Best Muffins Ever? Quite possibly...

I have become a very big fan of vegan recipes - especially for baking. Vegans don't use milk at all, which is the biggest draw for me, obviously. But, they also don't use eggs, so I've learned a lot about egg alternatives - and hey, no eggs in the batter means I can lick the bowl worry-free!

Recently, I discovered a fabulous muffin recipe that I just can't seem to get enough of. By the name, you'd think that it wouldn't taste all that good (the word "Healthy" appears in the name of the recipe - which is usually a red flag that it'll taste like cardboard). But these muffins are tasty, moist, and delicious. [And that's not just me saying that - every time I bring them to work, my coworkers ooh and aah over them. And when I made them for breakfast a couple weeks ago, Chris chowed down AND stole most of them for his trip back home. Hah!]

So, I'm not really going to keep you in suspense any longer... they're so good, they really speak for themselves, so more words from me is just noise. Hope you enjoy them!

Healthy Apple Oat Wheat Muffins

[Note: I only made a slight change in the spice ratios from the original recipe; the rest is exactly the same. Check out the original recipe here.]

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour [pastry flour is best, apparently, but I don't have any, and regular whole wheat flour has worked fine for me]
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 Tbsp cinnamon
1/4 Tbsp nutmeg [yeah, approximate this, I don't have a 1/4 Tbsp measuring spoon either]
1/4 tsp ginger
1/3 cup suger
1/2 banana, mashed [or use 1/2 an egg yolk+all of the egg white if you don't have a banana]
1/3 cup applesauce or apple puree
3/4 cup soy milk (plain)
1 large baking apple

Preheat oven to 350 deg F.

1. Peel and dice apple, set aside. [For this recipe, I've found I like to thinly slice the apple and then cut the slices into small chunks - so you basically get flatter versions of the cubes you'd get by dicing the apple.]
2. Thoroughly mix dry ingredients (oats, flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, sugar).
3. Mix banana, applesauce, soy milk.
3.5 - Before you add wet to dry, lightly grease a muffin tin or two (depending on how many muffins you want). I use spray canola oil with flour in it.
4. Add wet to dry, and mix just until batter is moist throughout. Toss in apples (quickly!) and stir just until evenly distributed.
[Note: at this point, the batter should already be starting to expand - no joke! It's freaking awesome! - so that's why I say not to over stir/mix and to add and stir in the apples quickly. Overworking the batter at this stage will deflate your muffins]
5. Batter should be rising, very fluffy, and wet. Scoop into greased muffin tin. [I generally make 12 - which means basically filling each muffin cup - but try not to keep adding little bits to each cup - it makes the muffins deflate a little each time you do.]
6. Bake for 15 minutes, or until toothpick to the center of the muffins comes out clean.
7. Cool a minute or two in the muffin cups, then pop muffins out to cool on a cooling rack.

Enjoy them!