Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, they say, and yet it seems rather over-represented with not the healthiest options involving bread, fatty cheese and salty meats.  When my first born was around 2 years old, I somehow got away with serving her oatmeal cooked in unsweetened almond milk with a sprinkling of raisins (no sugar) every single day for an entire year!  Then she got wise.  

Suffice it to say I do find it very hard to get creative with breakfast.  So when I land on a good muffin recipe that meets my standards as breakfast food (not full of refined sugar and flour) that everyone enjoys, it gets promptly put into rotation.  

Like this muffin.  It's moist, lightly sweetened (with honey, no refined sugar except for a teeny bit of powdered sugar sprinkled at the end for the photo feels but you can skip that obviously) and contains ground up rolled oats and nuts (pecans in this case) to make it filling and nutritious enough as a breakfast option.  Pureed apples (or unsweetened apple sauce) stand in for oil, making it oil free too.  

Leave a comment if you've got other yummy and nutritious breakfast ideas for me to try :)

MAKE AHEAD:  And as always, muffin batter can be made ahead and frozen in a freezer-safe container. Defrost in the fridge overnight and scoop into a lined muffin tin and bake just like the recipe directs and you shall enjoy fresh muffins for breakfast. Baked up muffins can be frozen too in an airtight bag or container and warmed gently in the microwave -- for my microwave, one muffin takes 1 minute on high direct from freezer OR 20 seconds on high if defrosted overnight on the counter. 

Honey Apple Muffins

Recipe makes 12 regular or 10 large bakery style muffins.  

INGREDIENTS

Dry ingredients:

1C (100g) pecans

1C (85g) old-fashion rolled oats (use gluten free if intolerant)

2/3C (90g) buckwheat flour

1 tbsp ground cinnamon 

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

Wet ingredients:

2/3C (160ml) plain yogurt or kefir or buttermilk

1/3C (80ml) homemade or store-bought unsweetened apple sauce

2 ripe bananas (about 1C)

1/2 C honey, in liquid state 

3 large eggs, whisked

Optional to top:

• Handful of diced up apples to top muffins (optional) OR I made tiny apple roses but that is of course optional too! It's kind of a hybrid between "apple rose" and "avocado rose" - google YouTube for tons of how-to videos.

• I also sprinkled a bit of powdered sugar purely for food photography shenanigans. Obviously skip this to keep it refined sugar free :)

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 400f.  Line or grease muffin tin.

2. Add pecans and rolled oats into a food processor and pulse into a coarse flour.  Transfer to a large bowl and add in the remaining dry ingredients. Mix well with a whisk.

3. In the same food processor, add all the wet ingredients except the eggs. Pulse to blend until a smooth consistency is achieved. 

4. Mix in the whisked eggs.

5. Stir the wet ingredients into the bowl holding the dry ingredients.  Mix until just combined, making sure not to overmix. 

6. Divide the mixture into the muffin tin.  If using, top each muffin with a few pieces of diced apples (or an apple rose) - just pushing gently down a little bit into the batter with your finger.  Bake 18-20 minutes.  Use a skewer to test doneness by inserting it in the center - it should emerge slightly moist with some crumbs hanging on.  Every oven is different so when making the first time, do test a muffin earlier rather than later to avoid overbaking.  

Enjoy! xx