Gluten free blueberry muffins with oatmeal and applesauce

Oatmeal Blueberry Applesauce Muffins

My mom is trying to avoid gluten and in order to be helpful I have started to look at some gluten free alternatives for when she is around.  It is no fun for her not to get the good foods!  The problem with most muffins recipes is that they are very flour intensive- and the problem with gluten free flour is that is does not raise very much- giving you a compact dense muffin- not to yummy!

When I saw this recipe on pinterest I was intrigued-  since it only calls for 1 1/4 cups flour and utilizes oatmeal I was thinking that I could try this one with gluten free flour (it also was already using wheat flour- which we all know does not raise very well). Review: these muffins are my new favorite!  I will make them again and I am going to play with a few things to make them even better.

My big helper mixing (and making a mess).

Oatmeal Blueberry Applesauce Muffins

Yields: 12 muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (I substituted gluten free flour)
• 1 1/4 cups oats (I used whole oats)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup applesauce
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt (Used Plain)
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375˚ F.
2. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper/ silicone liners, or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
3. In a large bowl combine flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a medium bowl combine applesauce, yogurt, brown sugar, canola oil and egg.
4. Make a well in dry ingredients and add the applesauce mixture. Stir until just moist. Fold in blueberries. Divide the batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups, filling to about 2/3 full.
5. Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin from the middle of the tray comes out clean.
6. If you’re freezing them, allow the muffins to cool, then pop them into a Ziploc bag before putting them into the freezer. Pop them into the microwave to defrost when you’re ready to eat!

Recipe adapted slightly from The Little Spork.

I took a picture to show that these actually rose nicely.  You can see it over the pan!

This weekend we are headed to the lake with a few friends – I am going to make up a few different muffins – I plan on premaking all of the solid parts so I can get other people's opinion on what they prefer!  I will say that Luke actually ate these (normally he ignores my muffins until he gets hungry), so I take that as a positive!