Arthritis-Friendly Recipe: Making Cake Mix Healthier

Another baking recipe! This came out of a conversation I had with a friend who said that she liked to use mixes as they made baking with arthritis easier for her, mainly because there was less lugging about of heavy flour and sugar jars and no egg cracking. However she wanted to make them a bit healthier and a little tastier. This is what I came up with - it's more of a blueprint than a recipe as you can adapt it depending on what flavours you fancy or what you have in the fridge/cupboard. You need to make sure you are using a cake mix that only requires adding water, butter or oil. If it needs an egg this method won't work. I recommend using a good light plastic bowl, a hand blender and some silicone bakeware for these muffins. A spatula makes light work of scooping it out of the bowl too but the downside is there is nothing left to lick clean.

Ingredients:

400g of cake mix ( I used Wright's)

2 really ripe bananas (or use 150g pumpkin puree from a can or applesauce)

150g low fat natural yoghurt (one small pot)

75g All-Bran

50ml milk (leave out if using pumpkin puree or applesauce)

Makes 12

Put the bananas in a large plastic bowl with the yoghurt and milk. Either mash them together by hand or do it with a hand blender or whisk (if they are really ripe).

Add in the cake mix and blend until just combined (don't worry about lumps too much). 

Spoon the mixture into 12 muffin cases so they are each 2/3 full. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a skewer poked in the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool and then scoff!

Arthritis diet notes

Adding fruit and yoghurt helps keep these moist without having to add extra fat. The All-Bran and fruit also adds some extra fibre to make them more sustaining and slow the release of the sugar. Throw in some nuts, seeds or dried fruit if you want to make more of a breakfast muffin.

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