Strawberry Muffins

 (Um...excuse the extreme close-up.  I wanted you to see the texture, apparently)

I have finally found a muffin recipe that my toddler - let's just call her Monkey, like I do - will eat.  And eat.  Wahoo!  Getting her to eat breakfast is a daily struggle.  I have tried countless recipes in an attempt to get her to eat something.  Anything.  Most days she'll take one bite, then run off playing.  So, I made these muffins and said a prayer.  And, she loved them.  Loved them!  The little Monkey even asked me for more - "Muffies, Muffies" - and ate another whole one, plus another half.  The best part about these?  Easy-peasy, and relatively healthy.  Oh, and no need for the stand mixer.  This whips up easily by hand.  You just need two bowls and a muffin tin.

The original recipe was for a blueberry muffin but I was out of blueberries, so I used fresh strawberries and changed the granulated sugar to brown.  It also called for whole wheat pastry flour, which I am out of.  I just split the difference and used half whole wheat and half all-purpose.  It worked beautifully, but feel free to change around as you'd like, or just follow the original recipe.

Strawberry Muffins:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg, beaten
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp melted Earth Balance butter (or regular butter if you're not avoiding milk)
1 1/2 cups strawberries, diced


Optional Topping:
2 Tbs. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 325.

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix until well combined.
In a medium bowl, beat the egg, then add in applesauce, vanilla and butter and combine. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until just blended.  Gently fold in diced strawberries.

Divide batter evenly among 12 lined or greased muffin tins.

If using optional topping:
Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over batter (if you use the same bowl you melted the butter in, the remaining tiny bit of butter will make the topping crumblier, like a traditional topping).  Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the tops spring back when gently touched.  Cool for several minutes and enjoy!

Source:  Adapted from Gina's Skinny Recipes.