These tiny little muffins are a life-saver for me. They are made with whole wheat and are packed with fruits and veggies. I make them in a mini-muffin tin, so they’re the perfect size for little hands. They really are delicious (I sneak a couple for snacks sometimes, too..).
My favorite time to serve these to my kids is while I’m making dinner. I call it a “distraction appetizer.” It drives me crazy when I’m attempting to make dinner and I have two whiny kids at my feet that are ready to eat NOW! It’s the perfect little snack to tide them over, and they actually think it’s a treat!
These store really well in the freezer..you can leave them in there for up to 3 months, but I bet they won’t last that long. I also love to throw a few in the diaper bag when we’re headed out the door. They make an awesome quick snack and travel well!
I started making these for our daughter a couple of years ago from a recipe I found somewhere online, but it has morphed a little over time to fit the ingredients we had, and this is my favorite version.
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Makes approx. 60 mini muffins
Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 medium sized zucchinis
1 large carrot
1/2 apple
1 banana
1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/4 cup buttermilk
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium bowl, mix together your dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon) with a whisk.
Using a mixer, combine the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract.
Cut the zucchinis and carrot into small pieces. I like to steam the carrots in the microwave for a couple of minutes first, because they blend much better this way. Cut the 1/2 apple into chunks. Using a blender or a food processor, (I love my Nutri-Bullet for this part..) blend your zucchinis, steamed carrots, apple, applesauce, and banana until fairly smooth. You may have to add a little water if your blender isn’t doing the job, up to 1/8 of a cup is fine.
Add your fruit and veggie mix into your butter and egg mixture, and add the buttermilk. Stir all of the wet ingredients to combine.
Slowly add your dry ingredients to the wet mixture until everything is combined.
Don’t be shy about the cooking spray, you don’t want these to stick! (You can use muffin papers, but I’ve found that once the muffins are frozen, the papers can be hard to remove.)
Use a tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop the batter into the mini-muffin tin.
Bake for 15-18 minutes (it takes exactly 17 minutes at our house..) or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
You can try some different varieties of these if you’re feeling adventurous. I’ve subbed out some of the zucchini for broccoli before, and they taste the same. I might try to incorporate some peaches or even blueberries next time! I think you’re going to love these as much as we do!
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