Sweet Irish Soda Bread Muffins

1/3 cup unsweetened, unflavored applesauce

Vegetable oil spray

1 ¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

½cup whole wheat flour

⅓ cup granulated sugar

2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder

1 ½ cups seedless raisins

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon caraway seeds, or to taste

½ teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1 cup low-fat (1 percent) buttermilk

3 tablespoons vegetable oil (such as canola)

Granulated sugar, for topping

Place a wire mesh strainer over a bowl deep enough to keep the bottom of the strainer from touching the bottom of the bowl and add the applesauce. Set aside.

Place the oven rack in the center position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a standard muffin pan with muffin cups or spray each cup lightly with vegetable oil. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda, raisins and caraway seeds, until well-combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, oil and 3 tablespoons of the drained applesauce. Using a large spoon or large rubber spatula, gently stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until evenly moistened. Do not overmix, or muffins will be tough.

Filling prepared muffin cups about three-fourths of the way to the top; the stiff batter will be mounded. Dust the tops of each muffin with granulated sugar (about 1 teaspoon per muffin). Bake 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove from the oven, wait 5 minutes, then carefully remove muffins from tray and transfer to a cooling rack. Serve plain, or with fat-free or reduced-fat (no trans fat) margarine and no-sugar-added jam.

Serves 12.

@Recipe nutrition:Nutrition values per serving: 222 calories (17.5 percent from fat), 4.3 g fat (0.6 g saturated), 42.5 g carbohydrate, 1.8 g fiber, 4.3 g protein, 19 mg cholesterol, 202 mg sodium.