MM's Cheap Eats: Healthy breakfast muffins

By Melanie Hughes

A healthy option for a quick breakfast on-the-go, as opposed to picking up a bacon sarnie or a chocolate-filled pastry every day – save those for a weekly treat!

Makes around 15 muffins

200g wholemeal flour

100g plain flour

50g porridge oats, plus extra for decoration

2 tsp ground cinnamon

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

50g caster sugar

75ml vegetable or sunflower oil

150ml natural yoghurt

150ml milk

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 carrots, grated

1 apple, grated

Poppy seeds

These muffins can be made well in advance and kept in the freezer. They never last too long in my house but I reckon you could keep them frozen for up to one month in a sealed bag/container.

Since I usually start work between 7-8am, I usually struggle to have breakfast beforehand but with these, I can just take one out of the freezer the night before and enjoy it with a coffee when I get to work.

There is a bit of prep involved but it’s worth it. Firstly, you’ll need a muffin baking tray and muffin cases. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius.

One of the most important things with this recipe is not to over-mix the ingredients. You want to aim to get it in the oven as quick as possible to keep it light and airy, if you over mix it, you’ll knock out the air.

On that note, measure out the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients into separate bowls (the apple and carrot are wet ingredients to avoid any confusion).

Sprinkle the poppy seeds into the dry mixture, just a small handful will do but more or less is fine depending on how much you like them

Tip the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until the ingredients are just mixed and there is no residue flour to be seen. Spoon into the muffin cases and top with some porridge oats and extra poppy seeds for decoration.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until you can put a knife into the middle and it comes out clean. Once cooked, simply remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Lots of little alternative ingredients can be added such as banana, walnuts, blueberries, or even chocolate chips if you want to be a bit naughty!

Simply enjoy on the go, or sometimes, I cut one in half and spread some jam onto it and eat it that way. Yummy!

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