Halloween Season ~ Applesauce Spice Muffins

I made a couple of batches of applesauce spice muffins to warm up the house on chilly October days. The original recipe was from Gourmet magazine, and it can be found at Epicurious.com. I used a few tricks to make these treats a little healthier, though ;).  I substituted whole-wheat pastry flour for the all-purpose flour, I reduced the sugar a little and I replaced the butter with a blend of canola oil and light sour cream.

Applesauce Spice Muffins

Muffin Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Pinch of salt

2 large eggs

1 cup lightly packed light brown sugar

¼ cup canola oil

¼ cup and 3 tablespoons light sour cream

1 cup unsweetened applesauce (cinnamon or plain work well)

1 cup pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped (optional)

Topping Ingredients:

1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ cup sliced almonds (optional)

Put your oven rack in the middle position and preheat to 400 degrees. Grease the muffin pan or line it with cupcake papers.

Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and brown sugar, then whisk in the canola oil and sour cream until well combined. Stir in the applesauce. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture until the flour is just moistened. Stir in the nuts at this point if you are using them. Divide the batter between 12 muffin cups.

For the topping, stir together all of the topping ingredients with the almonds if you are using them.  Sprinkle evenly over the muffins.

Bake until the muffins are puffed and golden, about 20 minutes. A wooden skewer inserted should come out clean.

Happy Halloween!