Friday I was inspired by the crisp apples I had sitting on the counter and the beautiful fall weather we are having here in D.C. We have just been having day after day of picturesque sun and brisk air that warrant long walks with my dog and just staring out the window longingly when I should be working! Seriously, I love fall in D.C. so so much.

This recipe was inspired by this blog post on Chelsea’s Messy Apron but I adopted it a by adding walnuts, not using cornstarch, and using vegetable oil instead of coconut oil. Its pretty healthy as muffins go because I used whole wheat flour, greek yogurt, and brown sugar rather than less healthy substitutes. There is a teeny amount of butter in the crumble topping but otherwise there isn’t any butter in this recipe at all which I think is pretty amazing.

These have been hitting the spot for breakfast paired with a tall glass of milk. They aren’t super sweet, but I don’t need my muffin to be a dessert! (Ok most of the time I do, but I feel less bad about eating them everyday because they aren’t loaded with sugar). The oat crumble on top gives it an extra something.

A perfect fall-time muffin.

First, I mix up the dry ingredients. I thought I added enough cinnamon, but honestly this recipe could have taken more!

Then its the wet ingredients. I used plain full-fat greek yogurt – the blog post recommended apple cinnamon yogurt but honestly I don’t think its necessary!

After combining wet to dry, I add the chopped apples and walnuts.

Then I make the oat/brown sugar crumble. I used a teeny bit of butter here but honestly, not that much given I made a whole batch of muffins!

I get them ready for the oven and in they go.

They come out 20 minutes later ready to dig in. After I take some pictures : )

Prep Time: 20 minutes    Cook Time: 25 minutes

Serves: Makes 9 muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour + 3 tablespoons
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon + 1/2 teaspoon
• 1 egg
• 1 cup plain greek yogurt
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• ½ cup brown sugar + 3 tablespoons
• 1 apple peeled and chopped finely
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• ¼ cup walnuts (chopped)
• 2 tablespoons quick oats
• 2 tablespoons butter

Recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine 1 cup whole wheat flour, baking soda, salt, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, combine egg, yogurt, vanilla extract, vegetable oil, and 1/2 cup brown sugar.
4. Chop up one peeled apple and coat it with lemon juice.
5. Combine the apple and walnuts into the dry mixture and stir so its immersed
6. Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir together. No need to over-stir, just make sure its all incorporated.
7. Grease muffin pan and fill 9 muffin cups almost full.
8. Melt the butter in the microwave.
9. In a small bowl, combine the quick oats, melted butter, brown sugar and cinnamon.
10. Top each of the muffins with the crumble topping.
11. Place in oven for about 20-25 minutes until a fork poked into the muffin comes through clear.