Waste Not, Want Not - Mini Wheat Muffins

A few of my children enjoy eating mini wheats for breakfast.  I purchase the family size Malt-o-Meal brand and we go through at least a bag a week.  It's high in fiber and relatively nutritious, so I'm okay with it as a breakfast choice.  However, I cannot stand all of that powdery leftover stuff at the bottom of the bag which just gets thrown into the trash.  Each time I'd toss all that uneatable cereal into the garbage, it would bother me.  What a waste of both food and money!  That got me to thinking...there must be something I could make with that stuff.  I searched the internet and found a few recipes that turned it into muffins.  Hmmm...that sounded like it just might work! Here's my recipe that I adapted from a few I found.

Mini-Wheat Muffins
1 tbsp baking powder
2 cups flour
1 cup crushed mini wheats (the stuff left over at the bottom of the bag/box)
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

3/4 cup milk
1 cup oil (or 1/2 cup applesauce plus 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt)
2 eggs

Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl.  Mix the wet ingredients well in another bowl. Pour them into one bowl and stir together.  Let sit for 10 minutes (this allows the mini wheats soften up a bit and be less crunchy in the final product).

Place liners in mini muffin pan and fill with batter.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

The perfect job for little kitchen helpers!

My cookie dough scooper tool puts the perfect amount into each mini-muffin liner - clever, no?

Esther finishing her smoothie after polishing off three muffins.

I have made these a couple of times and the children devour them.  I think they are pretty tasty as well.  I've added some mini chocolate chips which is a huge hit with the kids. I like them better when using the applesauce/yogurt combination in replacement of the oil which is only possible if my 3 year old hasn't eaten all of the applesauce in the house!

Hope that you're able to give this recipe a try!

God Bless!

Heather :-)