Pretty Delicious, Blueberry Oat Muffins

Have you ever read a cookbook from cover to cover?  I had read a blurb about Candice Kumai's cookbook, Pretty Delicious a couple of weeks before it came out and headed over to her blog to check her out.  Nicknamed the Stiletto Chef, this former Top Chef contestant has the cutest style and has a quality about her that makes her so likable.  Her cookbook offers practical tips to cut calories and fat, great recipes and is jam packed with great information.

Trained at Le Cordon Blue, Candice puts her years of experience as a chef and a former fashion model together and presents food that is delicious, appealing and good for you!  The best thing about her book is she believes in good for you natural ingredients, some thing she called Food With Benefits (FWB).  Her recipes are kept lean without sugar substitutes, or crazy ingredients that you have to go to a speciality store for all made with a handful of ingredients (not a huge laundry list of stuff you'll only use once).  I wanted to try out one of her recipes ASAP (I leafed through the book every couple of days trying to decide which one), and if you like this one she has a couple more on her website too!!

Blueberry Oat Muffins
adapted from Pretty Delicious

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup quick oats
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of sea salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 Tbsp honey
1 cup frozen blueberries (or raspberries)

1.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Line muffin tin with paper liners, or coat with baking spray. 

2.  Mix flour, brown sugar, oats, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt together in a large bowl.  In another bowl mix eggs, applesauce and honey. 

3.  Stir the applesauce mixture into the flour mixture until incorporated. 

4.  Gently mix in berries.

5.  Bake for 20 minutes, rotating half way through, cooking until the muffins are golden brown.  Let cool for 20 minutes and transfer to wire rack to cool completely. 

Best of all her book comes with nutritional info!  These babies only have 180 calories per muffin, compare that to the lowfat options at Starbucks (380-420 calories).  I took them to work and everyone loved how moist and juicy they were, no one even knew that they were "healthy".  Most people were surprised that there was no butter or oil in the muffins as well.  I can't wait to try more of her recipes, on the list are Portobello Fries, Sesame-Ginger Chicken Strips, and one of her many Quinoa recipes!