Hemp Seed-Applesauce Muffins

Delicious, healthy hemp seed and apple sauce muffins! 

These muffins are absolutely delicious.  And healthy.  Ingredients used include spelt flour, oat flour, hemp seeds (also known as hemp nuts), maple syrup, apple sauce, cinnamon, and other items you likely have in your kitchen for baking: baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Spelt is an ancient grain, and the flour produces a nice, cakey product.  I used spelt flour to make the chocolate banana cake/bread recipes (my "COVID-19 banana bread"), recipes here.  Spelt flour is a whole food but doesn't have the sort of acidic undertones that one gets when baking with whole wheat flour.

I "made" two of the ingredients in my Vitamix high-speed blender.  You might want to do the same, both to save money and to provide ingredients with no added stuff in them (such as preservatives).  I ground up some regular oat flakes to make oat flour (just used the same amount of flakes as flour called for) and blended up two or three apples to make apple sauce.  I added a dollop of apple cider vinegar (just my choice) to the apple sauce while blending it.

NEW: MAKE THE MUFFINS FASTER IN A FOOD PROCESSOR AND / OR A COUNTER-TOP OVEN---- SCROLL WAY DOWN TO THE INGREDIENTS AND METHODS FOR USING THE FOOD PROCESSOR AND / OR COUNTER-TOP OVEN BELOW................

Hemp Seed-Apple Sauce Muffins

These muffins are a little cinnamon-spicy-- you could add pumpkin pie spice if you wanted to go up the spice kitchen spectrum.  They are quick to make and I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't love them!

Makes: About 9 - 12 muffins depending on your muffin pans
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 22 minutes
Total Time: 42 minutes

Along with the ingredients below, you will need:

*A high speed blender (if you are making your own oat flour and/or apple sauce)
*2 large bowls for mixing
*A large sieve to fit over mixing bowl if possible
*12-cup cupcake/muffin tins (silicone or with parchment paper cup liners)

Assemble all ingredients before starting the process.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup unsweetened organic apple sauce (can make your own with 2-3 apples)

1/2 cup maple syrup (not maple "flavored" pancake syrup)

3/4 cup plain non-dairy milk, unsweetened

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups of whole grain organic spelt flour (look in natural foods section of store)

1 cup of organic oat flour (can make in high speed blender with dry oat flakes)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 3/4-2 tsp. cinnamon

3/4 cup hemp seeds- no shells 

1/3 cup of dried cranberries and dairy-free chocolate chips (or other dried fruit pieces)

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (176 degrees C)
Put all wet ingredients into one large bowl and whisk until well combined

Put a sieve over the large bowl with wet ingredients in it, like the following:

Put the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in the sieve and work all lumps out, and into the wet ingredients.

Use cutting and folding to gently work the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.  Don't stir too long but the batter should be fairly smooth like thick cake batter.

Add in hemp nuts, chocolate chips and cranberries, stirring only enough to incorporate them. uniformly.

Spoon the batter into the bake cups (either into the parchment liners or into the silicone cups for the best assurance of not having messy cleanup afterwards.)

Bake for about 22 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean when poked into a muffin.

Cool for 2 minutes before removing the muffins and cooling completely on the rack.

Store in freezer in container with tight-fitting lid.

**The original recipe was put together by Dreen Burton of Plant-Powered Families and appears as Apple Hemp Muffins in the recipes section on the 8th day of the Food Revolution Summit 2020.

HOW TO MAKE THE MUFFINS FASTER IN A FOOD PROCESSOR AND / OR BAKE THEM IN A COUNTER-TOP OVEN: THE RECIPE AND THE METHODS:

INGREDIENTS for FOOD PROCESSOR MUFFINS:

1. 2  cups of organic quick rolled oats 

2. 2 tsp baking powder

3. 1 tsp baking soda

4. 1/4 tsp salt

5. 1 3/4- 2 tsp. cinnamon

6. 1 cup unsweetened organic apple sauce (can make your own with 2-3 apples)

7. 1/2 cup coconut sugar (or brown sugar)

8. 1/2 cup plain non-dairy milk, unsweetened

9. 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

10. 3/4 cup hemp seeds- no shells 

12. 1/3 cup of dried cranberries and dairy-free chocolate chips (or other dried fruit pieces)

    PROCESSOR METHOD 

1. Put dry ingredients into the food processor bowl and process until totally blended  (#1-#5)

2  Add in apple sauce, sugar, non-dairy milk, and vanilla. Process until flour is absorbed. 

3 By hand (not using processor): Add in the hemp seeds and other added-in items (cranberries, choc chips, etc). Stir briefly by hand to distribute bits throughout the batter.

4. Preheat the counter oven to 350 degrees - 360 degrees on "Bake" for a couple of minutes.

5. In greased or paper-cup-lined muffin tins (12), put 2 tablespoons of batter (use up all batter). 

6. Bake for about 17-20 minutes on 350 or 360 degrees Fahrenheit.  Cool on rack. Eat.