Oatmeal Cookie Muffins or Bars (C2)

My friend Alice Hickman Elia took an oatmeal cookie recipe and modified it into muffins and bars; then I modified it further and the following is what my final product was.

 EACH muffin or bar is 1/2 of a starch, 1/2 fruit and 1/3 fat on the 17 Day Diet!!!

I recently made mini loaves out of this recipe -- 4 mini loaves and they came out great!

OATMEAL COOKIE MUFFINS OR BARS (C2)

Recipe Authors: Alice Elia Hickman, Simmie Sinow

2 scoops vanilla whey protein powder

¾ cup whole wheat flour

2 cups uncooked oats 

Artificial sweetener equivalent to 2 Tbsp sugar

2 cups unsweetened applesauce 

2 eggs

2 tsp cinnamon (optional: I don't use this any more)

¼ tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla (optional: I don't use this any more)

1 tsp baking powder

1 Tbsp olive oil [to make them more moist]

If making frozen fruit muffins, add 1 cup chopped frozen fruit to the mixture.

350 oven for 25 minutes      12 muffins standard size or 6 jumbo muffins

These MUST be refrigerated or frozen – there is too much applesauce to leave them out; otherwise, they will grow mold after 24-48 hours. 

IF you eliminate the oil (which I do more times than not), then these are only about 130 calories per muffin.  If you make mini loaves out of them (4 loaves for the entire recipe), then each full loaf is 1.5 starches and is quite filling.

Simmie note: I had a LOT of trouble getting the muffin pan liners separated from the muffins; the next time I did these, I sprayed the heck out of the muffin pans, then when they were done, I took a bread knife and loosened the edges – and voila! They popped right out.

MICROWAVE: If you’ve got a silicone muffin pan (mine holds 6 muffins), I microwave mine on hot for 4 minutes.  If you wind up with only 2 remaining in your last batch, WATCH THEM CAREFULLY as the full 4 minutes will burn the dickens out of the bottom of them (2 min 30 secs seems to work for me).  When they are done, turn onto paper towels with the top of the muffin side DOWN—this allows the bottom to dry out a bit – let sit for about 10-12 minutes, then freeze.

To make BARS:

This can be made in a 6x9 baking pan and cut into bars.  Per Alice, bake 20-25 minutes. Be sure and spray baking pan with Pam spray to prevent sticking. These make good sized bars and with the addition of the oil, they are very moist. BE SURE to FREEZE (or refrigerate) tho.

They’re great when removed from the freezer and microwaved long enough to defrost (between 45 seconds and 1 minute).  Some have heated them up and put vanilla yogurt on top for a nice treat further into the day beyond breakfast.

To make into LOAVES:
This is my favorite! The least amount of fuss, mess, and cleanup! I use the mini loaf pans (about 5" long/wide) and spray with PAM spray, bake for about 25 minutes.  The entire recipe makes 4 loaves; each loaf is 2 natural starches.  I also do variations with strawberry protein powder and fresh strawberries (obviously more calories with the fresh fruit).

Here's a picture of mine: