These healthy Pumpkin Apple Mini Muffins are perfect for snacking or giving as a DIY gift.
Is there ever NOT a good time for muffins? I'd say the answer is no, there is not.
I love muffins. I'd say there are a favorite food group and I have a lot of muffin recipes here on MHE like:
Healthy Pumpkin Chocolate Muffins, Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins, Chocolate Strawberry Breakfast Muffins
You know what is even funner to eat than a muffin though? Several mini muffins! Mini muffins are so nostalgic to me. I think about the snack packs of mini muffins my friends would get in their lunches back in grade school. I wanted them so bad! But alas, as a parent I understand why I didn't get them. They're not exactly on the nutritious spectrum on snacks.
To reconcile this experience from childhood, I decided to create a healthy enough mini muffin recipe that could be a great snack. So here you have it: my Pumpkin Apple Mini Muffins.
I've loved the idea of snacking on muffins ever since I drooled over those packs of mini snack muffins my friends had in their lunches back in elementary school. Remember those? Unfortunately those are loaded with lots of sugar and too much fat, and thus why they never made it into my lunch (thanks mom).
These whole grain, fiber rich mini muffins, however, are actually a good snack option. Plus, they taste super yummy!
Pumpkin Apple Mini Muffins
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter softened
- ¾ cup pumpkin puree
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour or gluten free 1:1 baking replacement flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ¼ cup ground flax seed
- 1 cup finely diced sweet apple about 1 medium size apple
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 °F. Spray a mini muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray or line with mini muffin papers.
- In a mixer on medium speed, cream together butter and pumpkin, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add brown sugar and continue to beat in for about 3 minutes. Then add honey and mix until well combined.
- Stop mixer and add in egg and vanilla. Mix on low speed until well combined.
- Stop mixer and add in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. (You may need to add flour in 2 batches depending on the size of your mixing bowl.) Mix in on low speed until incorporated, then add ground flax seed and increase speed slightly and mix well for one minute or less.
- Toss in diced apple and fold into batter using a spatula.
- Spoon into muffin pan, about 1 tablespoon of batter per opening. (Fill about 75% full.)
- Bake for 10 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
- Let cool in pan for 2 minutes, then remove and cool on a wire rack.
Notes
Nutrition
If you are looking for a fun, homemade holiday treat to share, this is it! I'd package these in a pretty holiday boxes and give them to my coworkers or son's teacher. My other go-to DIY food gift are these White Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Rods.
I hope you will give these fun Pumpkin Apple Mini Muffins a try. I'd also love to know what DIY holiday gifts you want to/are making this year. We could all use some fun ideas.