Dr. Oz's Chia Muffins

I wanted to try the Chia Muffin recipe that was on The Oprah Show, so like 200 million other viewers I rushed out to find me some Chia. Once I searched for the Chia Muffin recipe I became aware that it is actually a Pumpkin-Chia Seed Muffin recipe. There is only a 1 Tbsp. ground chia seeds, so what the hell am I going do with the other 5lbs of Chia seeds?!?

I was a little leary of what these ugly little brown muffins would taste like. They smell good but the last line in the recipe had me wondering: Salt and pepper to taste. What? Cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin, maple syrup and I'm going to need to add pepper or salt for taste? That's like adding pepper flakes to blue berry muffins. Anyway, needless to say I was worried. I was wondering if they tasted real bad would the neighborhood squirrels even eat them, but lo and behold they are pretty good.

I'm not sure how many muffins the recipe was suppose to make. Mine were on the small side and made about 18. The Pumpkin-Chia Seed muffins have a nice moist texture, smell great & the taste is kind of like a pumpkin roll but not as sickening sweet. I'm impressed so I'm giving up my dull bran cereal for breakfast for a little Pumpkin-Chia Seed Muffin.

Here is the recipe for anyone else that might want to try them.

Pumpkin-Chia Seed Muffins

1 Tbsp. chia seeds, ground (use a coffee or spice grinder)
1 cup whole wheat or whole grain flour
1/2 cup white unbleached flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
16 oz. can organic pumpkin (make sure there is only pumpkin listed on the ingredient list)
2 eggs
1/4 cup high-quality extra virgin olive oil
1 cup pure maple syrup (or 1/2 cup agave nectar or a combination of the two)
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans, optional
Salt and pepper to taste (whatever)

Pre-heat oven to 350°.

Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix all wet ingredients.

Fold the wet ingredients (fold in nuts now if you are using them) into the dry ingredients and spoon into paper-lined muffin or greased muffin tins. Bake for 25–30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean. Store completely cooled muffins in sealable plastic bags.