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I feel guiltily, these muffins arose from my sense of guilt.  I am guilty of not spending enough time with my daughters in the kitchen.  My oldest keeps telling me, I want to learn how to cook!  Why is it so hard for me to share my kitchen with her?  I want to teach her to cook, but not when everyone is starving and dinner needed to be on the table 5 minutes ago!

I realized today that one of the reasons I don’t invite her (or any of the other kids) into the kitchen is it is my space.  I like to be uninterrupted (as much as possible!) and left alone.  But this is selfish, I need to train my kids in the kitchen too, so I invited my oldest in to make muffins.

I told her, “Mommy likes her kitchen to be calm and quiet, so if you want to be in here you need to be calm and quiet.”  As we baked together I heard her repeating these words to herself quietly under her breath, reminding herself of my wishes and trying so hard to be respectful.  When my second daughter came into join us my oldest was sure to repeat the ground rules to her!

Our baking adventure was inspired by my new Pampered Chef muffin tin, I am in love with it!  Not all muffin tins are created equal and this one is superior.  Since I wasn’t really planning to bake, I was only doing so to pacify my guilty conscience as mentioned above, I grabbed the nearest recipe which happened to be one that came with my new pan.  I made some adaptations and came up with some wonderful muffins!

I used whole wheat flour, but all purpose would be great too.  I decided I was in the mood for butter, but coconut oil would be lovely as well.  I added some papitas (raw pumpkin seeds) but these could be left out or substituted for another nut of your choice.  Make sure you use the topping for these muffins, it is really good!  I used a Granny Smith apple because I like the tartness it brings to baking, but use what you have on hand.

Oh yeah, if you have a little one in the house maybe invite them into the kitchen to help, just set your ground rules first and enjoy your time together!

  • 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 Tbs. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 cup raw papitas, chopped (optional)
  • 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and chopped
  • 1 cup milk
  • 4 Tbs. butter, melted
  • 1 egg, slightly beaten

  • Topping

  • 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 cup rolled oats
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 2 Tbs. flax seeds
  • 3 Tbs. butter, melted

Apple-Oat Muffins

Adapted from Pampered Chef

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and grease or line the muffin tins.

In a large bowl stir together the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.  Mix in the chopped apple and papitas.

Mix in the milk, melted butter, and egg into the flour mixture until just combined.  Spoon the dough into prepared muffin tins, about 2/3 of the way full.

In a small bowl combine the topping ingredients.  Sprinkle the topping over each muffin before baking, dividing evenly.

Bake until the edges are slightly brown and a toothpick inserted comes out with only a few crumbles attached, 14-17 minutes.  Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack.  Once completely cooled store in an airtight container on the counter or in the freezer.