Green Muffins

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I figured its perfect timing for a “green” recipe!  Although the day is almost over it’s still a great recipe to make whether it’s St. Patty’s day or not because, don’t tell the kids, but there is spinach in these muffins!  The spinach gives these muffins their nice green color with no artificial junk needed and I promise you can’t taste the spinach.  I’ll admit, the first time I made these I was not sure if Jaxon would go for them but he ended up being pretty excited that his muffins were green!  Every time I make them, he always eats like 5 muffins right out of the oven.  They are mini but all he asks for the rest of the day are green muffins!

I found the recipe off of this great website http://punchfork.com/from/Weelicious.  They have tons of recipes that have veggies hidden in them like pink pancakes made from beets.  (Jaxon liked those too).  Today is all about green though.  This recipe originally isn’t vegan.  It has an egg in it but no milk so I simply substituted for the egg and they still turned out great.  If your child doesn’t have any allergies, you can make the recipe as is.  If allergies are involved, then you can follow my substitutions.  I have made them both with a flax egg and then using baking powder and vinegar as a substitute.  I think I preferred the baking powder and vinegar but Jaxon didn’t seem to have a preference.  I also do half whole wheat, half white flour.  Sorry I don’t have a picture but if you click on the link you can see their cute, green deliciousness!

Now for the info you really need: the recipe!  Enjoy and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Adapted from Spinach Cake Muffins

Green Muffins

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

Flax Egg (1 TBS ground flaxseed mixed with 3 TBS water) OR 1 TBS vinegar & 1 tps baking powder

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup fresh spinach, packed

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons vegetable, canola oil, or coconut oil

3/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Place the first 6 ingredients in a food processor and puree.  If you don't have a food processor, I'm sure a blender would work fine.  If you are doing the flax egg, mix the ground flaxseed and water in a separate dish first so it has a minute to thicken then add to the mixture.  If you use coconut oil, make sure it's in liquid form.     

3. Place the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl and stir to combine.

4. Pour the spinach mixture in a large mixing bowl.

5. Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet until combined.

6. Scoop batter into a greased mini muffin tin or use mini cup liners, filling each cup 2/3 of the way.

7. Bake for 12 minutes.

8. Serve.

Makes 24 mini muffins