As we try to gear up to return to school, after-school snacks automatically come to mind. I don’t know about you, but both of my daughters and most other kids their age, that I know, are positively starving after school. That means it is up to me to have tasty and healthy snacks for them to consume or they will fill up on convenient junk. One of the recipes I have tried this summer will be a great addition to our after school snack repertoire. This summer, I was gifted a huge amount of various produce. Some of that produce was apples. At one point I had at least 15 pounds in the house. Although, my husband loves to have an apple a day in his lunch box, there was no way we would make it through 15 pounds of apples before they spoiled. So, I made applesauce. My girls will eat applesauce sometimes, especially my youngest. But they will not eat it often or for a prolonged period of time. So, I knew that I was making applesauce for baking. I think their lack of love of applesauce stems from when they would be required to eat a snack sized applesauce every day in order to get their essential mineral drops. We have changed to them taking them in juice and that seems to work the best out of all the things we have tried.
I have a recipe I saved in my little notebook of recipes for applesauce cake. This applesauce cake is super delicious!! It also has 3 cups of sugar. That is not the kind of snack I really want to be feeding the ladies for an after-school snack or a convenient breakfast. So, I looked on Chocolate Covered Katie’s website for an applesauce cake recipe. She is known for low sugar sweets and treats that are still delectable and that keep people coming back for more. Luckily for me and for my family’s health, she had one. Fortunately, her recipe keeps with the promise of her treats and sweets of being delicious and healthy. I’ve actually even been asked for the recipe and if it was on my website a couple of times by my mom and sister who both had some when I made them the first time. I loved how little sugar this recipe called for and the fact that it was the only sugar in the recipe since my applesauce did not have any sugar in it. My applesauce was just apples, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Since I added these spices to my applesauce I did not add any additional spices to the muffins. I have made this recipe as muffins and small loaves of applesauce bread (that you see in the picture at the top). It works well as both! The bread does take some additional cooking time, though. I am including the spices in the recipe on here in case your applesauce is not spiced as mine was.
Applesauce Muffins Recipe:
1 cup Applesauce
3 tbsp Oil OR additional Applesauce (I used additional applesauce and they did NOT take on too much of that chewy texture that there sometimes is when you use fruit instead of oil)
2 tbsp Milk of choice
2 tsp Vanilla extract
2 tsp Apple Cider or White Vinegar
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour (there are other flour options listed on the original recipe)
¼ cup Sugar
½ tsp Salt
½ tsp Baking Powder
½ tsp Baking Soda
¼ tsp Cinnamon (omit if you have spiced applesauce)
Optional handful of raisins, walnuts, etc. (I included chopped walnuts in mine since a bunch of those have been given to me as well)
Applesauce Muffin Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt, cinnamon (if using) ingredients together
3. Add applesauce, oil (if using), vinegar, milk and vanilla
4. Whisk together until completely combined (the original recipe calls for all of the wet ingredients to be combined before adding to dry ingredients. I did not read through that direction prior to mixing mine up and found that it worked just fine this way as well.)
5. Fill lined or greased muffin or bread tins 2/3 full
6. Bake muffins for 20 minutes, the mini loaves may take up to 10 minutes longer. The middles should dome and a knife or cake tester should come out cleanly. Take out and let cool completely, if you can, without eating them. These are delicious warm from the oven. However, like mentioned on Chocolate Covered Katie’s website, they have even more flavor after a day or two in the refrigerator.
Try these for a snack or easy breakfast and let me know what you and your family think of them. I hope you enjoy them as much as we all did!! Now, for those who have been asking this recipe finally is up on this website!! What are your go to after-school snacks for your family?
