Butternut Squash Muffins

I love taking recipes and adapting them to my needs and preferences - usually whatever I have in my kitchen and any opportunity to make foods healthier. As with anything experimental, food can sometimes be hit and miss. However these muffins have been completely re-engineered and are 100% delicious. Jump straight to the recipe here or read on for an explanation as to how and why these muffins are much better (in my opinion) than the original recipe!

Firstly, the reason for making butternut squash muffins was a result of having several home grown squashes to use.

I love butternut squash soup and will definitely be making the classic version and the one with apple soon. As it is the height of summer and butternut squash reminds me of cooler seasons, I thought a sweet treat would be a good alternative.

The original recipe came from Jamie Oliver's website. After looking at the ingredient list and reviewing the nutritional information, I was surprised by how unhealthy these muffins were - lots of sugar, plain flour, oil. There's no mention of fibre content in the nutritional breakdown, or cholesterol but with 4 eggs I assume cholesterol would be high (One egg typically has approx. 215mg cholesterol). Over 400 calories for one muffin, with over 33g sugar - that's over 8 teaspoons - and almost 20g fat. Those nutritional numbers are more than I usually eat in a main meal!!

Therefore, I decided to see if I could make healthier versions yet still retain the moist, sweet texture - similar to carrot cake.

Recently on the internet I have seen many sites referring to healthy food substitutions/swaps. Buzzfeed has a good list of 27 Easy Ways To Eat Healthier and LIVESTRONG.com list 14 Ingredient Swaps to Make Your Recipes Healthier. In addition I never use sour cream but still wanted to recreate the cream cheese frosting that topped these muffins. Turns out there's 10 different ways sour cream can be substituted. I opted for the cottage cheese version but may be tempted to try the cashew version another time.

Most of these suggestions are second nature to me - dates instead of sugar, mashed banana or applesauce instead of butter or oil, nonfat Greek yogurt instead of cream, avocados instead of mayo, nutritional yeast instead of cheese. Plus I love cauliflower pizza dough, courgette noodles, cauliflower rice, frozen banana ice cream, and chocolate tofu mousse!

Inspired by the food swap recommendations, together with an abundance of squash, led me to make-over this recipe by doing the following:

• Cut the sugar content (originally 350g) and use only 112g agave nectar*. Honey can also be used instead of agave nectar.
• Cut the number of eggs required (originally 4) and use 2 eggs and a vegan egg substitute - in this case bean liquid (aquafaba)**
• Do not add salt
• Instead of using plain, all-purpose flour that's milled from the inner part of the wheat kernel and contains neither the germ nor the bran, use oats instead that are whole grain and a richer source of soluble fibre.
• Cut out the olive oil and replace with unsweetened applesauce.
• Replace the sour cream with lowfat cottage cheese

*Agave nectar is 1.4 times sweeter than sugar so when a recipe calls for 1 cup sugar (approx. 200g), 2/3cup can be used instead (approx. 130g). As agave nectar is a liquid sweetener it's important to reduce other liquids by 1/4. It's also suggested to reduce the oven temperature by 15C / 25F and bake for slightly longer. I used less agave nectar than the recipe required had I followed the 1cup sugar to 2/3cup agave nectar rule. The muffins were still deliciously sweet. I baked the muffins for 5 minutes longer than the original recipe but kept the oven temp. the same.

**Aquafaba - By replacing two of the eggs with bean liquid (from a can of chickpeas) I was able to cut the liquid content of the recipe to allow for the addition of the liquid sweetener. Usually 45ml / 3tbsp bean liquid is required for every egg. I used 2 eggs in this recipe and 60ml/4tbsp bean liquid. It resulted in a moist batter without being too liquidy.

After swapping ingredients and amending quantities, each muffin is less than 200 calories (the original version contained 422 calories), with less than 11g sugar (1/3 less) and just over 4g fat (3/4 less). There's over 5g protein (same as original) and over 3g fibre.

The muffins can easily be frozen, without the cream cheese frosting (168 calories and 9g sugar). They can also be made in an 9x9 baking tray and sliced into squares if a muffin tray isn't available.

Butternut Squash Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes 12

Ingredients:
Muffins
- 300g / 11oz oats (I use old fashioned oats)
- 30g / 1oz walnuts
- 2tsp baking powder
- 1tsp cinnamon
- 420g / 15oz butternut squash, skin on, deseeded and roughly chopped
- 2 eggs
- 60ml / 4tbsp bean liquid / aquafaba
- 115g / 4oz applesauce, unsweetened
- 112g / 5.5tbsp agave nectar OR honey

Cream Cheese Frosting
- 115g / 4oz cottage cheese
- 5ml / 1tsp vanilla extract
- 15g / 2tbsp icing sugar
- 30ml / 2tbsp lemon juice

Method:

• In a food processor, process the oats into oat flour and then add the walnuts, baking powder and cinnamon.
• Pulse to combine the ingredients and chop the walnuts into smaller pieces. 
• Transfer the oat flour mixture to a large bowl.
• Using the food processor, finely chop the butternut squash into pieces.
• Add the squash to the bowl and stir to combine with the oat flour mixture.
• Using the food processor again, add the eggs, bean liquid (aquafaba), applesauce, agave nectar and blend to combine.
• Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl and mix together.
• Spoon the muffin mixture into a muffin tray (or 9x9 baking tray).
• Bake for 30 minutes at 175C / 350F.
• Allow to cool on a wire rack.
• To prepare the cream cheese frosting, blend all the ingredients in a food processor until the cottage cheese is smooth.
• Chill the frosting in the fridge and then spoon on top of the cooled muffins. ENJOY!

Nutritional Information: