Looking for a nutritious and flavorful snack? These healthy apple muffins are deliciously refined sugar-free. Add nuts or seeds for a boost of protein.
I’m always looking for healthy snack options. Sure, store-bought granola bars are easy. But they’re also packed with tons of sugar (or sugar alternatives) and very little nutrition. They’re also more expensive and have a lot more packaging than homemade snacks.
These healthy apple muffins are naturally fruit-sweetened and perfect for whatever nuts and seeds you feel like adding.
It’s actually a recipe that my 13-year-old son created based on my apple cake recipe. He really likes baking. If there’s a pie for dessert, it’s probably because he made it!
Soaked and Fermented Flour
Since this is a fermentation-focused blog, most (all) of my baked goods start with a pre-ferment. However, I really recommend pre-fermenting the flour.
- Prefermenting improves the texture by breaking down the oats so they become stickier.
- Fermenting converts the complex carbohydrates making the muffins more digestible.
- I use pre-fermenting as a way to make me commit to actually baking something. I set up my ferment in the morning… so I have to bake muffins that night!
- Don’t preferment if you’re using wholewheat flour. However, it will work with any low-gluten, whole grain flour, including rye, buckwheat, millet, etc.
Here’s how to ferment the flour. There are only 2 steps because it really is that easy.
- Mix the flour with the yogurt and vegetable oil in a glass bowl or measuring cup. You can also use cultured buttermilk, milk kefir, or vegan yogurt alternatives.
- Cover with a tea towel, and leave it to sit out at room temperature for at least 2 hours, and up to 24 hours.
Healthy Apple Muffins
Looking for a healthy breakfast or snack? This apple muffin is fruit-sweetened and packed with nutrition! Perfect for adding whatever seeds and nuts you want.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins 1x
- Category: Baking
- Cuisine: Healthy
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups of oat flour (or other whole grain flour)
- 1 cup of yogurt (or non-dairy alternative)
- 1/4 cup of vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 cups of grated apple (about 2 medium apples)
- 1/4 cup of raisins
- 1/4 cup of chopped nuts or seeds (optional)
Instructions
- Start by mixing the flour, yogurt, and vegetable oil in a large bowl. Leave it to rest for at least 15 minutes so that the flour can fully hydrate. This is particularly important with oat flour, which tends to absorb a lot of moisture. If you’re using other whole grain flours, you can skip this step. If you want to try prefermenting your flour, see the section above.
- When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350F (180 C). Mix the eggs and vanilla into the batter. Then add the cinnamon, salt, and baking soda.
- Next stir in the grated apple and raisins. Feel free to add in some nuts or seeds for a bit of protein. See notes for details.
- Prepare a muffin tin by greasing or lining each of the muffin cups. Divide the batter between the muffin cups.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
Notes
- If you have a sweet tooth you may want to add 1/4 cup of brown sugar, which will give this muffin a more traditional flavor.
- This recipe will make 10 large muffins or 12 medium-sized muffins. For my kids’ lunches, I often make 18 smaller muffins, which fit nicely into their lunchboxes.
- Chopped walnuts or pecans are traditional for an apple muffin. However, pumpkin seeds, poppy seeds, or millet will add a bit of crunch. I don’t recommend using sunflower seeds because the baking soda will cause them to go green.
Keywords: sugar-free, snack, breakfast, dessert, treat, healthy, vegetarian
I have an oat flour starter. We can’t really do yogurt. Can I somehow replace the yogurt with sourdough starter and oat milk??
Definitely. I haven’t tried that swap with this recipe so I don’t know the exact proportions. Maybe do 1/2 cup of sourdough starter with 1/2 cup of oat milk? Then you’ll need to decrease the flour by about 1/2 cup. You could also skip the ferment and just use oat milk with 1 Tbsp of ACV for acidity. If you try either of these options, let me know how it goes! Cheers, Emillie