Vegan Spiced Apple Crumb Muffins

Wistful thoughts of fall….what foods are associated with our anticipation of cooler weather, colorful falling leaves and crisp air?

Apples and pears come to mind.

For this month’s C.L.U.E. round, apples and pears are the theme.  I was lucky enough to have been assigned to Heather from girlichef.   I have been acquainted with Heather for some time, primarily through Food ‘n Flix (her brainchild and a really fun and creative club).  I am in awe of Heather. Her blog is beautiful, her photography is excellent and her sense of humor is right in line with mine.

Heather’s blog provided me with quite a few recipes to choose for this month’s theme.  There was the Skillet Pear Crisp that just sang fall to me.   Then there was the Triple Apple Bread which I seriously thought of using, subbing in fresh pears for part of the triple apple in the recipe’s title.  I can’t forego a good cookie and her Chewy Oatmeal Cookies with Apples was a contender.  If I had had more time, you would have seen her Spiced Apple Butter recipe here (and I still might make that later this fall).   Most recently, Heather posted Whiskey Caramel Apple Pie (for the August FnF).

 

I needed to bribe some staff members at an early morning meeting last week though, so I landed on Vegan Spiced Apple Crumb Muffins which (Heather, thank you very much) worked out great!

I made Heather’s recipe verbatim except I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk.  And, I could not find whole spelt so I used oats for the topping.  You can find Heather’s original recipe here.

Vegan Spiced Apple Crumb Muffins
Makes large 12 muffins

Crumb Topping:
½ c. whole grain spelt flour
¼ c. old-fashioned oats
¼ c. brown sugar, packed
2 t. . ground cinnamon
pinch sea salt
2 T. . coconut oil
1 T. . unsweetened vanilla almond milk

Muffins:
1 c. peeled, finely diced Granny Smith apples (1-2 apples)
1 T. cornstarch
½ c. coconut oil
½ c. + 2 T. pure maple Syrup
½ c. + 2 T. unsweetened vanilla almond milk
2 c. whole grain spelt flour
2¼ t. baking powder
½ t. baking soda
¼ t. fine sea salt
2 t. ground cinnamon
½ t. ground allspice
½ c. lightly toasted walnuts, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 350° F.  Line muffin tins with liners (or oil them).

Make the crumb topping:  Combine all dry ingredients in a small bowl.  Add coconut oil and almond milk and rub together with your fingers until you have crumbs the size of peas or small pebbles.  Set aside.

Prepare muffin batter:  Toss apples with cornstarch and set aside.  In a large bowl, whisk together coconut oil, maple syrup, and almond milk.  Sift everything else (except the walnuts) into the bowl and stir until just combine.  Gently fold in the apples and walnuts.  Divide batter amongst muffin tins.  Divide crumb topping over each.  Slide into the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Because there is no egg in these muffins, they were a bit crumbly and I would definitely recommend using muffin wrappers.  They were still incredibly moist though, if that makes sense. There were no complaints at the meeting (about the muffins or the proposed tasks at hand).   Thank you Heather for helping us jump start our morning!

These were almost better the second day!

Please check out the other C.L.U.E bloggers for September:

• Apple Banana Bread by Lora from Cake Duchess
• Apple Brie Panini by Rebekah from Making Miracles
• Apple Butter by Stacy from Food Lust People Love
• Apple Oatmeal Muffins by Aly from Cooking in Stilettos
• Apple Pear Compote by Alice from A Mama, Baby and Shar-Pei in the Kitchen
• Apple Pie with Oat Streusel by Christiane from Taking on Magazines
• Applesauce Pancakes by Anna from annaDishes
• Arugula, Pear and Parmesan Salad by Kate from Kate’s Kitchen
• Butternut Squash Soup with Apple by Lea Ann from Cooking on the Ranch
• Chaussons aux Pommes by Liz from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal by Kim from Liv Life
• Creamy Tomato Soup by Kelli from Kelli’s Kitchen
• Fresh Peach Buckle by Sue from A Palatable Pastime
• Fried Apple Hand Pies by Heather from girlichef
• Greek Yogurt Apple Loaf by Lauren from Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Peach Streusel Bread by Azmina from Lawyer Loves Lunch
• Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie by Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Pumpkin Molasses Tea Bread by Lisa from Authentic Suburban Gourmet
• Sweet Potato Apple Soup with Chipotle by Kathy from A Spoonful of Thyme
• Vegan Spiced Apple Crumb Muffins by Debra from Eliot’s Eats

Join the C.L.U.E. group in the second Wednesday in October for our Autumn themed round.