Oatmeal & Apple Breakfast Muffins

These are exactly what a breakfast muffin should be: portable and healthy! They're like a bowl of oatmeal disguised as a muffin! Low-fat, low-sugar and gluten-free, yet still remarkably moist and tasty! These really stood the test of time, too! I was pleasantly surprised at how soft and chewy they remained, even days later. There are lots of fresh ingredients in here, so store them in the fridge and freeze any that won't be eaten within 4 or 5 days.

Adapted from this cornmeal muffin recipe.

1 c. large flake oats
1/4 c. unsweetened shredded or medium coconut
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. plain yogurt
2 eggs, beaten
1 apple, roughly sliced
1/4 c. sugar
12 walnuts, chopped

Preheat the oven to 170 C/350 F. Lightly grease or line 8 or 9 holes of a 12 muffin tin. In a blender or food processor, blast half a cup of the oats until very fine to make oat flour. Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Pulse the remaining oats 5-10 times to reduce them to about a quarter of their original size. Add to the oat flour. Finally, pulse the coconut 5-10 times to break up, before adding it and the baking powder, soda, cinnamon and salt to the oats.

Finely chop the apple slices (skin on is fine) in the food processor. In a small mixing bowl, combine the yogurt, eggs, apple and sugar.

Pour the wet mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until just incorporated. Fold in the walnut pieces and divide the batter evenly between the prepared muffin holes. Fill the unused spaces with half an inch of water. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean. (If your oven cooks as unevenly as mine, rotate the tin after 15 minutes!)