Firstly, is it bad that I bought these tea bags because I wonder what will happen when I give one to my cats?

Catnip and Valerian, together! This may require some candid catcam video. :D

Today I managed to both sleep-in (my human alarm clock had snuck out of bed at ridiculous o'clock to watch England vs. Italy) and lock my keys in the house, so the day got away on me a bit. BUT, as promised, here is my vegan  moofin recipe. 

The recipe would be gluten-free except that oatbran, and oats in general, can sometimes contain gluten by virtue of contamination from processing equipment or crops growing nearby. You can get certified gluten-free oats, but otherwise you should assume there is a small amount of gluten present.

My goal with these muffins was to have fruit as the main ingredient and use just enough other stuff to make it work as a muffin. Therefore, it's low(ish) fat, high fibre and low calorie. I've jiggied up the nutritional stats and you can choose whether to view them or not on the 'printable' links. 

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Vegan Apple Muffins with Gluten-Free Option

Click Here for Printable Version without Nutritional Panel

Click Here for Printable Version with Nutritional Panel

Ingredients

(Makes 12)

5 medium sized apples

½ cup dessicated coconut

½ cup oatbran (if you have gluten-free oatbran then this is a gluten-free muffin)

½ cup buckwheat flour

2 tbsp sugar(or 1 tbsp if you want a lower sugar, slightly less sweet version)

1 dsp olive oil

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp Ascorbic Acid (or squeeze of lemon juice)

1 tsp baking soda

Optional

1 tsp vanilla essence

20g dark chocolate

Approx 2 tbsp nut butter

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180°

Grease a muffin pan (or use a non-stick one)

Grate all apples (this is made easier if you have a food processor with grater attachment)

Put grated apples in the mixing bowl or food processor and simply add all ingredients except the chocolate and nut butter.

Combine until all dry ingredients are moist. Add a little water or milk of some description if the mix is still powdery. Using a food processor really helps as it forces the water out of the apples.

Spoon the mix into muffin pans.

Secret Middle Option

I made these muffins with about half a tsp of almond butter and a small piece of chocolate in the middle. To do this, simply put half the mix in bottom of the pan, add the secret middle thing and then plop the rest of the mix on top.

Bake for about 35 minutes or until the muffins are springy when touched.

These very moist muffins freeze well .... not that mine were in the freezer for long.  They were a big hit with the taste testers at first try, which isn't always the case with my kitchen wizardry, that's for sure.

I hope your week has started well and that I was the only one suffering Mondayitis in the form of clambering through the office window in business clothes. Invigorating as it was to start the day with some functional exercise, I think I'd prefer to Zumba. :D