Green. Green is the color of St. Patrick’s Day. When I was a kid growing up in Boston, if you weren’t wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day you’d get punched in the arm. Then, in college (and beyond) it was all about the green beer. Well instead of punches and terrible hangovers, I’ve got a fun treat for you that everyone will love: green muffins!

I made these with my cooking class on Monday and despite all kinds of exclamations of “it looks like puke!” and covered eyes in disgust when we were making them, every. single. kid. in the class loved these muffins! They were so popular that they asked if we could make them again next week and my sons have been begging me to make them again in time for tomorrow.

I love these muffins because they can be a nice introduction to spinach for those who aren’t so sure about it (there are a lot of spinach haters in my class and they all loved them), they are packed with all kinds of vitamins from the spinach (check out this amazing list of the 34 health benefits of spinach to get you excited!), banana, and whole wheat, and they are super simple to make!These muffins are sweet enough (but only have 2/3 of a cup of sugar!) to sell as dessert but healthy enough that they would serve nicely as part of breakfast or a snack. My seven-year-old even asked if I could turn them into a cake to have for his next birthday! Really, you can’t lose with these.

So try them out tomorrow whether it is for a family celebration, a work party, or just to add to your freezer stock!

Spinach Muffins

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

18 mins

Total time

28 mins

 

Adapted from: http://thegreenforks.com/popeye-muffins/

Author: Jessica Braider

Recipe type: Breakfast, Snack, Dessert

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole whole wheat or spelt flour or 1 cup all purpose/1 cup whole wheat
• ⅔ cups sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ cup butter or coconut oil
• ¾ cup milk
• 1 (6 oz) bag baby spinach
• 1 large banana
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease or line two muffin tins.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt). Set aside.
3. Melt the butter or coconut oil. In a food processor or blender, mix the milk, spinach, and butter until it is completely pureed. Add banana and vanilla and blend until just mixed.
4. Pour pureed mixture into the dry ingredients and stir with a spatula until completely combined. Distribute the batter evenly amongst the muffin cups and bake for 18-20 minutes.

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