woo hoo for healthy muffins!

I'm always on the hunt for healthy muffins - I love to make a batch on Sunday, have a few during the week and freeze the rest. I've made these a couple times now - they taste great fresh as well as frozen. Enjoy!

Whole-Wheat Pecan Muffins

(Source: I believe this is from Cooking Light - but I'm not positive!)

Ingredients
1 cup whole-wheat flour

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups low-fat buttermilk

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons stick margarine or butter, melted

1 teaspoon almond extract

2 large egg whites

1/3 cup chopped pecans

Preparation
Preheat oven to 375°.
Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours and the next 4 ingredients (flours through salt) in a medium bowl; make a well in center of mixture.

Combine buttermilk, sugar, margarine, almond extract, and egg whites; stir well with a whisk. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.
Spoon the batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray; sprinkle with nuts. Bake at 375° for 20 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center.

Nutritional Information
CALORIES 161(28% from fat); FAT 5g (sat 0.6g,mono 2.3g,poly 1.3g); PROTEIN 4.1g; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 80mg; SODIUM 200mg; FIBER 2.2g; IRON 1.1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 26.1g

Variations

Well, just one variation for now - this time I used chopped almonds on top instead of pecans and mized in about a half cup of prunes (next time I'll probably try raisins). I also make less than 12 - there's nothing worse than a skimpy muffin! They also are great with a drizzle of honey.