“La gourmandise… mon péché mignon!”

It doesn’t really translate well in English but it roughly means that “my love for food is my guilty pleasure, or my little sin”. Nothing dramatic here, and to be honest, the more I take the time to make my little sweet treats myself with good quality and wholesome ingredients – as opposed to buy the processed ‘stuff’ – the less guilty I feel! As I always say, it is all about balance. I found this recipe on the Healthy Chef website and did little amendments to it but reduced the quantities and worked with what I had in my pantry. Here is my version of these delicious healthy yummy treats.

Type of dish: Snack/Breakfast
Serves: 6 Muffins
Difficulty: Ridiculously Easy
Cost: Low/Medium
Prep time: 15 min
Cooking time: 35 min

Ingredients:
100g (1 cup) rolled oats
60g (1/2 cup) wholemeal flour
25g (1/4 cup) LSA
40g (1/4 cup) raisins
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup natural yoghurt
2 eggs
30 ml coconut oil
1 tbsp honey
1 apple
Prefer organic ingredients: better for you, better for the environment!

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 160ºC.
Combine oats into a bowl with LSA, raisins, yoghurt, oil, baking powder, cinnamon, honey and eggs.
Soak for 10 minutes to allow oats to soften.
Add 3/4 grated apple with the skin and juice that comes from grating.
Add the wholemeal flour and mix through lightly to form your muffin batter.
Spoon into muffin tray and line muffin cups with baking paper.
Sprinkle with oats and place into the oven.
Bake for 15 minutes then cut the rest of the apple into 12 thin half-slices and place on top of each muffin in a butterfly shape (see photo).
Bake for another 20 minutes or until muffin is cooked through.
Remove from the oven.
Lightly brush the apple tops with a little honey (optional).
Serve and enJOY! ^_^

Notes from the Health Chef:
• For a gluten free friendly Muesli Muffin, substitute the oats with rolled quinoa and the wholemeal flour with almond meal.
• For a dairy free option, substitute the yoghurt with soy yoghurt or silken tofu – just whip it a bit before mixing into the oats.