Healthy Applesauce Muffins

Ingredients

1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup milk or milk substitute
1 large egg (flax egg also works)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup butter or coconut oil, melted (I have also used light flavored olive oil) (see notes below to make this dairy and oil free)*
1/3 cup of sugar or honey
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (gluten free flour also works with these) (see below for adding in oats)**
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice (optional, but I think it enhances the flavor nicely)
1/4 teaspoon salt (I use sea salt or real salt)
1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with liners or grease the muffin cups, then set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the applesauce, milk, egg, vanilla, butter/oil and sugar/honey (if using oats you would also add them here).
Then on top of the wet mixture add the remaining ingredients and stir until just combined (don’t over mix). The batter will be more wet than other muffin batters, but that is normal for this recipe.
Distribute batter evenly between the 12-muffin cups. Bake for 15-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (My muffins take about 18 minutes with whole wheat flour, or 15 minutes with gluten-free flour).
Remove the muffins from pans to cool completely.
I always double this recipe because the kids go through them so fast! These can be stored in the refrigerator or freezer in a large ziploc freezer bag.

Notes

I have used applesauce and coconut milk (regular and lite) in place of the butter/oil. Both will work, but they will be slightly more sticky (especially the applesauce) until they are completely cooled. I noticed these tasted best the second day. ** To add oats, use regular whole oats (not the quick oats), and reduce the flour to 3/4 cups and add 1 cup of oats to the wet ingredients. If you want to add quick oats I would probably reduce it to 1/2 cup of quick oats.