Snack time for my toddler has become quite the challenge; 1. Because my little guy is a fussy eater and 2. His school is quite strict on parents only sending along snacks that are low on sugar, preferably sugar free. Since EVERYTHING store-bought seems to contain sugar these days, I find myself baking most of his snacks and treats. But even this task can often become complicated, since we apparently love something one day, but not the next (sigh, the life of a toddler).

Anyhoo, one snack that has stuck through the times is muffins, from bran muffins to blue-berry and banana, we’ve made them all! Recently, however, we ran out of the usual muffin fillings and the only fruit I had left was some almost rotting apples. So, I decided to adapt my usual banana muffin recipe to included apple sauce, instead of bananas, since the textures of the two are pretty similar when mashed.

Adding fruit to your muffins is a great substitute for sugar since it is a natural sweetener. In this recipe I do still use a tad bit of sugar however, because, well, they’d be boring without it!

^{Photos by @sweetpea}

To make these DELICIOUS Apple and Cinnamon Muffins,

You’ll need the following ingredients:

• 3 medium Apples
• 200ml water
• 2 cups of self-rising flour
• 100mls sugar
• 1 large egg (room temperature)
• Half a cup of cooking oil (I use coconut oil)
• Cinnamon

* You will need the following cooking utensils: saucepan, muffin tin, cup cake liners (optional), wooden spoon, measuring cups, peeling and chopping knife and a blender. 

Baking Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Peel and dice your apples, removing the cores from the mix. 
3. Boil your apples in the 200ml water until they are soft.
4. Allow to cool for a few minutes and then blend the softened apples and water to create a sauce.
5. Mix the apple sauce together with the oil and egg.
6. Add the dry ingredients (sugar and flour) and mix with a spoon (not a mixer).
7. Stir until there are no more lumps.
8. Scoop the batter evenly into 12 muffin cups.
9. Place muffin tin into the center of the oven and bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
10. Remove the tin from the oven and immediately sprinkle the tops of the muffins with some ground cinnamon.

^{An awesome snack time treat for the kids!}

Do yourself a favour and snack on one of these while they are still warm, oooh, and if you really feel like treating yourself, add a dollop of fresh cream! To stick to the point of them being healthy however, allow them to cool and add to lunch and snack boxes. I usually set 6 aside for snacking on during the week, and then freeze the other 6 for the following week, or for when they are needed (when the craving sets in!). 

It’s a simple muffin recipe with an awesome “almost sugar-free” twist. The apple sauce is so sweet, you’d never even know that hardly any real sugar was added! 

If you try this recipe out, please do let me know how it turned out and if you enjoyed the delights as much as my family does! It’s been great cookin’ with ya!

P.S. 

This post was inspired by @jaynie, the creator of #steemitbloggers and the #whatscookingchallenge. If you often find yourself conjuring up a storm in the kitchen, you can enter the challenge too, find out more HERE. In fact, I challenge and nominate @what-did-she-say @begtofdiffer @mamameimei @braaiboy and @karenmckersie to get cooking and enter the #whatscookingchallenge.

Much love - @sweetpea

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