Strawberry muffin fail... what did I do wrong?

I'm a fairly accomplished baker, but I'm not that experienced with substituting "healthy" ingredients. lol I generally just bake stuff the old fashioned way, eat one and then take the rest to work to share. But I have a few ideas:

The Splenda MIGHT be part of your problem - if you used the baking kind, it's designed to be a substitute for WHITE sugar. This recipe only calls for 1/4 cup of sugar, that works out to just over a teaspoon per muffin, which isn't much. I would leave the brown sugar in. The molasses in the brown sugar also contributes to moistness, and it works with the baking soda to help the muffins rise.

It probably had more to do with the strawberry puree. Any time I bake with real strawberries, I end up with a gooey mess. They just don't set up well in anything. The applesauce is to replace the fat (oil or butter) that you'd normally find in a recipe to give it tenderness and keep it moist. Strawberry puree or juice is just too much liquid.

If you can't get applesauce, try subbing in low-fat greek yogurt. Do not use any juices or purees of any kind. And unless you absolutely need it to be vegan, I would not sub out the egg white. A whipped white adds a lot of volume to baked goods.

I love Sally's blog - I'm going to try this recipe myself and I'll let you know how they turned out!

If you can make smooth (i.e. lump-free) applesauce, I would definitely try that instead of pureeing strawberries. I regularly use raw cane sugar for baking and even if you don't like the taste, I don't think you'll be able to really taste 1/4 of a cup.

What's really important for getting the muffin texture is that you, just like the recipe says, mix the dry and wet (+ sugar) ingredients separately first and then add the wet ones really quickly until they're just folded in. Also make sure you put the muffins in the oven immediately and that the oven is pre-heated properly.

Hi there!
This has been my fool-proof base recipe. You can use vanilla protein powder and mix in fresh blueberries, or use strawberry protein powder and replace the apple sauce with fresh strawberry puree. I have done both, and it worked well. For juicy blueberries, it has helped to throw those on top of the dough, and push them under with a toothpick. They are less likely to burst like that. I suggest using reusable silicone cupcake forms, because the little paper cups won't come off the cupcakes.
Run the ingredients through MFP, they should come out under 100 calories each.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups oat flour 450 calories
(regular whole grain quick oats, ground to oat flour, 3 serv. at 150 cal each)

2 scoops (servings) vanilla whey protein* 240 calories
(e.g. Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard, French Vanilla, 2 serv. at 120 cal each)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt
(can be left out, if you are watching sodium)

2/3 cup Splenda no-calorie granulated sweetener for baking

4 oz. unsweetened applesauce 70 calories
(e.g. White House Natural Plus, Kroger, apple sauce section, small cups in a package)

4 oz. (half container) Greek yogurt (e.g. Chobani) 67 calories

2 egg whites at 16 calories each 32 calories

1 cup unsweetened coconut milk 45 calories
(e.g. SO Delicious Dairy free Coconut milk in a carton, NOT in a can, Kroger, health food section)

1 tsp coconut extract




Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Spray a muffin tin with non-stick spray and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine the oat flour, protein powder, baking soda and salt.
4. Whisk until well combined and set aside.
5. In a second bowl, combine brown sugar, applesauce, yogurt, egg whites, coconut milk and coconut extract, stirring until incorporated.
6. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well.
7. Use a 1/4 cup as a scoop to fill muffin tins, or a large spoon, also suggest using paper cupcake baking cups, the mix is a bit soupy
8. Place in the oven on the middle rack for 20 minutes, or until a tooth pick comes out

Thanks, but going to have to see if regular yogurt works in place of greek and will most likely be using coconut milk from a can....

Greek Yogurt and So Delicious Coconut milk will make this a 30 buck batch of muffins lol... for those 2 alone, not even counting the cost of the other ingredients.... but I do appreciate, love getting new recipes to try Esp protein heavy ones!

No problem. Just note, that coconut milk from the can adds a ton of calories. I accidentally used this the first time around, and it pushed the calorie count over 200 per cupcake. Just use plain milk. I have also used unsweetened almond milk, or soy milk. Plain regular yogurt is too juicy, compared to the Greek yogurt. You can try non-fat or low fat sour cream instead. It has to do with the baking soda, or baking powder. This always needs something dairy to get activated. Buttermilk would probably work, too. Try grading a fresh apple for the apple sauce. Works just as well. Any cheap brand oats will do, I just use the quick oats because it's got more volume, compared to the rolled oats, and therefore if I measure by cups, I will get a lower calorie count.
Personally, I can't sacrifice the protein powder for the recipe, because I'm trying use the stuff for everything that I bake. I keep 1/2 dozen flavors around. For me, if it doesn't have protein, it's not worth eating....lol

I would bet on the flax seed substitution being the cause of a dense muffin.

If I were to attempt I would whip the egg whites to stiff peaks with a bit of cream of tartar (for stabilizing) before folding in.

Also pureed strawberries aren't as thick and viscous as applesauce, which may have lead to a watery mix, which means a longer bake time and a denser product.

Not a problem. Just add a spoon of oat meal until the mix is a bit stiffer. Adding a bit of potato starch to a mix with foam egg whites will make the cupcakes 'pouf up' nicely, too.
Most recipes that I came across, use liquid egg whites....no luck getting those into a decent foam.... But I just use the yolks elsewhere during the day.
About the flax seed....it's not possible to just substitute any flour completely. The dough needs gluten to get sticky and keep in shape. There are some substitutes for gluten, but I have not tried any, I'm not sensitive to the stuff.... Oats, by the way, contain gluten, too, this why it works.

Science is science and some elements and ingredients work togother and some just don't.

You can't have your muffin and eat it too.

Here's a possible sub for the brown sugar:

http://www.nigella.com/kitchen-queries/view/Muscovado-Sugar/2829

Applesauce is relatively easy to make and there are a ton of recipes on the internet.

Like others have said, baking is more a function of science and balancing equations than cooking. With some trial and error, you'll get something that you like!

I don't really have much to add, the above posters have given excellent advice, I'd bet the combination of strawberry puree instead of applesauce and sugar substitutions is what made your texture weird. There's nothing sadder than sad muffins. Good luck!

Actually, it's not that bad. They are not as sticky, compared to a 'full fat, white processed flour, white processed sugar' (just to make it sound as unhealthy as possible......). Depending on your ingredients and the flavor of the strawberry batch, they might seem a bit watery in taste when they cool down. But I have a few dedicated cupcake fans in my family, and they practically inhaled the batch right out of the oven..... There is a Splenda mix available with brown sugar. It adds to the calories, but the (real) sugar will caramelize nicely, like old fashioned cookie dough...

I like full fat, white processed flour and white processed sugar. That's not the point though. I was just saying that substituting that many ingredients in a recipe that's already been altered to be low fat is probably not the best decision, and is likely the cause for her not being pleased with the results. And she said she didn't use brown sugar at all. So..