in the center and pour in the egg mixture. Stir the egg mixture, gradually incorporating it into the sweet potato mixture. Stir in the raisins and walnuts.

Spoon the batter into the muffin tins; filling them to the rim will result in large caps. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Use a paring knife around the edges of each muffin, if needed, to help pop them out of the tin. Best when served immediately.

These apple-pie-scented muffins are both healthful and utterly scrumptious, thanks to a couple of key ingredient swaps. First, a combination of applesauce and canola oil replaces the butter typically used, adding less fat while giving the muffins a moist, tender cakelike appeal. Second, whole-wheat pastry flour provides whole-grain nutrition without a coarse, dense “health-food” taste. It is widely available now, but as an alternative you can use half regular whole-grain and half all-purpose flour.

From nutritionist and cookbook author Ellie Krieger, via The Washington Post.

For the topping: Whisk together the brown sugar, pecans, whole-wheat pastry flour, oil and cinnamon in a bowl.

For the muffins: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 12-well muffin pan with cooking oil spray. Whisk together the pastry flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium bowl.

Whisk together the brown sugar, oil and eggs in a large bowl until well combined, then whisk in the applesauce and vanilla extract.

Stir in the flour mixture in two additions, alternating with the buttermilk, until just combined. Gently stir in the apple chunks. Divide the batter evenly among the wells of the muffin pan, then sprinkle with the topping mixture. (If you have batter left over, cover it and bake a second batch.)

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick or bamboo skewer inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Transfer the muffin pan to a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes, then run a round-edged knife around the muffins to loosen them and unmold. Cool them completely on the rack before serving or storing.