Apple Spice Crumb Muffins

This post is sponsored by Bob's Red Mill.

I'm craving fall like no other right now. The weather is slowly making a shift, but I'd like to speed things up a bit. Colorado weather can be so wacky this time of year. So while we're still having some pretty warm days here, I'm pretending it's fall with the foods I eat, including these Apple Spice Crumb Muffins that I've consumed approximately 9 of in 2 1/2 days (hmm, maybe more?).

Inside these muffins you'll find some of my very favorite ingredients and one ingredient that I've never really done much baking with before. I typically leave hulled hemp seed hearts for smoothies, oatmeal toppings, and the like, but I wanted to see how they would fair in a hearty breakfast muffin. Turns out, very well! They're so soft that you really don't even notice their presence in these muffins, except for a bit of added flavor. It's not like biting into a crunchy nut or sunflower seed. They pair tremendously well with the oat, buckwheat, and almond flour combination and earthy spices like cinnamon, clove, and molasses.

You all know I'm a huge fan of Bob's Red Mill products, whether they sponsor my work or not. I've been using their products for years + years and am always impressed by the quality and variety of what they offer (which seems to be expanding all of the time). I know most of you are on board with BRM as well, which is why I continue to work with them and feel it's such a good fit in this space.

Per the usual, I have a heavy list of notes at the end about substitutions and a couple tips, so be sure to check them out. While the ingredient list is somewhat long for these muffins, they're not tricky to make, and I promise you won't be disappointed once you get to the eating part. They're the perfect fall breakfast muffin, studded with little bites of apple and topped with one of my favorite crumb toppings ever. I included hemp seeds in the topping, as well as grated apple, oats, oat flour, coconut sugar, etc. It melts in your mouth.

Hopefully the photos sell you on these babies and hopefully you love them so much you eat 9 in 2 1/2 days just like me. Actually, I think I lost count. 

Print Recipe!

Adapted from my: Vanilla Muffins + Blueberry Crumb Muffins

Apple Spice Crumb Muffins

gluten-free, dairy free // yields: 12 standard muffins

for the muffins:

• 1 cup GF oat flour
• 3/4 cup buckwheat flour
• 1/2 cup almond flour 
• 1/2 cup hulled hemp seed hearts
• 1/4 cup + 3 tablespoons coconut sugar 
• 1 1/2 tablespoons ground flax seed meal
• 2-3 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 3 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 medium-sized, crisp apples 
• 1/3 cup melted coconut oil

for the topping:

• 1/3 cup oat flour
• 1/4 cup GF rolled oats
• 1/4 cup softened coconut oil
• 1/4 cup coconut sugar
• 3 tablespoons hulled hemp seed hearts
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 medium-sized, crisp apple 

Preheat your oven to 350° F. Line a 12-mold muffin pan with liners.

In a large bowl, stir all dry muffin ingredients together well. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs. Then whisk in the milk, applesauce, molasses, and vanilla extract. (Hold off on the oil + apple.)

In a medium bowl, place all topping ingredients except for the apple in a bowl. Mix together with your fingers or a fork until crumbly and thoroughly combined. 

Peel 2 apples. Dice 1 cup of the apple at 1/4-inch size. Set aside. Grate the remaining apple and drain lightly in the fine mesh strainer if extra juicy (give a light press until it's not drippy). Measure a lightly packed 1/2 cup. (If needed, peel and use the 3rd apple.) Mix the 1/2 cup grated apple with the topping mixture and set aside.

Whisk the coconut oil in with the wet muffin ingredients and immediately pour into the dry. Stir until just combined (when you no longer see dry flour). The mixture will be thick. Fold in the 1 cup of diced apple.

Scoop into the muffin liners almost to the top and gently spread. (I kind of tap the tops to spread the batter.) Crumble all of the topping mixture over each muffin. Bake for 20-24 minutes, until a toothpick comes out nearly clean (should be slightly sticky/tacky but not wet/gooey). Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then carefully place on a cooling rack until fully cooled (about 1 hour). Texture firms and becomes fluffier once fully cool.

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Notes:

• If you are sensitive to coconut flavor, use refined coconut oil or sub another baking oil in the muffins and use butter or vegan butter in the topping.
• Almond meal can be subbed for almond flour.
• Honey can be subbed for the molasses but the overall muffin flavor will change.
• Sucanat, muscovado sugar, cane sugar, and brown sugar (lightly packed) can all be subbed for the coconut sugar.
• Feel free to add other spices if you like. (ie: ginger, all spice, etc.)
• If you leave the hemp seeds out of the muffins, you may want to decrease the liquids slightly. I haven't experimented with this.
• Braeburn apples worked perfectly, whereas Honey Crisp were actually too juicy and needed to be drained of excess liquid.

I'll be back again soon with a pregnancy update and then another recipe! It feels good to be back in this space a bit more lately. Stay tuned!

Happy Friday + happy weekend. 

Ashley

Today's post is sponsored by Bob's Red Mill, and I received compensation + product for writing this piece. Opinions are always my own. If I didn't love it, you wouldn't hear about it. Thanks for your continued support!

Peach Almond Bread

This post is sponsored by Bob's Red Mill.

Ohhhhh, peach almond bread.... You gave me a run for my money. I was |thisclose| to giving up on you. But thankfully, on Friday at 4pm, I conquered you and then stuffed my belly full of your peachy, bready goodness. After the photo shoot, of course.

But who am I kidding? I stuffed my belly full during the failed attempts as well. And in all seriousness (this is really serious stuff), this was one of the hardest baked recipes I've ever tried to tackle. There are similar recipes in the archives, but once you throw fresh, juicy fruit in the mix, it changes everything. I was really striving for a dense, but moist, but sturdy loaf. So many of the trials just didn't want to fully bake and were wet in the center. I think it had something to do with the peaches on top, which in a few attempts the peaches were caving in to the loaf after coming out of the oven. In one attempt, I tried adding an extra egg, but that led (I just typed "legg") a noticeable eggy flavor. And no one wants and egg-loaf!

My go-to baking mix as of this year is a mix of oat flour, sorghum flour, and almond flour. I used to use buckwheat instead of sorghum, but I wanted the more subtle flavor of sorghum flour in this loaf. I've found they bake very similarly, at least in my tests so far. I also chose almond flour instead of almond meal for a lighter texture and color. Almond meal contains the ground skins of raw almonds as well as the almonds, whereas almond flour is ground from blanched almonds. I love adding almond flour to my baked goods because it lends moisture and a delicate, soft texture to baked goods (due to the fat content). 

It's so convenient that you can go to most grocery stores now (not just natural food stores) and find the eye-catching display of Bob's Red Mill flours in the baking aisle. I feel like they've really changed the flour-game and offer so many options for gluten-free and gluten-filled bakers. They've been my favorite flour (and grain) supplier for awhile now, and a large part of that is because of the variety they offer, and of course, the quality. I've been using BRM flours for years + years now (hello, doughnut cookbook!), so it only made sense that I'd partner up with them this year to show you all just how much I love them. 

Don't forget to read the notes under the recipe, which will help guarantee your baking success!

Print Recipe!

adapted from my: banana bread + triple chocolate quick bread

Peach Almond Bread

gluten-free/dairy-free, yields 1, 8x4/9x5 loaf

• 3 medium peaches (just starting to ripen and slightly soft to the touch)
• 1 cup gluten-free oat flour
• 3/4 cup sorghum flour
• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 1 tablespoon ground flax meal
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup lightly packed muscovado sugar (or brown sugar), plus 1 tablespoon for dusting
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk (or soy/whole milk)
• 1/3 cup applesauce 
• 3 tablespoons refined avocado oil (or other baking oil)
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 teaspoon almond extract
• sliced almonds, to top

Preheat your oven to 350° F. Place one strip of parchment in an 8x4 or 9x5 pan that overhangs the wide sides of the pan. Grease the short ends of the pan. 

Dice 1-2 of the unpeeled peaches into 1/4-inch cubes and measure 3/4 cup. Take another peach and cut 4 large pieces around the pit. Place cut side down and make about 16, 1/8-inch slices (no larger). 

In a large bowl whisk together the flours, flax, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Set aside.

In another bowl, whisk the eggs until the whites are completely dispersed (30sec). Whisk in the milk, applesauce, oil, vanilla, and almond extracts. Pour the wet into the dry and stir until you no longer see dry flour. (Batter will be thick.)

Fold in the diced peaches until evenly dispersed. Pour/scrape batter into your loaf pan and spread evenly. Place sliced peaches in 2 pinwheel patterns, trying not to overlap the peaches too much. Make sure to leave open space on top of the loaf. Sprinkle almonds in open areas and then dust the top of the loaf with about 1 tablespoon muscovado sugar.

Bake for 55-65 minutes (9x5 may take slightly less time) in the center rack of your oven. Toothpick test for doneness. You want the toothpick to be slightly moist (not fully dry or sticky). Let cool in the pan for at least 30 minutes, then carefully pick up by the overhanging parchment and let fully cool on a wire rack. Once cooled, gently slice with a sharp bread knife on a cutting board. Loaf holds together best once fully cooled. 

Keep stored in a sealed container at room temp (or in the fridge) for about 4 days.

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Notes:

• Sub flours at your own risk. 
• Do not sub flax-eggs for the eggs.
• Avoid adding more than 3/4 cup diced peaches to the bread or it will have a hard time cooking through.
• If peaches are too ripe, they will not allow your loaf to cook properly. If peaches are rock hard, they won't have much flavor.
• Avoid fully covering the top of your loaf with sliced peaches.
• Melted coconut oil will work in this recipe. Best if other wet ingredients are at room temp when you whisk in the coconut oil.

Summer isn't over until you've eaten at least 2 dozen peaches and made this loaf. Plenty of time left!

Thank you for all the LOVE on my last post. You are all the best! Happy Wednesday!

Ashley

Today's post is sponsored by Bob's Red Mill, and I received compensation + product for writing this piece. Opinions are always my own. If I didn't love it, you wouldn't hear about it. Thanks for your continued support!