Harvest Muffins

Hearty Harvest Muffins are lightly sweetened and loaded with nutrient packed ingredients including whole wheat flour, applesauce, carrots, zucchini and walnuts to nourish and satisfy you!  They are perfect for breakfast, lunchboxes and snacks and even though they include veggies my kids still love them! I find it a fun way to get some extra veggies in. This recipe is adopted from a NYTimes Cooking recipe to cater to our families flavor preferences.  

How to Make Harvest Muffins

These are slightly harder to make than a regular muffin because you have to grate the carrot and zucchini, but I would still consider these pretty basic. I use the grater attachment on my food processor to cut down on the work. After everything is grated blend your dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl whisk together your eggs, oil and applesauce.

Next fold your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients until combined. Then fold in your grated zucchini and carrots.

Then fold in your walnuts and portion out your batter to bake.

Harvest Muffin Tips & Adaptations

• It will adjust the taste a little, but you can substitute the applesauce for mashed bananas.
• You could also amp up the veggies and replace the applesauce with butternut squash or sweet potato puree. Note: you may want to add a little bit more sugar if you do this since you won’t be getting the sweetness from the fruit.
• You can swap the walnuts with any other nut or seed you prefer or eliminate all together.
• Add coconut, many harvest muffins include coconut flakes, but we aren’t big fans of coconut so I don’t add it.
• Add a sprinkle of raw sugar on top of each muffin to include some extra sweetness.
• I have not tested these with a gluten free flour blend, but it should work.

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 and prepare your muffin pan with liners or a spray (I like to use avocado spray).
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
3. In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, oil, apple sauce, and light brown sugar.
4. Using a spatula, fold the dry ingredients and wet mixture together until just combined.
5. Fold in the grated carrot and grated zucchini. Then gently fold in the chopped walnuts.
6. Fill each muffin cup ¾ of the way up (I use a large cookie scoop), and bake for 20-22 minute for regular muffins (15-18 minutes for mini muffins). The muffins are finished baking when an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
7. Let cool 10 minutes before devouring!
8. Note: These will stay yummy for up to a week, but need to be sealed in a bag or container and kept in the fridge. They can stay for 2-3 months sealed in the freezer.