Apple Filled Granola Topped Muffins

Happy Monday! A while back, I was fooling around with muffin recipes and I made an apple granola muffin that was a 6-7 out of 10. Apples were a little bland and they were nothing to facebook and tell your friends. This time around I altered the ingredients slightly. I used organic hemp granola with a pumpkin flavor and added nutmeg into the mix for some more flavor.

Results…. ummm these are delicious! Give them a try and let me know what you think.

I have been craving homemade muffins without a huge amount of oil. I recently picked up a new box of hemp granola (pumpkin) so I thought I would incorporate that into a basic muffin mixture with some apples. This is what I came up with. A delicious muffin, moist on the inside with a little crunch on the outside from the granola.

I was really impressed with the texture of the muffin, last time I thought that maybe the apple was a little “BLAH“. This time, I added some nutmeg to the apple before hand and I think it was the final tweak.

Ingredients

2 Large Apple (Peeled and Cored)
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
2/3 Cup All-Purpose Flour
2/3 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
2 Tsp. Baking Powder
1 Tbsp. Ground Cinnamon
1 Tsp. Nutmeg
1/2 Tsp Salt
3/4 Cup Granola
4 Tbsp. Canola Oil
1 Large Egg (beaten)
1 Cup Skim Milk

Method

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease a 12- hole muffin pan.

Place the apple and half the sugar in a bowl and set aside for 5 minutes.

Sift together remaining sugar, flour(s), baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.

Stir in granola (reserving some for top of muffins).

In a small bowl, beat together remaining ingredients. Stir this liquid into the dry ingredients and lightly stir together.

Divide the mixture among the holes in the muffin pan, filling each about 2/3 full.

Top with remaining granola.
Place in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly brown.
Remove the muffins from the oven and turn out immediately onto a cooling rack to cool.
Serve warm or at room temperature.

ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: When mixing the dry ingredients with the wet – be sure not to over mix, lumps and some flour still showing is OK. If you over-beat the batter, the muffins will be flat.

So next time you are on the hunt for a muffin – give these a try.  I beckon they would work great with any fruit if you are in a pinch.  Have a great start to your week and stay tuned for some garden chatter.

Take care

zesty