We are going to be sharing with you our A-Z of cooking with kids over the next year and we are starting today with A is for….. Apple Muffins. These easy apple muffins are simple to make with kids and are perfect for freezing and use in lunch boxes.
How to make Easy Apple Cinnamon Muffins
Looking for a delicious and nutritious snack for your kids? These apple muffins are the perfect solution! With fresh apples (rather than applesauce), and just the right amount of sweetness, these muffins are a healthy and easy option for busy parents and even better they are super simple to make with your kids!
If you have toddlers then this is a great bake to make with them and I would make mini apple muffins using mini muffin pans – they are a great size for little hands. I prefer using fresh apples even compared to unsweetened applesauce as it has less UFP’s (Ultra-processed foods) making these healthy and tasty. If you want to make these dairy-free replace the milk with a milk alternative (we have used both oat and almond milk) and in the past and we have replaced the vegetable oil with equal amounts of coconut oil.
We have started with a really simple recipe that takes minimal equipment. In fact, muffins are perfect for making with kids as you don’t need a mixer and they take minimal stirring and are hard to get wrong. There is also a great book here for encouraging kids to cook.
My kids are pretty proficient in the kitchen at 8 and 9, but then they have been cooking and baking with me since they could sit in a high chair, so I want to share with you my hints and tips. Cooking with kids can be stressful and messy, but all messes can be cleaned and cooking skills are for life.
Life Skills Gained through cooking
Throughout this series I will share what tools we use to make things simpler, but there is nothing that beats hands-on experience.
Helping kids with knife skills
It can be hard to watch your kids using a knife and even though mine have graduated from safety knives and plastic lettuce knives
I believe that the right tools make so much difference and child-sized ones make such a difference to your child being able to do a safe fantastic job.
Using Maths whilst cooking
Weighing and measuring is a great time to put math into practice. Now my boys are older we no longer set the scales to zero between adding ingredients and they add the additional weight of the subsequent ingredients working on combined weight.
Another great way of introducing maths is getting the kids to convert the weights from one measure to another. The same with liquid and oven temperatures.
Reading & Following Instructions
I love providing a recipe for the kids and getting them to read it and independently try and follow the instructions. I sit on my hands and try very hard not to take over!
Tip – Buy an ice cream or cookie scoop set – these allow kids to put the same amount of batter into each muffin tin
Apple Cinnamon Muffins
Ingredients
- 200 g or 7oz plain flour
- 100 g or 3.5 oz caster sugar
- 50 g or 2 oz brown sugar
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- 90 ml milk
- 80 ml vegetable oil
- 1 large egg beaten
- 5 drops vanilla extract
- 2 large apples – peeled cored and chopped
Instructions
Preheat oven to 200 C, 400F which is Gas 6 and add paper cases to muffin tray. We use silicone trays so don't need to add lining paper or miffin cases, but we do use a cake release spray.
- Measure out your dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
Add milk, oil, egg and vanilla. Stir until just combined It is OK for it to be lumpy.
- Gently fold in chopped apples and spoon mixture in muffin cups.
Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top. You want a wooden skewer to come out clean without cake mix on it.
Place on a wire rack and see if you can wait till they cool before you eat them!
Recipe Notes
Storage
These apple cinnamon muffins will be kept for 4 days in an air-tight tin.
They can be frozen of the day of baking once cool and must be defrosted before being eaten (they defrost brilliantly in a lunch box).
Substitutions
- Milk: Any milk or milk alternative can be used, (soy milk, almond milk, rice milk)
- Vegtable oil: This can be substituted for melted butter or any mild flavoured oil.
- Brown sugar: This can be substituted with any granulated sugar.
Looking for some more fabulous apple recipes, then take a look at my fabulous co-hosts recipes – Apple Peanut Butter Balls by Smiling like Sunshine, Apple Cinnamon Slices by Peakle Pie, Apple Oaty Crumble by Witty Hoots, Apple, Apple Dumplings by Sugar Aunts, Apple Harvest Cake by Still Playing School
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