Apple Pecan Muffins Ellie Krieger

I can't say enough good things about these muffins, and they're actually healthy! They're incredibly moist and have an awesome crunchy pecan and brown sugar topping. I have to say, I'm really loving the cookbook "The Food You Crave" by Ellie Krieger. All the recipes I've made so far have turned out with A+ results.

The recipe calls for whole wheat pastry flour, which has a finer texture than regular whole wheat flour while still retaining more nutrients than white flour. It was a little tricky to locate the whole wheat pastry flour in my area, but luckily I found some at Wegmans. The recipe also says that you can use regular whole wheat flour as a substitute. I would guess it would just make a denser muffin.

The recipe also states that it yields 12 muffins, but I easily got 18 out of it, filling the tins two-thirds full as instructed. I just made up a little extra of the brown sugar pecan mixture to top them.

I made a batch of these to take for breakfast in the mornings. You can store them in the refrigerator for up to three days or freeze them for up to three months. I didn't have time to weigh all the ingredients for metric measurements, but if you're interested in them, send me an email. I expect to be making these again soon and will send that info out.

Apple Pecan Muffins
Ellie Krieger
The Food You Crave and Online

Ingredients: 

Cooking spray
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 cup natural applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
1 Golden Delicious apple, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch pieces

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12-capacity muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar, the pecans and cinnamon.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and whole-wheat flour, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, whisk the remaining 3/4 cup sugar and oil until combined. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, whisking well after each addition. Whisk in the applesauce and vanilla.

Whisk in the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Whisk just until combined. Gently stir in the apple chunks.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan and sprinkle with the pecan mixture. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of 1 of the muffins comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the muffins to loosen them and unmold. Cool completely on the rack.

Nutrition Information
Nutritional Analysis per Serving 
Calories: 219
Total Fat: 8 grams 
Saturated Fat: 1 gram
Protein: 4 grams 
Carbohydrates: 35 grams

Excellent source of thiamin.

Comments

[steph]

these sound really good! i liked ellie's show (before i moved to australia, where they don't show it), and was wondering if her book is any good. glad to hear you have gotten great results!

[dani]

I've been loving that book since I received it about two weeks ago. I just posted two of her recipes this week! I'll be posting a turkey burger soon, it wasn't as good as the other things I made but ok.

[Deborah]

I have seen her show a few times, but have never tried any of her recipes. After seeing this muffin, I don't know what's stopping me!!

[Pamela]

Great looking site...and recipes I love most anything Ellie makes she had a great pumpkin muffin I made for fall so yummy
come visit me sometime
http://pamelaskitchen.blogspot.com

[C Duran]

These sound good. A good source for the whole wheat pastry flour is a food co-op (or other "health food" store) where they sell staples in bulk.