Apple Cider Walnut Muffins

You've had apple cider donuts, but what about apple cider muffins?

I have half a gallon of apple cider in my fridge that I want to use before it expires next month, so I came up with this recipe for apple cider muffins. They turned out super tasty and I’m bringing them to the Mamma Mia! themed dance class I’m teaching today, which I’m very excited for! If you have any other ideas or recipes with apple cider, let me know! I did waffles last year and they were delicious!

I used almond flour, but I have found that almond flour and whole wheat flour can often be almost directly substituted in recipes. Whole wheat is sometimes more absorbent, so you may not need the coconut flour or oats if you use whole wheat flour instead of almond flour in this recipe. Also, the spices besides cinnamon and salt are ok to leave out if you don’t have them, but they will add extra flavor! If you have apple cider spice, that would work instead.

Recipe

Makes about 6 full sized muffins and at least 12 mini muffins

Ingredients

4 eggs

¾ cup apple cider

1-2 tbsp sunbutter (or other creamy nut butter)

¼ cup honey

2 tbsp melted and cooled coconut oil

2 tsp vanilla

1 ¼ cup almond flour

¼ cup coconut flour or oats (I used a mix of both for ¼ cup total)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp cinnamon

½ tsp ginger

½ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp allspice

½ tsp salt

1 chopped apple

About ½ cup crushed or chopped walnuts

Chocolate chips (as much as you want!)

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Add muffin liners to muffin tins.

2. Whisk eggs in a large mixing bowl, then add apple cider, sunbutter, honey, coconut oil, and vanilla and whisk until well mixed. Stir in spices, baking soda, and flour. Mix in coconut flour and/or oats as needed to absorb extra liquid from the cider. Chop up one apple into small pieces and add it to the mix along with walnuts and chocolate chips.

3. Pour batter into the muffin papers in the muffin tin, filling the cups to the top, and bake for 15-20 minutes (for mini muffins) or 25-30 minutes (for full sized muffins). Let cool and enjoy!

These were flavorful enough to eat on their own, but as one of my friends says, everything can be improved with peanut butter, so I spread some Trader Joe’s crunchy salted peanut butter with flax and chia seeds on a muffin and it was bomb! I also had a bit of extra batter after filling all my muffin tins and made it into a pancake and it worked perfectly! A multitasking recipe - how amazing!