In my endless quest to amass a repertoire of healthy kid-friendly portable snacks, I stumbled upon this Healthy Applesauce Oat Muffin recipe on Mel's Kitchen Cafe. These muffins have turned into a huge hit at my house. They are perfect for a little breakfast snack or sweet snack any time of day. I now make the quadruple recipe because I am all about baking and freezing in bulk. Since they are whole grain they freeze and defrost very nicely.
I have modified the original recipe quite a bit. The first time I made it, I followed the recipe. They came out much too wet (little puddles under the cupcake liners) and excessively sweet, although still entirely edible. I imagine that what kind of applesauce you use, and how thick (versus watery) it is will affect how much applesauce it is appropriate to use. I use Trader Joe's organic unsweetened applesauce and found that decreasing it by a quarter worked well. I also cut the sugar by half (still plenty sweet!) and found that I could decrease the fat by a quarter. I also tend to be generous with the cinnamon and vanilla, with no ill effects. In addition, I let the batter sit for a bit after mixing to make sure the whole grains have plenty of time to absorb the liquid. I'm not sure this is strictly necessary, but I find this to be a good policy in general when dealing with whole grains (I do this with my whole grain pancakes).
100% Whole Grain Muffins with Applesauce
Makes one dozen muffins1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup milk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 Tablespoons butter or coconut oil, melted
1/6 cup (about 3 Tablespoons) sugar
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins (optional)
Directions
- Grease muffin tin (I found spraying canola oil with Misto worked well) or use cupcake liners.
- Mix together oats, applesauce, milk, egg, vanilla, butter or oil, and sugar.
- In a separate bowl, mix remaining ingredients (except cranberries/ raisins).
- Make a well in center of dry ingredients and add wet mixture. Stir until just combined (do not overmix). Stir in cranberries or raisins if desired. Allow to sit 10 to 15 minutes so that whole grains can absorb liquids. Batter should be thick and not runny.
- Divide batter evenly between dozen muffin cups (about half to 2/3 full).
- Bake 15-20 minutes at 375 until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool 10 minutes and then pop out with fork and allow to cool completely on a rack.
 |
| Thick batter! I found a heaping 1/8 scoop was the best tool for filling the muffin cups. |
The original recipe warned to not overbake or they would be dry. I can't ever really see these muffins being dry. I usually bake closer to 20 minutes and until the tops and edges are pretty golden brown. If you use too much applesauce, it will be hard to tell when they are done because they will be too wet (although as they cool some of that moisture will get absorbed too). These muffins do not come out huge with a ginormous muffin top, which is my preference, smaller portions being more suitable for little ones. My muffins actually usually sink back a little bit from their highest rise when cooling.
You could substitute 2 to 3 T honey (decreasing milk by a tablespoon accordingly), but it could be tough to incorporate well, especially in larger batches. Maple syrup would be easier, and delicious! I'll have to try that one of these days and update this post. Let me know if you try it.
 |
| Fork worked the best for removal. |
I hope you will give this recipe a try and let me know any changes you make and how they turned out!
Baking in Bulk: 100% Whole Grain Muffins with Applesauce
Let Eco-novice do the math for you!
Single
|
x2
|
x3
|
x4
| |
Rolled oats
|
1 c
|
2 c
|
3 c
|
4 c
|
Unsweetened applesauce
|
3/4 c
|
1 1/2 c
|
2 1/4 c
|
3 c
|
Milk
|
1/2 c
|
1 c
|
1 1/2 c
|
2 c
|
Eggs, large
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
Vanilla
|
1 t
|
2 t
|
3 t
|
4 t
|
Butter or coconut oil, melted
|
3 T
|
6 T
|
9 T
|
12 T
|
Sugar
|
3 T
|
1/3 c
|
1/2 c
|
2/3 c
|
White whole wheat flour
|
3/4 c
|
1 1/2 c
|
2 1/4 c
|
3 c
|
Baking powder
|
1 t
|
2 t
|
3 t
|
4 t
|
Baking soda
|
1/2 t
|
1 t
|
1 1/2 t
|
2 t
|
Cinnamon
|
1 t
|
2 t
|
3 t
|
4 t
|
Salt
|
1/4 t
|
1/2 t
|
3/4 t
|
1 t
|
Dried cranberries or raisins (optional)
|
1/2 c
|
1 c
|
1 1/2 c
|
2 c
|
Pin for Later
Related Posts
Would you like more ideas and tips about Going Green Gradually? Sign up for my free email subscription to get each of my posts delivered to your inbox (I usually post one or two times a week). You can also follow me on Facebook, Google Plus, Pinterest, Twitter, or with your favorite RSS Reader. I hope to see you again soon!
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Your purchase via these links helps support my blog. Thank you for your support. Read my full disclosure policy here.
Yum! I'm totally going to give these a try!
ReplyDelete