A better-for-you muffin made with oats and applesauce then crowned with a sweet, crumbly oat topping.
It’s January and like many of you, I try to start the year out eating a little better. I’m a firm believer that little changes can make a big difference, like including more whole grains in your diet. This muffin recipe has more oats in it than flour, and replaces some of the fat with applesauce. Yet the muffins aren’t dense or heavy, they’re tender and delicious.
Using a scoop makes easy work of dividing the muffin batter in to the muffin cups. A Size 16 scoop is the perfect size for muffins.
We love dried cranberries in our baked goods, but substitute raisins or any other dried fruit you prefer. You could even omit them if you want to save a few calories.
Applesauce Cinnamon Oat Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups quick-cooking oats
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup milk
- ¼ cup canola oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup raisins or Craisins
Topping
- ¼ cup quick-cooking oats
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon butter melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400º. Lightly grease a muffin tin with cooking spray, or line with paper muffin liners.
- Prepare topping: In a small bowl, whisk together ¼ cup oats, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, and ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon. Add 1 tablespoon melted butter and mix together until well combined; set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the applesauce, brown sugar, milk, oil, vanilla and egg. Add to dry ingredients and mix just until moistened. Stir in raisins.
- Divide batter evenly into 12 muffin cups. Use your fingers to sprinkle muffins with topping.
- Bake at for 16-18 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool for a few minutes in the pans.
- Remove muffins from pans and cool on a wire rack.
Notes
More muffin recipes you might like:
Apple Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffins, Barbara Bakes
Skinny Banana Blueberry Muffins, Sally’s Baking Addiction
7 Healthy Muffin Recipes Under 200 Calories, Ambitious Kitchen
7 Gluten Free Muffin Recipes, Nosh On It
MC
Wow, yummy. I just made these and they are great. Used dried cranberries for the fruit.
Wonderful. Will make again
Christine Larsen
Can I substitute almond milk for regular milk?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Christine – I haven’t tried it, but I think you could substitute it with no problem.
Naeobi
I tried a few different recipes for roughly this before I found yours. Yours is the only one that tastes like I wanted it to taste like. I leave out the raisins, and I don’t take the time to do toppings, but just WOW. Takes an extra 1/4c of flour out where I live for the altitude, and I never get less than a random 15-18, but have made them SOOOO many times and enjoy them every time. Thank you for sharing this.
Barbara Schieving
Thanks for sharing Naeobi. That’s so nice to hear.
Shelley
great muffin recipe!!!! thank you….I made a half recipe….only changed up 1 thing….1/4 cup soaked raisins and 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts…..it’s a keeper and will take a slot in my normal baking muffins for the weekend line-up….
Barbara Schieving
That’s great – thanks Shelley!
Nagi@RecipeTinEats
A great recipe indeed! I love how you combined oats and muffins. And you have a good choice of flavour. Apple cinnamon oat muffins! So yum! 😀
Coral Adams
Just made the applesauce oatmeal muffins. Oh yummy! The are great and the kids love them.
Janet
Looks like a great recipe! Just wondered, since I have a jar of applesauce to use up (not unsweetened) if I could use it and not add any more sugar to the recipe (since the applesauce already has sugar in it)? Thank you!
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Janet – I wouldn’t eliminate the sugar, but you could try reducing it by half. Let me know how it goes.
Shannon
Tried these over the weekend after attempting a horrible Applesauce Muffin recipe from a different site. They were AMAZING!! Came out perfectly and taste even better. I’ve been having them for breakfast the past few days and every morning the party in my mouth starts up again. Thanks a bunch for sharing 🙂
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Shannon – so glad you loved them. Sounds like a wonderful way to start your day 🙂
Leoni
Just run into these muffins while trying to satisfy ‘something cinnamony’ craving. I substituted the brown sugar for palm sugar, the butter and canola oil for coconut oil and the all purpose flour for whole wheat. They are absolutely amazing! Sweetness is at the perfect level and the oat topping is the cherry on the cake!
Barbara Schieving
Hi Leoni – thanks for taking the time to let me know how much you enjoyed the muffins. I’ll have to give your better for you changes a try.
doctorfoodlove
Tried this recipe for Easter brunch this weekend and it was delicious! I love that it isn’t too sweet. I was pressed for time and actually omitted the topping, and the muffins still came out great. I made mini-muffins using Craisins. Thanks for the recipe!
Barbara Schieving
Love mini muffins – great idea! So glad you enjoyed them.
Rachel
I tried these for the first time today and they were great. I changed it a little by using 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 3/4 cup all purpose flour. I also used dried cherries for half of the batch and a little bit of dark chocolate for the other half.
Barbara Schieving
Sounds like delicious changes. Thanks!
Joanne
Barbara. I just made these. And I change a few things. I halved the recipe. I used mayo for the egg, and Splenda brown sugar. I baked them in mini tins. And let me say. These are amazing. This has to be my favorite applesauce muffin ever. I just wanted you to know that the Splenda does work. Thanks for a great recipe.
Barbara Schieving
Great! Thanks for the update.