Lately I’ve been digging the taste and texture of baking with whole wheat flour. It’s nutty, and slightly sweet and it reminds me of my first business venture. That’s right. I once owned a small business. Impressed? You shouldn’t be. I was 9 and after reading an inspiring issue of American Girl magazine I decided it was about time I started making my own money. To buy important things like Lisa Frank stickers. And candy. Lots of candy. And seeing as my Train sisters were also very pro-candy…I enlisted them in the start up of my brilliant business idea. And what was my incredibly innovative and well thought out small business? Selling homemade dog treats.  We made tiny whole wheat dog snacks and named ourselves “The Barkery.” Cute name, right? Yeah well…I stole it from a tv show. And I also stole the recipes from that American Girl magazine. So maybe innovation and creativity were not yet the name of my game. The Train sisters and I went door to door toting our bags of homemade dog treats offering them to our dog loving neighbors, and then set up Lemonade stand style on the corner of our street. We made a grand total of $0 on our first day of business. The next day we gave up and went back to playing dress-up and religiously reading Little House on the Prairie. But even though my first bout with entrepreneurship wasn’t exactly a success, I still love baking with whole wheat flour. And this recipe is far superior to any of those pathetic little dog treats. These muffins are lightly spiced and incredibly moist and tender. I used some healthy baking substitutes like mashed banana and egg whites to cut back on fat, so these muffins would be a great healthy breakfast to start the day. And the juicy pieces of fresh nectarine lend an unexpected sweetness to the batter. I wonder if we would yield some better  business results if I grabbed the girls and went door to door with these muffins. On second thought….I think I’ll just enjoy them myself.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 very ripe banana, mashed
• 1 tablespoon light agave nectar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 egg white
• 1 nectarine, chopped into bite sized pieces

Preparation

1. In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger & brown sugar together
2. In a separate bowl, mash banana, and stir in agave nectar, vanilla, oil & egg white
3. Add wet ingredients into dry and mix until just combined
4. Stir in chopped nectarine
5. Divide batter into 8 muffin cups and bake at 350 for 15 minutes