Apple Oatmeal Muffins

My children’s new school wants the students to eat healthy.

How dare they.

Oh, wait. That’s a good thing.

I wanted to come up with a healthy-ish, portable snack that would pass muster with my kids and conform to the school’s healthy eating policy.

Now listen.

I’ve baked some amazing muffins in my time. Delicious, eat-them-all-in-one-sitting muffins.

Healthy? Mmm. Not so much.

I think all of my muffin recipes fell off the healthy train somewhere between the powdered sugar glaze and the cinnamon sugar coating.

I knew I wanted to incorporate apples and oatmeal into my healthy concoction.

I made this important decision while lying in bed one night. By the way, 11:30 p.m. is a really bad time to think about food.

I needed a starting point for my recipe though.

God bless the Internet. What would we do without it?

Interact with actual human beings? Perish the thought.

I found an Apple Oatmeal Muffin recipe on Food.com and with a few minor tweaks I was on my way to healthy snack land.

Here’s my honest critique. These muffins tasted good and were very flavorful. However, they also definitely tasted WAY healthier than the muffins I dunk in butter and then roll in cinnamon and sugar. Does that make sense? It’s not really fair to compare the two.

My daughter loved the muffins. My husband had no trouble eating them. My son, the pickiest eater in our house, ate an entire one before realizing the muffins were loaded with apple chunks. Then he decided these weren’t the muffins for him. Never mind the fact that he eats apples every. single. day.

I’ll leave this hot mess of conflicting opinions for you to sort out. I am happy though to be on this path of finding ways to pack flavor and nutrients into portable lunch snacks. Who knows what I will bake next? No, really. Does anyone know? I need another idea.

(Recipe after all of these links to muffins I’ve dunked in glaze or straight-up sugar.)

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P.S. Here’s my Banana Blackberry Muffins with Vanilla Orange Glaze
P.P.S Here’s my Banana Muffins with Vanilla Glaze
P.P.S.S. Here’s my Apple Cider Muffins (I think these are the ones with cinnamon/sugar)
P.P.S.to the S.S. Here’s my Blueberry Zucchini Muffins (These must have a glaze too.)
P.P.P.S.S.S.S.S.S.S. I made carrot muffins with a glaze too. Totally forgot about that.

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APPLE OATMEAL MUFFINS
(modified slightly from THIS rockin’ recipe on Food.com)

Ingredients
2 eggs
3⁄4 cup milk
1⁄3 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup uncooked oatmeal (I used regular oats, quick cooking would be fine too)
1⁄3 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder (THIS IS NOT A TYPO. Yes, one TABLESPOON.)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 heaping teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 apples cored, peeled and chopped small. (I used Gala.)
Optional: Approximately 12 teaspoons of brown sugar to sprinkle on the muffins. I know, I know. I just couldn’t help myself. They needed a little something.

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin.
3. In a mixing bowl, lightly beat eggs; add milk and oils, stirring until just blended.
4. Stir in flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon, mixing until only just moistened (do not go crazy with the mixing).
5. Gently fold in the apples.
6. Spoon batter into the muffin tin, dividing evenly among the cups.
7. Sprinkle a teaspoon of brown sugar on the tops of the muffin batter.
8. Bake in a preheated oven at 400F for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
9. Cool in pan 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling.
10. Serve warm or cool; store unused portions in an airtight container.