Healthy Power Muffins For Little Athletes

Like many of my recipes, this one for Healthy Power Muffins For Little Athletes, was not a simple journey from Point A (inspiration) to Point B (final product). I never really talk about the process, mostly because this blog has evolved over the years and is not a “let’s talk about food” type of blog, but rather one of those much-aligned places where I talk about everything BUT the food and then pop a recipe on the end.

Love it or hate it, it is what it is. (and you can always jump straight to the recipe if you don’t want to read my drivel).

But, the other day I was thinking about the entire creative process, what it looks like, how it feels, and how long it is, and I realized that most people don’t get to see the ins and outs of creating a recipe. Which, since I am a writer as well, I know is much the same as creating a piece of writing. What most people see is the finished product. They see pretty pictures, read the recipe, and mostly wonder how on Earth this happens. Or, what is probably more accurate, they wonder how someone can do this thing–this act of creating–and wonder if it takes some special talent or skill or education.

And, while I can’t speak for everybody because I can guess for many it does require one or all of those things, the answer is that for me the act of creating, more than anything, requires that I just keep going.

That’s it. Sure, there is a spark of creativity at the start, but truly that’s usually inspired by something else–some other recipe or dish that I’ve tried and want to recreate or give my own spin. But mostly, the creative process is just that a process.

Proc·ess: /ˈpräˌses/ noun 1. a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end:

And that process is nothing like the finished product with its glossy perfection. It’s messy, grungy, and filled with a lot of failures. The only difference between people who succeed in creating and those who don’t is that the ones who succeed are stubborn enough to keep going.
That’s it. That’s the secret to creativity. You just have got to do it and keep doing it. In order to illustrate this, I thought I would peel back the curtain a bit to give you the skinny on the creative process for this particular recipe. From inspiration to the final product. 

The Messy Process Of Creativity

Inspiration: The inspiration for this recipe was two-fold. First of all, I wanted to create a healthy portable snack that Kenzie could take with her to school and the gym. Some days she is there from 7:30-7:30 with two practices and school in-between and let me tell you, she gets hungry. Her classroom is nut-free and she doesn’t do well with dairy, so I had some hurdles to getting there.

Around the same time, I checked the cookbook “Rise and Run” out from the library. Written by marathon-superstar Shalene Flanagan and her trainer, it’s a breakfast cookbook filled with recipes designed for runners and endurance athletes. I highly recommend it, by the way. In the book, there is a recipe for Superhero muffins which were filled with goodies like sweet potato, zucchini, and coconut oil. BUT, they were made with almond flour, and didn’t quite hit the sweetness mark I knew they’d have to pass the KID TEST.

So, that led to Attempt #1: I subbed out the almond flour 1-for-1 with whole wheat flour and added chocolate chips and vanilla for more sweetness. They were close, but not quite. The texture didn’t appeal to the kids. They were dry and a bit crumbly and they were just not quite sweet enough.

Attempt #2: In order to add more moisture, I needed some more wet ingredients to balance the dry. I tossed around mashing bananas or using yogurt, but ultimately decided to go with pumpkin puree, both because it is nutrient-dense and has a gentle sweetness. I also played around with the flour ratios, swapping out some of the whole oats and adding white flour to get a better consistency. The result was closer. The texture was on point, dense but not dry, moist but not overly so. But the sweetness still wasn’t quite there.

Final Attempt #3: In order to add more sweetness I knew I needed a dry sweetener because I didn’t want to throw the ratios off and mess with the texture. I love the way brown sugar works with pumpkin and fall spices, so I went with just ¼ cup as an addition, added to the wet ingredients, and it was the answer.

The muffins passed the kid test, and I love them too.

Listen, I didn’t write all of this out in painful detail with the expectation that you’d sit in raptured silence and read through every word. I wrote it all out in excruciating detail to illustrate just what a beatdown the creative process can be. 

In my case, it involves a lot of cursing, sticky notes with recipes scribbled on them ALL over the place, giant kitchen messes, and a lot of failures. It usually includes at least one attempt that’s darn near inedible and needs to be tossed. (this time the kids ate every single attempt). And I still will, even after this recipe is published, tinker with it every time I make these muffins, always thinking they could be just a little bit better.

I don’t assume you guys think I’m special or some sort of superstar like Giada, but I do have people ask how I create recipes sometimes. And when they do, they often seem to think that this is some cool job or I do it because it’s a gift. 

It’s not. (well, it is cool, it’s just not a gift)

I truly believe the only reason I’ve been even remotely successful at this thing is that I’m too stubborn to quit. I just keep going, even after I’ve failed about 300 times (and counting). And I hate that there are people out there who could be just as badass as I am, or more, doing their own creative thing, but don’t try because they only see the glossy perfection of the finished product and think they could never do that.

They can.

You can.

And you should.

So whatever it is you want to do–painting, writing, cooking, dancing, whatever it is…don’t stop. Be stubborn and fail, like a lot. Fail again and again until you don’t fail anymore. It gets easier the more you do it (the failing part and the succeeding part) and the journey is worth it. I promise.

Now go eat some muffins. Because they’re super good and you’re going to love them.

Healthy Power Muffins For Little Athletes

So now that you know how these little puppies came to life, let’s talk about them a bit with a few notes of guidance.

The first thing I’ll tell you is that if you and your children are accustomed to the sweetness and light texture of, say, a Starbucks muffin, these will take some getting used to. My kids are used to me feeding them bricks of healthy nonsense, so they don’t mind the texture and the low-key sweetness. If you want to step-stone your way into these, swap out either the whole wheat flour or the oat flour or both with white flour, as it gives the lightest touch.

Also, to make oat flour you simply grind up whole oats in your blender until they are the consistency of flour. It will still be a bit grainier than normal flour, which is why I sifted all the flour together. It doesn’t eliminate the grain, you’ll have a bit leftover in the sifter you’ll need to dump into the flour, but it does help aerate it a bit. I recommend making more than you need at one time and storing it in an airtight container in the pantry for future use.

If you need more sweetness, you can always add more brown sugar to the mix or up the chocolate chip addition to 3/4 cup.

Finally, these can be frozen for up to 3 months. They reheat well in the microwave and can be used in a pinch when little tummies are hungry and practice or a game loom near.

No matter how you slice these, they’re tasty and fun and you can feel good about your kids eating them every day.

Peace, love, and the creative process,

Meg

*For More Amazing Muffin Recipes Check Out This Awesome Round-Up: 8 Amazing Muffin Recipes (for any time of day)

Healthy Power Muffins For Little Athletes

September 9, 2022

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By: Meaghan Dawson

Ingredients

• 1 cup grated zucchini
• 1 cup grated, peeled sweet potato
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ⅓ cup maple syrup
• ¼ cup melted coconut oil
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 1 cup oat flour
• 1 cup white flour
• ½ cup whole wheat flour
• (sift the three flours together for best results)
• 1teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon ginger
• ½ cup chocolate chips

Directions

• Step 1 Preheat oven to 350 and line a muffin pan with muffin liners OR spray well with cooking spray.
• Step 2 Combine all wet ingredients in one bowl, whisking well to combine. Set aside.
• Step 3 Sift all three flours into separate bowl, dumping the remainder in and whisking quickly to combine.
• Step 4 Add remaining dry ingredients
• Step 5 Whisk to combine.
• Step 6 Pour the dry ingredients into the wet, adding chocolate chips.
• Step 7 Stir with a rubber spatula until just combined. The batter will be thick.
• Step 8 Scoop into muffin tins until they meet the edge
• Step 9 Using wet hands, pat the tops down to an even surface. (optional but helps them rise prettier)
• Step 10 Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 and let cool on wire rack before removing from tin.

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