The best part is the recipe is oil-free! We swap the oil with whole milk greek yogurt, apple sauce, and 2 tbsp of grass-fed butter. The greek yogurt keeps the fat and moisture but adds an ideal morning protein boost, making it a much better breakfast choice than the desert type they were before. Fall is just around the corner for some regions, yet it’s far away for those of us living out here in zone 8a. My daughter has been obsessed with the pumpkins that are filling our local Hobby Lobby. Tractor Supply knows our names and faces, but Hobby Lobby might not be far off now that it has become a weekly “field trip” so that toddler girl can rearrange the front display.
This is summer has been wet; southern tropical storms from the south bring loads of rain and occasionally cooler temps. July has also been a busy season for mama. I took on extra working causing me to leave the house multiple days of the week for 6-12 hours, on top of that some other larger projects as well as tackling my first master’s class have left me a bit overstretched. Wednesday was one of those rainy, busy days that makes for an easily sad toddler. Baking was the easiest way to make our day a little more positive with extra one-on-one bonding time and treat at the end! Addy has been assisting me with cooking since she was about 15 months old; she loves dumping in all the premeasured ingredients and stirring them up. She’s always eager to taste test which is probably the biggest challenge to having my two-year-old assist me in baking.
I’ve adapted this recipe from Julie’s delicious recipe at loveleylittlekitchen.com (the link in the notes below). Sally’s baking Addiction has been my go-to blog for solid recipes rarely ever leads me astray. I have been finding myself on her site almost exclusively, but recently I decided to try out some other blogger’s recipes. However, we were baking these lovely treats at 9 am and, if you follow my Instagram, you might have heard that we are making some conscious choices to make healthier everyday swaps in food, household, and beauty. It’s been a long, slow journey to get my husband on board, each pregnancy spurs me deeper into natural and holistic living- which is quite an adjustment for this southern-Italian raised allopathic nurse. I digress, our journey into healthy living is an entirely different blog post!
Here are a few things you need to know about this recipe:
- Cream those eggs and sugar first. This is essential for the texture as it already changes due to the oil replacement.
- These muffins are sweet, but sugar is essential in baking for the texture of the pastry. If y’all are looking to replace some of the sugar or for more natural options I would suggest trying coconut sugar in place of brown sugar.
- If enough people are interested, I might attempt a reduced sugar version.
- The added moisture needs a longer bake time, you may have to add a few minutes based on your oven so keep a close eye on them but don’t over-cook!
- These also are great as pumpkin loaves!
- You can easily add white or dark chocolate chips for a more “kitchen sink” version of these delicious fall muffins.
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar (light or dark)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 2 eggs
- 1 15 ounces can pure pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup whole milk greek yogurt
- 1 4oz individual container of apple sauce
- 2 tablespoons of melted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
- 1/2 cup of finely chopped pecans
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Cream sugar and eggs together until fluffy
- Add in butter, apple sauce, greek yogurt, and pumpkin pie filling
- slowly mix to prevent splatters
- mix together baking soda (make sure there are no lumps) pumpkin pie spice, salt, and 1/2 cup of the flour with a wire whisk
- Dump flour spice mix into the wet ingredients
- Slowly add in the remaining flour until you have a thick pancake batter mixture
- hand stir in the pecans
- grease muffin tins in the preferred method
- I used paper muffin tin liners with pam olive oil spray
- Bake for 30-35 minutes and allow to rest on a wire baking rack to finish cooking in the tin.
Additional Notes: