Oatmeal Blueberry Applesauce Muffins

It appears as if I am on an every other month (ish) schedule with the Crazy Cooking Challenge hosted by Mom's Crazy Cooking. I started in November, then February and now, April's theme is blueberry muffins. I am a sucker for muffins and throwing blueberries in there makes them one of my favorite types so I cannot wait to see all of the awesome recipes linked up this month.

I've been trying to eat a little bit healthier so when I found this recipe on Honey, What's Cooking?, I thought I should give it a shot. 151 calories and low fat from a moist muffin, what's not to love?

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cups oatmeal (quick minute is fine)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
3/4 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners or grease/flour.

First combine the flour, oats, baking powder and soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine the applesauce, buttermilk, canola oil, brown sugar, vanilla and egg. Then, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold to mix. Be careful not to overmix.

Finally, fold in the blueberries. Again, it's important not to overmix.

Divide the batter into your 12 cupcake cavities. These muffins do not rise much at all, so filling the cups to the top is just fine and should work out perfectly to fill 12 with the amount of batter you make.

Bake the muffins for 16-18 minutes. Allow the muffins to cool and enjoy! 

These muffins are dense and moist as promised. Plus, they're not as bad for you as your typical blueberry muffin!

I'm so thankful you don't consume calories by just oogling over the blueberry muffins recipes listed below.


This post is linked up to some of the parties listed under my Show & Tell tab at the top of the page. Go check them out for more inspiration!

Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake

I told you we had too many blueberries (thanks to Grammy!) to consume quickly enough before they went bad. And that is saying something since I have a niece who eats berries like candy.

In addition to the Blueberry Snickerdoodle Cookies from Monday, I tried this recipe from Alexandra's Kitchen. Let me tell you, the batter was sooooo yummy. I may or may not have had more than one spoonful of it, raw egg and all. Tsk tsk. But, you will too when you make this.

Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake
by Alexandra from Alexandra's Kitchen
Serves 6-8

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tsp. lemon zest or more — zest from 1 large lemon
7/8 cup + 1 T. sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 cups fresh blueberries
½ cup buttermilk

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cream butter with lemon zest and 7/8 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Meanwhile, toss the blueberries with ¼ cup of flour, then whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt.

3. Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk. Fold in the blueberries.

4. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (or something similar) with butter or coat with non-stick spray. Spread batter into pan. Sprinkle batter with remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake for 35 minutes. Check with a toothpick for doneness. If necessary, return pan to oven for a couple of more minutes. (Note: Baking for as long as 10 minutes more might be necessary.) Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

Addie thought it was her birthday cake and Michelle and Steve devoured half of it. (Not to embarrass them or anything, but they did.) Success.

Blueberry Snickerdoodle Cookies

We have so many blueberries and they needed to be eaten in some way, shape or form fast, so as not to go bad. Solution: bake something, obviously. Of course, I didn't have to look very far to find a recipe I wanted to try. Yup, my Pinterest Cookie Board. Lo and behold, I give you Snickerdoodle Blueberry Cookies.

They are super tasty and a great way to mix up traditional snickerdoodles, as well as use some antioxidant filled fruit. Makes them healthy, right?
 

Here's the recipe:

Blueberry Snickerdoodle Cookies
by Kerry of Bakergirl

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 large egg
2 heaping cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh blueberries*
1/4 cup granulated sugar & 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon for rolling cookies in

Preheat oven to 375°F.
Beat together butter, vegetable oil, granulated sugar, powdered sugar, and egg. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Slowly beat flour mixture into the butter mixture. Gently fold in the blueberries, being careful not to crush them - otherwise, you'll end up with purpleish-blue cookies.

In a small bowl, combine the 1/4 cup granulated sugar and cinnamon.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls, then roll in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place balls 3 to 4 inches apart on a greased baking sheet. Kerry suggested flattening the cookies slightly with a flat-bottomed glass dipped in cinnamon-sugar. I didn't do that and I like the shape mine turned out. If you do do this, remember to be careful and not to totally crush the berries or else ... blue cookies.

Bake for 11-13 minutes, or until edges being to slightly brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cookie comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

*Because of the fresh berries, these cookies are best eaten within 3-4 days of making. 

Source: Adapted from Sunset, 1998. 

Look at that oozing berry! And ohhh, they are so scrumptious and unfortunately all gone.

Scentsy Cake Party

Yes, you read that right. My awesome friend Michelle was gracious enough to host a Scentsy party for me. We thought what a great excuse the Scentsy party would be for a spread of homemade cakes. We're always looking for any excuse to bake. Here's her rundown of the day.

Michelle made a super yummy Lemon Blueberry Cake (from Sweetapolita) with Lemon Curd Filling and Lemon Frosting. I loved the addition of sliced lemons on the border of the cake. Yellow is such a happy color.

I was really rushed taking these pictures and they are all so dark. I'll link up Michelle's post when it happens, which will certainly have better photos to oogle over!

She also made a Pink Almond Cake, seen in the foreground of the photo below. Incredibly tasty.

And my favorite, as a finale, her fantastic creation of a Chocolate Mousse Cake. Yes, a chocolate cake, frosted and filled with chocolate mousse. It was soooooo tasty.

Guests arrived, smelled as many Scentsy scents as they could, sipped on pink lemonade and iced tea (thanks Allison!), chatted, decided to start a book club [hopefully more on that soon!] and after placing a few Scentsy orders, tried all three cakes. You really couldn't go wrong, except consequently regretting to wear stretchier pants, thanks to the cake trifecta. Talk about sensory overload. Guests even got to take home cake in adorable boxes, thanks again, to Allison. Let's do it again!

Special thanks to all the ladies who came! I really enjoyed your company!