Apple Cinnamon Walnut Muffins - Happy Fall Y'all!

Happy Friday & Happy Fall! I've got a new muffin recipe featuring two of my favorite fall flavors and aromas; apples and cinnamon! Since my favorite Honeycrisp apples are now available, I thought what better way to help usher in fall than with a recipe for Apple Cinnamon Walnut Muffins. You can use whatever kind of apple that is your own personal favorite. This entire batch of 3 dozen muffins (40 to be exact) used only 1 medium apple (adding approximately 16 grams of net carbs and 14 grams of sugar to the entire recipe). Divided between the 40 mini muffins that I got from this recipe, it added less than 1/2 gram of net carbs (.4) and about 1/3 of a gram of sugar (.35). 

I prefer leaving the skin on my apples for both fiber and color, but peeling them is probably what most folks prefer to do. These muffins are moist and lightly sweetened and each little piece of apple still retains a little crunch with the kind of apple I used. They were delicious warm, spread with a bit of softened butter and would be great eaten as a snack, spread with a little smear of peanut butter, too. My favorite way to eat them though is “as is” just popped into my mouth (in two bites). The aroma they created while baking was amazing. There is just something about the smell of apples and cinnamon wafting through the kitchen while you are baking on a cool fall morning. 

I'm going to make another batch of them this weekend. I think they taste even better the next day after the apple flavor and moistness has worked its way throughout the muffin. I recommend you cut your apples into small dice (1/4" or so) so the apples get distributed evenly throughout all the muffins and you get a bit of apple in each bite. Also, I want to share one interesting thing that I noted. I baked 2 dozen muffins at a time and refrigerated the batter uncovered until I was ready to put the 2nd batch in the oven and I to. I noticed that the 2nd batch of muffins that's batter had sat for about 25 minutes rose higher and were fluffier than the first batch baked right after mixing (they had nice rounded crowns). It was noticeable enough for me to purposely place the entire bowl of batter in the fridge to sit for 20 minutes or so before scooping and baking all of them next time. The recipe and photos are below. Enjoy!

Apple Cinnamon Walnut Muffins

INGREDIENTS:

1-1/4 cups Honeyville Blanched Amond Flour

3/4 cup Ground Golden Flax Seeds

2 tablespoons coconut flour 

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup Swerve Sweetener (or preferred granular sweetener)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 large eggs

1/4 cup extra light olive oil or melted coconut oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 medium apple, peeled, cored and finely diced

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Olive oil spray or coconut oil spray for greasing muffin tins

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray mini muffin pans with oil and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together almond flour, ground flax, coconut flour, baking powder and 1 cup sweetener until combined.

In a separate medium bowl, beat eggs, oil, vanilla extract, and buttermilk until well combined. Stir wet mixture into dry mixture, stirring just until combined. Fold in diced apples and walnuts. Spoon batter into muffin cups; fill almost to the top. Bake for 18-21 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes in pan; flip and cool completely on a wire rack. Makes approximately 3 dozen mini-muffins.