I am a breakfast eater. I look forward to it every morning. I have my childhood to thank.

Growing up, we were spoiled. I am mean SPOILED! Our mother made us a HOT breakfast every single morning. No cold milk and cereal here.

She switched it up every once and awhile, but Fridays were always muffin days. Sometimes she would make two batches. A dozen of Alison’s favorite—lemon poppyseed—and a dozen of my favorite—blueberry.

I told you we were spoiled.

To this day, I love a good muffin. But I’ll be honest, I never buy muffins. Why?

Typically they are LOADED with unnecessary ingredients (including preservatives), calories and fat. Plus, it’s very rare to find a whole grain, plant-based muffin where I live.

Making them from scratch means you get to control the ingredients and the portion size. I love to make these Orange Cranberry Muffins and freeze half of them right away so I can spread the muffin love to a different week.

I also have to give credit where it is deserved. Patrick (Alison’s husband) was the first one to make these!

I need to go make another batch of these for my mom since I have a lot of catching up to do! I think I’ll make her some of our Peanut Butter Banana Muffins too.

Enjoy!

❤️l a u r e n

P.S. Did you know citrus consumption is associated with lower breast cancer risk (1)? It is been shown to improve our cells to be more resistant to DNA damage (2). These benefits were also found with the consumption of zest like this recipe uses!

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Orange Cranberry Muffins

Recipe Adapted from: Eat Drink Shrink

Makes: 10 Muffins | Total Time: 30 minutes

ingredients

1 large ripe banana, mashed

½ cup unsweetened almond milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Zest from 1 orange

½ cup dried cranberries, or 1 cup fresh

1 ½  cups whole wheat pastry flour

½ cup sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking powder

⅓ cup avocado oil, or other high heat neutral oil

directions

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Line or lightly grease 10 of 12 muffin cups.

Whisk the pastry flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl.

Add avocado oil, mashed banana, almond milk, vanilla, and orange zest to a bowl and whisk until smooth.

Add the wet to the dry ingredients and lightly combine. Be careful to not over mix.

Fold in the cranberries (saving a few for topping) and evenly add the batter to the muffin tins. Top with remaining cranberries and dust with coarse sugar (optional).

Bake for 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted in the middle and comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool — just enough to enjoy!

References:

(1) Song JK, Bae MJ. Citrus fruit intake and breast cancer risk: a quantitative systematic review. J Breast Cancer. 2013;16(1):72-6.

(2) Szeto YT, Chu WK, Benzie IF. Antioxidants in fruits and vegetables: a study of cellular availability and direct effects on human DNA. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 2006;70(10):2551-5.