Happy Valentine's Day! + Whole Wheat Pumpkin Applesauce Muffins

Happy Valentine's Day!

We have yet another snow day today so I'm working at home with my tiny Valentine. Like I mentioned last week, I'm so not one to complain about the weather...but even I'm starting to get a little frustrated. Here's to a long weekend ahead and starting fresh next week!

Meanwhile, my little champ of an eater has suddenly become quite picky in her eating choices. Not to mention that once I think I've found something she likes, she almost immediately decides that she hates it. Is this just how toddlers keep Mom on the edge of her sanity her toes? If so, well played, Penelope...well played.

I've been experimenting a lot lately with different foods, and trying to keep everything on the healthy side of the spectrum for the whole family. I decided to try some pumpkin applesauce muffins to not only use up some things I had on hand, but to have a go-to, guilt-free treat readily available.

Oh and I used my super duper adorable silicon heart-shaped muffin liners. I love these for their cuteness as well as functionality...no muffin tin required. I simply lined them up on a baking sheet and it worked like a charm. They also go right in the dishwasher once you've gobbled up its contents.

I didn't take the time to do pretty photographs of these muffins. They were easy to mix by hand, had virtually no clean up and so I just wanted to leave it at that. Instead, I went with rustic iPhone pics. I used this recipe with some tweaks (like completely eliminated the oil and lowering the sugar). Penelope seemed to like them...for now!

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Applesauce Muffins

*Adapted from allrecipes.com

2 C whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

2/3 C brown sugar, packed

3/4 C applesauce, unsweetened

1/2 C pumpkin puree

1/3 C buttermilk (I made my own by mixing 1/3 C milk + 1 tsp white vinegar)

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/3 C raisins

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and prep your muffin tin.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar, applesauce, pumpkin, buttermilk and eggs. 

Make a well in the dry ingredients, and pour in the wet. Mix with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until just combined.

Fold in the raisins.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

This recipe yields about 13 nice size muffins (I guess I slightly underfilled the cups so I ended up with 13, instead of 12!) and I calculated about 3 WW Points+ per muffin. Not too shabby!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Comments

[alex]

oh sweet little P! she looks adorable! love those photos! we love muffins here, will definitely try this recipe!