Double Apple Oat Bran Muffins

My little men get a snack every day around 2pm after their second nap.  I don't want to serve four meals a day (or clean up after four meals!) but a snack is necessary or the hungry monsters get out of control.  We used to just have the third bottle at 2:00, but now that they have cut down so much on their formula intake a real snack of sorts is in order.  Most days we do fruit and crackers (low sodium Ritz are a favorite), or cheese and dry cereal.  Those sorts of things.  But these muffins are now in the rotation and the kids really love them.

These muffins use oat bran, natural applesauce, whole wheat flour, real apples....and they actually taste good. Amazing huh?  They aren't grainy or dry and they are super fast to make. According to the recipe a regular sized muffin has only 174 calories!  I used whole milk rather than fat-free milk but still..that's a healthy snack for anyone in the house. They are definitely a favorite around here right now and I imagine they will be for awhile.

Double Apple Bran Muffins, adapted from Cooking Light, May 2006
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
1 large egg white
3/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tablespoon molasses
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups oat bran  (look for this in the bulk foods section)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 apple, diced (I used a Gala apple but any kind will do)

Preheat oven to 400 F.  Cream the butter and sugar in mixer or with a blender.  Beat in the egg and egg white.  Add the other wet ingredients and mix to combine.  In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredient (everything except the apple).  Pour the wet into the dry and stir to combine.  Fold in the apples.  Spray muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray or line with paper cups.  Fill the cups almost to the top, these don't rise very high.  I used a mini-muffin pan and made 24 little muffins.  This recipe would also make 12 regular size muffins.  Bake 15 mins for mini-muffins or about 18 minutes for the regular sized muffins.  The muffins should be golden brown and spring back when the center is touched lightly.  Baked goods like these are great to freeze too.  They thaw beautifully in the refrigerator, so make a bunch!

Enjoying a muffin

Aaron, loves them too.  Isn't his hair awesome?  You should see the back, he's rockin' the baby mullet for sure.  Luckily for him, his first haircut is tomorrow!