Applesauce Spice Muffins

I love muffins. They’re good for breakfast, snacks and dessert. I mean cookies and brownies are good for all that too, but you definitely feel a little guilty for eating a brownie for breakfast. But muffins, no guilt. Especially if they’re made with whole wheat flour! We started weight watchers last June and I’ve only made muffins ONCE since then. I was due for some tasty muffins. I could have gone for my standby favorite, Banana Chocolate Crumb Muffins, but I was attempting to be healthier with my muffin baking choice. So I popped over to Epicurious. Do y’all use epicurious? Its one of my go-to spots when hunting for a new recipe. Most recipes I’ve tried from Gourmet magazine have been hits! So when I saw this one for Applesauce Spice Muffins, I knew I had a winner.

In typical fashion, I don’t know how to follow a recipe. Even when I have the best intentions of following a recipe as described, I don’t. I always wind up making changes.  First, I substituted the all-purpose flour for white whole wheat to make the recipe healthier. And I’m a cinnamon fiend so of course it was only natural to double the cinnamon. And then I wanted to trim the fat so I cut the butter, which was actually mentioned in several reviews of the recipe. I also opted to top the muffins with nuts rather than mix them in, therefore using fewer nuts. While nuts have healthy fats… they’re still fats and extra calories. I was able to use fewer nuts this way

If you’re not being particularly mindful of your waistline, I’d go ahead and use 1/2 cup of butter to yield a better texture. These were a tiny bit on the dry side but honestly, we didn’t mind a bit.I’d also increase the sugar up to a cup if you prefer a sweeter muffin, these are little more bread like than super sweet, which is my preference for breakfast muffins. They are tasty and hearty muffins. I love that they keep me full for a couple hours which is great! They’re much more filling than the cereal I typically have for breakfast.

Looking for a healthier, tasty breakfast muffin? These are your friend!

Whole Wheat Applesauce Spice Muffins
Yields: 12 Muffins

For muffins:
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
5 Tbsp butter, melted
1 cup unsweetened applesauce

For the topping:
1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped (optional)
2 Tbsp Turbinado sugar

Set oven rack in middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease standard muffin pan.

Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in a bowl. Whisk eggs and brown sugar in a large bowl until combined well. Add butter, whisking until mixture is creamy. Stir in applesauce. Then fold in flour mixture until flour is just moistened. Divide batter among muffin cups.

Stir together topping ingredients (pecans and sugar) and sprinkle on top of muffins. Gently press into muffin batter. Bake until muffins are puffed and golden brown, about 18-20 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 5 minutes, then remove muffins from pan and cool completely before storing.

Source: Adapted from Gourmet, November 2003

Tagged as: Breakfast, Muffins, Skinny