Procedure1 Preheat the oven to 350F. Coat and 8 inch square pan with cooking spray. For brownies I line the pan with aluminum foil and grease it with cooking spray, so cutting it is easy and also we can get perfect squares.

2 Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or over a very low flame. I melted the chocolate in the microwave oven, in a medium size bowl. Take care while doing so or else the chocolate will get burnt. So increase the time little by little. Stir it well, it should be smooth.

3 In the same bowl, combine the beet puree, sugar, cocoa powder, margarine, vanilla and unsweetened applesauce and whisk it well. This mixture should be smooth and creamy.

4 Stir in the oat flour, baking powder, chopped walnuts and salt with a wooden spoon.

5 Pour the batter into the prepared pan and baked 35-40 minutes. I checked it after 35 minutes and felt that it was not done. Brownies should spring back when touched, but it did not. So baked it for another 5 minutes.

6 Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Since I lined the pan with aluminum foil I lifted it after an hour and I cooled it on a wire rack. After another 2 hours I was able to cut them into neat squares without any trouble. If baking it directly in the pan, it will take some more (actually a lot more) time for the brownies to cool completely and getting neat pieces will also be difficult.

Taste The taste was simply superb. The oat flour or the beet puree did not affect the taste at all. It tasted like any other regular brownie. The only difference I felt was in the texture, but it was nothing huge. The brownies were chewy and also pudding(y) in the middle. I don’t mean that it was in a semi-solid state, it had set properly, but the texture was a bit different than the usual brownies, which I think is because of the beet puree. Also the brownies are more reddish than brown. This did not stop my son or the rest of us from finishing it off.

My Notes1 I have used 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce instead of 2 egg whites mentioned in the original recipe. If you have extra beet puree you can use 1/4 cup of that itself. I had only 1 cup of beet puree so I used applesauce.

2 Oat flour is readily available in stores. I didn’t have that in hand, so I powdered quick cooking oats in a blender. Be sure to powder it finely, sieve it a couple times.

3 You can use all purpose flour too instead of oat flour.

4 To prepare beet puree you can either buy canned beets and blend it smoothly in a blender or do like what I did. I peeled and cooked the beets in a pressure cooker. Cut into small pieces once cooled and then blend it. I had prepared this a month back. So I put it in cup, covered with plastic wrap and froze it. To use the puree, thaw it in the fridge overnight and by the following afternoon it should be alright.

Procedure1 Preheat oven to 400F. Line muffin pans with paper liners.

2 In a medium bowl sift together the flours, salt, baking powder. Add sugar, dried fruit and the nuts. Combine well. Make a well in the center and set aside.

3 In a liquid measuring mug measure the milk, add the yogurt, orange juice (or peel) and whisk well.

4 Add the wet ingredients to the flour all at once and stir just until combined. Do not over mix. At this point I felt that the batter was very thick, so I added another 2 tablespoons of milk. The consistency felt right after adding the milk.

5 Now spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each two thirds full. I have a ladle which holds 3 tablespoons of batter and it’s the perfect amount to bake the perfect sized muffins. Sprinkle oats on top, if using.

6 Bake in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes or until golden and a wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Mine was done by 19 minutes.

7 Cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups; serve warm (See Taste).

Taste The tartness of the dried cranberries and the orange flavor is a winning combination. But don’t try tasting it warm if you are using whole wheat flour. The original recipe used all purpose flour but I have used a combination of whole wheat flour and oat flour, so it did not taste good when the muffins were still warm. It was a sticky and bitter mass of dough inside, which really freaked me out. Thank God I was patient enough to come to a conclusion the next day morning and was relieved that it tasted good. Actually good enough that my son had it for breakfast everyday.

My Notes1 The original recipe used 1 and 3/4th cup of all purpose flour. You can go with it if you are not a fan of whole wheat flour or don’t have it. Baked goods with whole wheat flour definitely don’t taste exactly like it’s white counterpart. Like tofu, whole wheat pasta, it’s an acquired taste. We have got used to it now. So you may want to start slowly, maybe 1 cup of all purpose flour and 3/4th cup of whole wheat flour/oat flour.

2 Oat flour is readily available in some of the grocery stores. You can make it at home too by finely processing quick cooking oats in a food processor/mixer. Since oat flour does not contain gluten, it cannot substitute 100% of all purpose flour/whole wheat flour. Baked goods will not rise if it is only used. So it has to be used in combination with either all purpose flour or whole wheat flour.

3 I didn’t have fresh oranges to make the zest, so I went with 2 tablespoons of store bought orange juice. This does not give that fresh orange flavor, but be careful not to go overboard with the juice because sometimes the store bought juice has a bitter after-taste and it spoils the taste of the baked goods.

4 I have used 2 tablespoons of yogurt in place of one egg white mentioned in the recipe. Even after using 2 tablespoons of orange juice I found that the batter was very thick, so I had to use another 2 tablespoons of milk. I think the whole wheat flour and the oat flour absorbed more moisture. So consider what type of flour you are using and add water as required.

5 The original recipe is supposed to yield 12 muffins but I got only 9.

Procedure1 Preheat oven to 400F. Grease the muffin tin or line it with paper liner. If using a paper liner, after lining grease the liner by spraying with a non stick spray so the muffins will come out of the paper easily.

2 Combine the dry ingredients together in a big bowl. From granola to baking soda.

3 In another medium size bowl, whisk together the applesauce, milk, brown sugar, oil and yogurt.

4 Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and mix until just combined.

5 Divide evenly into prepared muffin tin, approximately 3 tablespoons of batter per muffin or 3/4th of the tin. Sprinkle little granola/oats on top.

6 Bake 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. I baked mine for about 26 minutes. Always set the timer for the minimum time mentioned in the recipe, test for doneness and if it’s not done, increase the time for 2-3 minutes at a time. (Check My Notes, point 5)

7 Let cool slightly in the tin and then remove to a cooling rack.

Taste I have to say that I did not like the muffins immediately (unlike my son), but started liking it from the next day. These granola muffins don’t have a fluffy texture but feel more like a dense cake. Also they are not overly sweet, in fact the sweetness is very mild, which is perfect for me. The mini chocolate chips and the raisins which you bite on here and there give the right balance. Also they did not taste cinnamony (I know it’s not a word, but you get it right!)

Will I be baking it again? Definitely.

My Notes1 I measured the applesauce using a dry measuring cup, not the liquid measuring mug.

2 If you prefer sweet muffins, either use sweetened applesauce or increase the quantity of brown sugar to 1/2 cup.

3 The original recipe did not use oat flour, I used it because I had it. So if you don’t have oat flour just use 1 cup of all purpose flour or in a food processor finely powder quick cooking oats.

4 Walnuts and semi sweet chocolate chips were not mentioned in the recipe. I added it to lure my son to eat something healthy and it worked! The chocolate chips also gave the sweetness. Always try using mini chocolate chips because you can cut down on calories, sugar and fat. In place of using 1 cup of chocolate chips, you can use just 1/2 cup of the mini without affecting the taste.

5 I had some flavored yogurt (which we did not like by itself) so I used it instead of eggs. I used peach flavored yogurt. Also while using yogurt to replace eggs, instead of measuring exactly 1/4 cup of yogurt, use 3 tablespoons of yogurt and 1 tablespoon of water or any liquid. For this recipe I emptied directly two small containers of yogurt and while mixing felt that the muffin batter was very thick and then I had to add extra water, which made it very watery. I think this is the reason I had to bake it for around 26 minutes. So while using yogurt measure 3 tablespoons of yogurt and 1 tablespoon of water in a cup, whisk it well and then mix it to the other ingredients or simply use buttermilk.