When David started school last year I was a little bit nervous about how we would deal with the “vegan issue.” I knew that there would be cooking projects and snack time and birthday parties, and being a newer mom I just had no idea how I wanted to handle it. It turned out that it was almost silly that I worried about it at all. I pack David’s snack for school each day—easy! He doesn’t even care that his snack is different from his friends’. For birthday parties I just emailed the other kids’ parents and asked what they were bringing in, or we just brought a treat of our own. And for the cooking projects we were blessed with an amazing and understanding teacher who invited me not only to come to school and help with the projects, but to veganize any recipes we worked on so that David could fully participate. Last year I helped the kids make pumpkin muffins, mini pizzas, and dirt cups and we had SO much fun!
Here we are one year later and we are fortunate to have another amazing pair of teachers who have once again welcomed me into the classroom, and welcomed me to adapt recipes as needed. Our first project this year was apple muffins. David’s teacher gave me the recipe they had used in the past and invited me to update and make changes as I saw fit. I ditched the milk and the eggs, replaced them with really crazy ingredients like apple sauce, water and baking powder, and added a streusel topping a la this Banana Bread recipe (you should make it too—it’s really easy!).
I typed up this recipe for David’s teacher and she sent copies home with the kids—it’s been fun to hear that several of the families from David’s class have been making my vegan muffins at home! How’s that for vegangelism?
We’ve tested these recipes several times now, and my newest helper in the kitchen is Jonathan! He is so excited to scoop and dump and make “ca caws”—his all purpose word for any bread product. He’s also shown me what a careful and reliable helper David is—I’d forgotten what’s it’s like to cook with an 18 month old!
^^^ These pair perfectly with a big tea latte for an afternoon snack!
I’ve also made these with blueberries and they are delicious. If you are so inclined, check out the instructions below to turn these into Blueberry Lemon Muffins!
I’ve been promising this recipe for a couple of weeks now, so without further adieu, grab your closest toddler helper and jump in to the kitchen—if Jonathan, David, and David’s 4 year old classmates can make these so can you! And when you get a chance to make these, will you take a picture, post it on Instagram, and tag it with #frieddandelions? I’d love to see what you make!
Apple Streusel Muffins, makes 24 mini muffins
Steusel Topping
6 T flour
2 T coconut sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
2 T coconut oil, firm
Mix dry ingredients well. Add the coconut oil and mix like you would a pastry crust, using two knives. As the mixture begins to incorporate, you can use your fingers to mix the streusel topping into a sand like consistency, leaving larger chunks. Set aside.
Muffins
1/4 c of coconut oil
1/2 c applesauce
1/4 c of water
½ c of coconut sugar (you can sub white or brown sugar if needed)
1 ½ c of flour
1 T baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t salt
1 1/2 c of small chopped apple (1 large apple) (For blueberries sub 1 1/2 c frozen blueberries + 1 t lemon extract & zest of 1 lemon)
Heat oven to 400*. Grease bottoms of muffin cups or use paper liners.
Melt the coconut oil. In a small bowl, mix all wet ingredients, including sugar.
In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients. Pour wet ingredients in to the dry ingredients and mix well. Fold in apples—batter should be thick.
Divide muffin batter into cupcake pan, scooping about 1 large tablespoon of batter into each compartment. Sprinkle generously with streusel topping (you will probably have some leftover).
Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan and allow to cool.
These are best served fresh out of the oven—and they’re quick to make so you could definitely make them fresh for a weekend breakfast! If you do store them overnight the streusel topping will soften a little, but they will still be delicious! Enjoy!
