When John and I started dating, one of my favorite things about him besides his ridiculously good taste in music and his honey brown eyes, was the fact that he could bake muffins. And I’m not talking about a sissy muffin. I’m talking about a whole wheat, fruit packed, tank of a muffin. Now that’s my kind of man.
He either knew how to make muffins or researched it and figured it out to impress me. Either way, I think he’s worthy of being a keeper.
These muffins are surprisingly simple to throw together, ridiculously moist, full of fall flavor and 100% vegan.
Sautéed apples and plenty of pumpkin puree are the star ingredients in this recipe, with oats and brown sugar playing key supporting roles.
If I had to pick one food to subsist off of (besides bananas, Braum’s coffee ice cream and peanut butter) it would be oats. It’s nature’s perfect food, I’m convinced. Plus, they look so prit-dee on top of overflowing muffins.
This was an experimental recipe but one bite in I knew I’d found a winner. Crazy moist, hints of pumpkin and little gems of cinnamon-sugar coated apples throughout.
These muffins are healthy, perfect for snacking or for breakfast, delightfully portable, and exactly what you need in your kitchen this fall. Agreed? Agreed.
- 1 cup unbleached flour + ½ cup whole wheat flour
- ⅓ cup old fashioned oats + extra for topping
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon + more for apples
- ¾ cup pumpkin puree
- 1 cup almond milk
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp canola oil
- 1 flax egg (1 Tbsp flaxseed meal + 2.5 Tbsp water)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and diced
- 1 Tbsp non-dairy butter
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line muffin tin with paper liners.
- Prepare flax egg in a large bowl and set aside.
- Sautee apples in a skillet with non-dairy butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon until soft. Set aside.
- Add pumpkin puree, almond milk, brown sugar, oil, and vanilla extract to the flax egg. Carefully place flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon into a sifter and sift over wet ingredients and stir.
- Add apples and oats and stir again lightly until just combined. Spoon into muffin tin until each liner is filled to the very top. Sprinkle oats on top (optional).
- Bake for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely and then store in an air-tight container and refrigerate to ensure freshness.
Jessica October 11, 2012 at 10:00 am
Hi! Sounds delish! But you mention apple sauce in the instructions, but no apple sauce in the ingredients list! :-) Have a good day!
Dana October 11, 2012 at 10:22 am
Thanks, Jessica! I just fixed that. I usually add applesauce to these muffins but this time I used pumpkin puree – just forgot to swap that out! Thanks again!
Mimi @ Culinary Couture October 11, 2012 at 12:38 pm
I want to make just about everything on your site!
Dana October 11, 2012 at 1:50 pm
Thanks Mimi! You’re so kind : )
Beth October 11, 2012 at 5:29 pm
These look and sound SO nummy! It’s like the marriage of two perfect autumnal foods :)
Niki October 11, 2012 at 6:54 pm
Yum! I’ll be making these this weekend for sure!
natalie@thesweetslife October 11, 2012 at 8:08 pm
oh HEY gorgeous muffins!
Genevieve October 12, 2012 at 12:41 am
Ooh yeah, I will be making these first chance I get!! Thanks for the PDF!
Genevieve
Noam October 12, 2012 at 2:54 pm
These look great, but there’s no canned pumpkin puree in this part of the world, can I just cook a pumpkin and mash it instead?
Dana October 12, 2012 at 10:11 pm
Noam, absolutely! It would probably be even better than canned. Thanks for asking!
Heather October 12, 2012 at 5:38 pm
Men +_Muffins = LOVE, these look incredible – lovely photos too!
Tammy T October 14, 2012 at 11:32 am
Made and devoured, and recipe shared. I am sure there is one more new follower along with it! Off to make the snickers pancakes and caramel sauce!
Tammy
Kathleen @ KatsHealthCorner October 22, 2012 at 10:43 pm
Oh my gosh. This is the best recipe EVER! THANK YOU! :D
Jeff October 24, 2012 at 1:53 pm
Mine were tasty but they came out more like a delicious bread pudding in the rough shape of a muffin. Maybe too much water in my homemade pumpkin puree? Maybe another altitude baking problem for me? Delicious, regardless of texture. Thanks for the recipe!
Racheal November 16, 2012 at 4:49 pm
Mine came out really sticky and shapeless at the bottom like bread pudding also… And I only used half a cup of soy milk
Kristen Kelley October 24, 2012 at 7:03 pm
Just wanted to check- since there’s no sugar in the recipe, is this assuming that we use sweetened almond milk? I buy the unsweetened and I wanted to make sure I didn’t need to then add some type of light sweetness.
Dana October 24, 2012 at 11:29 pm
Kristen, there’s brown sugar. Sorry I think you must’ve missed it in the ingredients list!
Kristen Kelley October 25, 2012 at 9:15 am
LOL! I guess that’s what happens when you do your recipe searches at 1am! :) Sorry about that! And thanks for setting me straight!
Liz October 31, 2012 at 7:28 pm
I had the same experience as Jeff above. My muffins turned out mushy and even cooking them for longer, they never quite became muffins, the bread pudding analogy is a good description. I used rice milk in the place of almond milk in order to make the muffins suitable for someone with a nut allergy, could this have made the difference? Thanks.
Dana November 1, 2012 at 10:04 pm
Hmm, this is bizarre! Mine came out super moist and delicious and so have several other people’s I’ve heard from. If your batter appeared too runny for some reason I’d recommend adding a bit more flour or oats. Hope that helps!
Ruth November 16, 2012 at 7:24 pm
Quite delicious, but I too had mushy muffins. Could it be the amount of flour? Did you intend to write 1 1/2 cups instead of 1/2 cup?
Dana November 18, 2012 at 2:08 pm
Ruth, thanks for the question! These are intended to be incredibly moist muffins so I hope that’s not where the confusion lies. I originally recorded 1 total cup of flour in my batch and they turned out fine. BUT, considering how people have been getting a mushy consistency this may be an accurate assumption. I’ve amended the recipe to include 1 1/2 cups flour total, so I hope this helps. But as with any other recipe, use discretion and make adjustments if your batter appears too thick or thin. Thanks again and sorry for any inconvenience or confusion! – Dana
Lacie January 14, 2013 at 9:04 pm
My kids would never eat these with apple chunks so I took that out, upped the pumpkin to 1 full cup and baked them 5-8 minutes longer. They were yummy!
Jennifer February 4, 2013 at 12:41 pm
I made this recipe with the updated 1.5 cups flour. I had 3/4 cup canned pumkin puree left from making pumkin pancakes this morning and I wanted to use it up. I also had some left over homemade applesauce that I wanted to use up in case it went bad. Using 3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree, 1 egg (no flax in the house), 1 cup coconut milk (not in the can), and 1/2 cup chunky homemade applesauce- I got a perfect muffin and consistency. It yielded exactly 12 muffins lined to the top using a 1/4 measure scoop. Hope this helps for those who want to use jarred or canned ingredients!
Leslie February 4, 2013 at 3:57 pm
Just made these and they’re great! I added ground hemp hearts for extra protein.
hannah February 23, 2013 at 9:08 am
These were fabulous. I substituted 1/2 cup of roasted butternut squash puree and they turned out heavenly. Mmmm
Jennifer March 29, 2013 at 10:33 am
Trying these with an all purpose gluten free mix now. Will report back
Kelsey April 7, 2013 at 12:35 pm
Delish! The hubs made these this morning and the littles gobbled them up. He did make a couple changes, used all whole wheat pastery flour and instead of apples and vegan butter (didn’t have any on hand) added a cup of applesauce. They were a little gooey, probably a bit too much applesauce;), but oh, still so yummy!
Best part, they came up on myfitnesspal!!! Thank you so much!!!
Tricia May 4, 2013 at 10:58 pm
These came out perfect. Wonderful tasty and great texture. Doubled recipe and froze half the muffins.