Chocolate Raspberry Oatmeal Muffins

I am horrible about breakfast foods. I have tried unsuccessfully over the years to encourage myself to like breakfast and all my attempts have failed. Really I can look all the way back to my childhood and see the basis for my breakfast issues. When I was a senior in high-school my idea of a healthy breakfast entailed a cup of coffee and a spoonful of peanut butter straight from the jar. This wasn't the best beginning to my day which started with working two hours before I went to a full day of classes, then hours of swimming and dance classes in the evenings. College was even worse, I moved from a scoop of peanut butter to chocolate chip scones or giant cookies (and still lots of coffee). After having kids I started to try to change my habits. I was successful at getting my kids to eat healthy every morning, as for me I'm still a work in progress. Some days I do great, others I have a large cup of coffee and a scoop of peanut butter. Oh well. One breakfast food that I have found that my whole family enjoys is muffins. Last week I tried a new recipe for Chocolate Raspberry Oatmeal Muffins which looked very easy and a great way to start the day.

This recipe has 14 ingredients. It takes a total of an hour and 25 minutes and makes 12 servings. I did make a few modifications based on ingredients that I already had in my pantry. I did not have dark chocolate chips so instead I used semi-sweet. For the raspberries I used frozen since the raspberries available locally lately have been pretty mediocre. Instead of a 1/2 cup of butter I substituted unsweetened applesauce. I have discussed before how I prefer to substitute applesauce for butter or oil in a large number of baked goods. It keeps the baked goods moist while greatly reducing the fat. Finally, instead of adding vinegar to milk I used the low-fat buttermilk I already had in the fridge. Since my muffins had applesauce instead of butter my overall cooking time was much longer, approximately an additional 10 minutes. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My two boys loved these muffins and didn't notice the substitution of applesauce for butter. I liked how they were great for breakfast or a snack and had a taste that was appealing to both my kids and my husband and I. These muffins could be modified to use a variety of fillings. They would be delicious with chopped apples and nuts, especially with the applesauce modification. Overall a very easy breakfast muffin recipe.

For the recipe go to Chocolate Raspberry Oatmeal Muffins.