Apple Banana & Carrot Muffins

September in New England is apple time and part of last weekend was spent doing pick-your-own at a local orchard. Thanks to the additional help of my parents, my family came away with a magnificent 40 POUND haul. Besides eating them out of hand, I’ve been putting apples to good use in everything imaginable, including this magical muffin recipe, courtesy of the New England Apple Growers Association. A few words before we start. These muffins aren’t the best looking I’ve ever baked, but they are definitely some of the tastiest.. and we all know it’s what’s INSIDE that really counts. A quick eyeball down the list of ingredients might leave you wondering, “Where are the eggs?” They weren’t omitted by accident. These muffins are egg free by design and can easily be made vegan by substituting soy milk for the cow’s milk. Because of this, however, these muffins MUST BE FULLY COOLED before you try removing them from the tin and/or wrapper. Otherwise, they resemble something more akin to a bread pudding – every bit as tasty, but something you’ll have to eat with a fork or spoon. In addition, these are best consumed the same day they’re baked. A nice excuse to eat as many as you’d like! Easy as A-B-C.

Yields 12 standard size muffins.

SODIUM CONTENT: 7.25 mg per muffin

INGREDIENTS

Batter:
2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped
1 c. grated carrot (1-2 carrots)
1 ripe banana, mashed (the browner the better)
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1/4 c. low fat milk or soy milk
1/4 c. sugar
2 t. pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 c. flour
1/2 t. Featherweight sodium free baking powder

Topping:
3 T. sugar
2 t. ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a standard size 12 muffin tin or line with paper cups; set aside.

To make the batter, place the chopped apple, grated carrot and mashed banana in a bowl and stir to combine.

Measure in the remaining batter ingredients and mix well. Spoon evenly into the muffin cups. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon for the topping, then sprinkle evenly over top of the muffins.

Place tin on middle rack in oven and bake 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and place tin on wire rack to cool. COOL FULLY before removing from tin and/or consuming!!