As our own Jon Yaneff discovered this month in a food showdown, McDonald’s muffins actually ranked worse for your health than donuts from Dunkin’ Donuts. Neither is all that healthy for you, but if you’re like me, having a baked snack with your mid-morning coffee or tea is one of those enjoyable moments I look forward to each day.

Especially if you wake up to the scent of fresh baked goods, hot out of the oven, which is a regular occurrence when I stay over at my parents’ house—my mom is quite the baker!

See: Showdown: Muffin vs. Donut

But as we often say, when it comes to food, it’s best to make it yourself, from scratch, using healthy, whole ingredients—organic is a plus. So how, you might ask, is it possible to make a muffin—that seems to be worse than a sugary donut—that’s healthy? By stocking it full of healthy ingredients, of course. And while the McDonald’s muffin can help you put on the pounds, this healthy muffin recipe can help you get bikini-ready when paired with a healthy diet.

What’s so great about these muffins? They feature fresh in-season raspberries and fiber-packed oat bran. The benefits of fresh raspberries are extensive, but the weight loss benefits are what reign supreme here when combined with oat bran. There are eight grams of fiber (a third of your recommended daily intake) in just one cup of raspberries, which come in at a low 64 calories per cup. Add to that the 5.7 grams of fiber found in a cup of oat bran, and these muffins become a hunger-crushing, sweet snack to help keep you on the beach-body track. If you want to up the fiber content even more, you can either add some ground flaxseed to the batter or sprinkle it on the top of each muffin before baking.

Finally, oat bran helps to improve long-term blood sugar levels, making this snack a good choice for diabetics (just sub out the honey for your sweetener of choice), while the high potassium content in raspberries helps stabilize healthy blood pressure, a bonus for those at risk of cardiovascular disease.

Print recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup skim milk
• 1 cup oat bran
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup avocado oil
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 tsp fresh lemon zest
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Note

If you’re looking to use fresh raspberries, it’s best to freeze them first before mixing up your batter. This will help keep the berries from becoming mushy and breaking apart when you add them to the batter.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Combine milk and oat bran in a large bowl and let sit for about 15 minutes.

In a separate bowl, beat egg and add honey, avocado oil and lemon zest; stir together.

After your milk and oat bran mixture has sat for 15 minutes, add egg, honey, oil and lemon zest mixture to the bowl.

In another separate bowl, sift together whole wheat flour, baking powder and salt, then add to your wet ingredients.

Stir together until just mixed, then fold in your raspberries (see note above for tip).

Distribute batter evenly in a lightly greased muffin pan; you can use paper liners if you prefer.

Bake in the oven for 15–20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Makes 12 small muffins.

Originally published Thursday, June 26, 2014 on Foods4BetterHealth.com.