When talking about increasing fiber content for baked goods, a lot of people usually focus on introducing actual fiber into your ingredients. There are all sorts of ground-up seeds that you can use. One of my favorites is baking with flaxseed. The great thing about baking with flaxseed is that it not only is an unobtrusive, but it also packs quite a bit of omega-3 fatty acids. These have been linked to increased heart health and other health benefits.
For whatever reason, if you cannot use flaxseed, either in its complete form or in its ground-up meal version, you might want to boost the nut content of your muffin recipes. In fact, adding a bit of walnuts or pecans can go a long way in boosting the dietary fiber content of your baked goods, but it can also add a tremendous amount of much-welcome texture.
The problem with the typical muffin recipe with no nuts is that it tends to be very bland, at least in terms of texture. It may taste awesome because of cinnamon or some other spice that you add to the mix, but in terms of texture, you just basically bite through the muffin, and you can easily plow through these baked items with no problem. It can make eating muffins pretty much automatic. Sure, you get great taste but it feels like you’re going through the motions.
Make no mistake about it, texture plays a big role in your perception of how great a dish is. Great taste is important but it can only go so far. There’s a lot of food out there that has taste covered. They taste awesome but chances are, most people aren’t writing home about them. They fall between the cracks. They get overlooked. If you want your muffins to truly get the recognition and appreciation they deserve, you have to do something that goes beyond ensuring your baked creations taste great. You should invest in adding the proper texture to them. Why is texture important? Texture provides some sort of ‘framework’ for the taste of your muffins. They help highlight the taste by training your mouth and tongue to appreciate your muffins’ flavor more.
I do not know about you, but if you slap on some chocolate chips on a muffin, I can pretty much go through half a dozen fairly quickly. This, of course, does no wonders for our midsection. It definitely is a sure recipe for gaining a few pesky, extra pounds.
If you really want to get a little healthier as well as truly enjoy the muffins that you are eating, adding a few nuts into the muffin mix can surely go a long way. There is just something about enjoying muffins that have a pecan sticking out at the top. As you bite down, you feel a few more nuts with each mouthful. When you grind the nuts in your mouth, they release extra flavor.
This is why adding a bit of texture for what would otherwise be a fairly soft recipe, is always a good idea. It, at least, gives people enjoying your baked delicacies something to look forward to. It adds an element of surprise. It throws people off in a good way. You are not just going through the motions.
In addition to nuts, you can also try carrot gratings. You take a carrot, and you run it through a grater and put some of these grated chunks either on the top or in the body of the muffin batter. This adds a tremendous amount of body as well as taste nuggets. The great thing about adding carrots and nuts is that the carrots do not really overwhelm the overall taste profile of the muffin recipe you are baking.
The muffin recipe pretty much remains intact, but you benefit from the added texture of the carrot gratings as well as the nuts. Properly mixed and in the proper proportions, adding carrots can actually boost the vitamin content of your muffins. The same goes with the nuts. You can boost the amount of dietary fiber in your muffin recipes. Again, if you are considering mixing things up, and take your muffin recipes to the next level, whip out the best muffin pan and get yourself a bag of nuts.
Keep the tips above in mind. Great tasting muffins are not enough. They have to be engaging. They have to appeal to your tastebuds’ need for texture. The key is to use texture as a ‘framework’ for the great taste your muffin recipe brings to the table. Whip out those muffin pans and start experimenting away.
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