Apple Muffins sans Bran

I really wanted to bake something today. It's a rainy day and we're stuck inside plus I'm not in the best of moods. Baking helps with all that.

The other day I bought a bag of apples and made apple bran muffins. I've got quite a bit of apples left over and lots of applesauce too. So I decided to make muffins again but this time, not as "wholesome" tasting. So I used Cathe Olson's recipe for applesauce cake:

Applesauce Cake
Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/2 cup maple syrup, brown rice syrup, or agave nectar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 3/4 cup raisins
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 cups whole wheat or whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Oil a 10-inch round cake pan or 8- or 9-inch square baking pan. Beat oil, maple syrup, and vanilla together until smooth. Stir in applesauce, raisins, and walnuts. In separate bowl, sift remaining ingredients together. Dough will be stiff. Spread into prepared pan. Bake 30 minutes, or until cake pulls away from edges of pan and knife inserted in center comes out dry. Cool on rack. Serve cake plain or with whipped tofu topping. It's also delicious frosted.

Makes 12 servings

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I added one chopped Granny Smith apple (left the skin on). I also did not use maple syrup since it's simply too expensive these days. I substituted a half cup of soy milk (+ a little) and 3/4 cup turbinado sugar. This recipe makes 12+1 large, really moist muffins.

On top of the muffins, I sprinkled on a crumb topping which is very simple to make either using your hands or the food processor.

Crumb Topping

3 tablespoons of unbleached white flour

1/4 cup oats

pinch cinnamon

1 1/2 tablespoon non-hydrogenated margarine

1/4 cup (plus a little) turbinado sugar

You process that in the food processor or with your hands until it's crumbly.

The crumb topping adds a little bit of extra sweetness but overall, this is not a sweet muffin which is great. The applesauce cake recipe is recommended time and time again as a good option for a first birthday cake.

As usual, the kids are devouring them. Which is a good thing because it seems like all I really wanted to do was bake them and not eat them. I can't wait till I'm in a better mood.