Applesauce Muffins

It's been a little while since I've cooked from my Deceptively Delicious cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld.  Months ago, I made up a ton of veggie purees and froze them.  My freezer is filled with them.  Why not use some of it?!  So I decided on Applesauce Muffins with carrot puree.  I know, it sounds really weird.  But they turned out really well and the carrot is not the dominating flavor, but seems to just give the muffins a little extra sweetness.  The recipe makes 12 muffins, way more than I can eat by myself before they go bad.  So I gave half to my mom.  Later that evening, after giving my mom the muffins, I got a text saying "Wow, excellent muffins!  Thanks for sharing."  So now I will share with everyone else.  Recipe take directly from Deceptively Delicious.

Ingredients:


Topping:
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
1/4 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, melted(original recipe calls for trans fat free margarine, but I prefer to use real butter when baking)

Batter:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup applesauce
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup carrot puree(see previous blog post on purees for directions)
1/2 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 egg

Start cooking:
1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Coat a 12-cup muffin tin(or 2 6-cup tins) with cooking spray or live with paper baking cups.
2.  To make the topping, stir together the oats, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.  Stir in the margarine(or butter).
3.  To make the batter, combine flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl and stir to mix.  In a second bowl, mix the applesauce with the milk, puree, sugar, oil, and egg with a wooden spoon.  Add the flour mixture slowly, stirring until just moistened.  Do not over mix- the batter is supposed to be lumpy.
4.  Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle with the streusel topping.  Bake until the topping is lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the muffins, 18-20 minutes.  Turn the muffins out onto a rack and serve warm.

Tips and Hints:

1.  Store muffins in the fridge, they will keep longer.  Reheat for about 20 seconds in the microwave.  

2.  DO NOT OVER MIX THE BATTER!  whenever making muffins or bread, never over mix.  The end result will be tough and not as moist.  

3.  I didn't freeze my left over muffins, I passed them along to my mom.  If you don't have someone to pass the muffins along to, try freezing them.  I would love to know how that turns out :)

Enjoy!