Raspberry Cream Muffins

I often find the kitchen as my refuge in times where my mental health feels like it's close to crumbling.  I suffer from serious winter depression that I haven't figured out how to avoid yet, and so I found myself in the kitchen tonight in attempts to cope with the elephant weighing on my heart.  Baking clears my head and brings me great joy!  Especially when I'm focused on healthy conversion of unhealthy recipes.  A delicious healthy recipe requires concentration, thus giving me something to think about other than my anxieties and heartaches.  Yay for food being the answer to remedy mental health!

This recipe was a sudden inspiration!  I found this recipe in an old collection of family recipes, and remembered it as one of my favorites as a child.  The only problems is that it called for white flour and lots of sugar.  And I'm sure we weren't exactly baking with organic ingredients back then!  The good news is that I was able to convert this delicious recipe into a healthy alternative, organic, and refined-sugar free, as always!

Raspberry Cream Muffins!

Ingredients:
​2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup classic Lakanto monkfruit sweetener
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups frozen raspberries
2 eggs (beaten)
1/2 cup raw honey
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup healthy oil (I used grapeseed oil, but you can also use coconut oil or avocado oil)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Streusel Topping:
3 Tbs. whole wheat flour
3 Tbs. quick oats
2 Tbs. classic Lakanto monkfruit sweetener
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 Tbs. butter (cold)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F  Line muffin pan with muffin liners.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, monkfruit sweetener, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Mix with spoon until well combined.
3. Add raspberries and toss gently.
4. In a medium bowl combine eggs, sour cream, honey, oil, and vanilla.  Whisk together by hand until smooth and creamy.
5. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and mix by hand until just moistened.
6. Fill muffin liners 2/3 full.
7. For the streusel, add all ingredients together and mix with a fork until mixture is crumbly and well combined.  Sprinkle mixture on top of muffins before they go in the oven.
8. Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned on top.  Cool for 5 minutes before removing muffins from pan.

*Use organic ingredients when feasible.
*Makes about 18 muffins.