Muffins Prove Low-Fat Doesn’t Mean Low-Flavor

Why do so many reduced-fat muffins taste gummy, dry and dreadful? The answer lies in understanding what fat does in the first place and why the substitutes don’t always work.

According to Shirley Corriher, an Atlanta food consultant and baking expert, fat performs three major functions in baked goods:

It prevents the formation of tough, elastic sheets of gluten. Fat greases the two proteins that form gluten, or as Corriher puts it, “prevents those two guys from getting together.” (Sugar is an excellent tenderizer, too, which may partly explain why many fat-modified muffins are way too sweet.)

It holds air bubbles, helping to leaven the batter. Egg whites, used in many low-fat muffins, will accomplish this as well - but only in moderation. In excess, egg whites are “the most incredibly dry and rubbery agent known to man,” Corriher says.

She maintains that low-fat muffins would be more successful with fewer egg whites and more of other viscous ingredients such as buttermilk and fruit or vegetable purees.

It adds taste and carries it, too. That means when fat is removed, so is the transmission of the flavors of the other ingredients. The most successful low-fat muffins are the ones that compensate with intensely flavored ingredients, such as lemon or orange zest, liquor or cocoa powder.

Here’s a respectable low-fat muffin from Evelyn Tribole’s “Healthy Homestyle Cooking” (Rodale Press).

Tribole used a combination of applesauce and buttermilk to replace the butter in the original recipe, substituted whole-wheat pastry flour for part of the white flour and upped the amount of vanilla. The lemon zest gives it a fresh, lemony bite.

We sent this one to the lab for analysis and found that a large muffin contained 1.7 grams of fat and 309 calories.

Berry Best Blueberry Muffins

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel

2 egg whites

2/3 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup applesauce

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (do not thaw frozen berries)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray six large, 3-inch muffin cups with non-fat, non-stick spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, stir together both flours, sugar, baking powder and lemon peel, making sure all is evenly distributed. Make a well in the center of the mixture.

In a small bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy. Stir in the buttermilk, applesauce and vanilla. Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture and stir until just moistened. Fold in the blueberries.

Spoon the batter into the prepared cups, filling each full. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the muffins in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove them to cool on a wire rack.

Yield: 6 large muffins.

Note: For standard-sized muffins, bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until done.

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