Apple Pie Oat Muffins

Ingredients

• 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (certified gluten-free if necessary)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons apple pie spice*
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 medium apple, grated (about 3/4 cup)
• 1 large egg (may use an egg substitute)
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup (or honey)
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup cashew milk
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries

Optional Additions:

• 1/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

* No apple pie spice? No problem! You can make your own; just add 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1 teaspoon allspice and 1/2 teaspoon ground clove. If your spice pantry is spare, just use 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. 
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 12-cup cupcake papers with non-stick olive oil and place in a muffin pan. In a large bowl, stir together oats, baking powder, seasonings and salt.
Add applesauce, grated apple, egg  or substitute, maple syrup, vanilla extract, milk and cranberries, plus any optional additions. Stir well to incorporate.

Allow the mixture to set and thicken for about 3-5 minutes before spooning into your muffin pan.
Fill muffin cups almost completely full with batter. The muffins will not rise.

Bake for 30 minutes and until the center of each oatmeal muffin is set. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving. If you don’t allow these to cool before taking them out of the muffin pan, they will fall apart. I used a knife around the sides to make removal easier. After cooling, they will set well. Store in a covered container in the fridge for about a week or freeze for up to 3 months.

Adapted from Hello Healthy Blog 

Yogurt Apple Pie

Pie Shell 

Ingredients:

Yields:  One 8- or 9-inch pie crust

• 1 1/8 cups Whole grain organic wheat flour (Next time, I want to use half whole wheat and half spelt flour.)
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 3/8 cup organic all vegetable shortening
• 1 1/2 to 2 Tbsp cold water

Directions:

Combine salt and flour together in a mixing bowl and mix well.

Cut in shortening with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture looks like coarse meal.  

Continue working the dough until pieces the size of peas form.

Sprinkle water over mixture and continue working the dough.

Dough is ready when pressed between fingers and particles cling.

Roll out dough onto floured surface to the desired size.

Place dough into pie pan (I prefer glass) and flute the edges.


Do not pre-bake.

Pie Filling

Ingredients:

Yields:  1 filling for one 8- or 9-inch pie

• 5-6 Granny Smith organic apples, peeled, cored and cut into uniform, thick slices
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice (from a freshly squeezed organic lemon)
• 3/4 cup Xylitol
• 1/3 cup Whole grain organic wheat flour (Next time, I'll use spelt flour)
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 cup Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Stick
• 1/2 cup Coconut milk yogurt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Arrange apple slices, overlapping them inside the prepared pie shell.

Sprinkle apple slices with lemon juice.

Blend Xylitol, flour, cinnamon, and salt.  Cut in the Earth Balance until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

Spread evenly over the apples.

Spread the yogurt over the crumb mixture.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes.  After 10-15 minutes, shield crust edge with tin foil to prevent over-baking.