In my house we call these muffins, probably because if we called them cupcakes it would be harder to justify eating them for breakfast pretty much everyday. However, technically I guess they are cupcakes.
This is a great recipe because it is low fat, quick and easy to make, and they freeze really well. It takes only about 10 minutes to prepare and they bake for about 25 minutes.
I make a batch, freeze them individually wrapped and grab them from the freezer in the morning. By the time I get to work they are fully defrosted and ready to eat. While these are not healthy (i.e. they do not have much nutritional value) they are low fat and definitely better for you than eating a doughnut, muffin, or croissant everyday. There is no butter in the recipe, the fats are canola oil and low fat buttermilk. I think that is a pretty standard concoction in low fat baking. (FYI – I recently learned that if you don’t have buttermilk you can substitute it by pouring 1 TBSP fresh lemon juice in a measuring cup and then filling with milk to the 1 cup mark. Let stand for 5 minutes before using. You can also substitute an equal amount of yogurt.)
My only issue with this recipe is that these little suckers have deflated on me multiple times. This of course does not affect the taste, but it is always disappointing. However, leave them in for a few minutes too long and they end up being a bit dry. They are fickle in this regard, so I try to watch them carefully and they will usually bake for about 22-25 minutes.
The recipe calls for a chocolate glaze, which I have never tried. That’s a bit much for a morning bite. However, I think these are an excellent low fat cupcake and you can fatten it up some with a nice buttercream if you want. I think with a glaze or yummy frosting you may not even miss the fattening cupcake.
You can find the recipe here, complete with nutritional information.