Applesauce and Oatmeal "Muffin Tops"

The past two weeks I've been on a bit of a muffin kick.  In my WIAW post two weeks ago I promised y'all the recipe for these beauties:

Honey and Sage Corn Muffins

I finally got my act together and posted the recipe.  You can find it here.

Breakfast this week's WIAW was also muffin themed.  I say themed, because these aren't exactly muffins:

Applesauce and Oatmeal Muffin Tops

To be completely honest, these were thrown together in an effort to use up my gigantic jar of applesauce.  Although the recipe is essentially a (healthy) cookie recipe, the texture of these breakfast beauties is like the spongy, soft, and moist top of a muffin (a.k.a. the best part of a muffin).  Muffin top, cookie, breakfast disc- whatever you want to call these, they are quite delicious (particularly when topped with peanut butter) and make for a filling first meal.  Recipe at the end of this post!

Lunch was (as per usual) leftovers from the night before:

Sauteed beet greens and a bean and nooch burrito.  The bright orange tortilla is courtesy of Trader Joe's (Habanero Lime!), and the (not) re-fried bean filling is from this lady's recipe.  Seriously though, these burritos get made at least once a month.  The beans are so tasty, easy, and cheap!  Just like your mom, hahaha.  (Yeah, I just made a 'your mom joke'- deal with it.)  

Moving on...

Dinner was another routine menu item:

Lacinato Kale Salad and

Whole Wheat Penne with Beet Sauce

I normally buy curly kale, but this week the dinosaur kale was looking particularly awesome, and this  pasta is one I've been making all summer.  The savoury notes of thyme and pecorino are beautifully balanced with the earthy sweetness of the beets.  Plus, it's a really pretty bowl of pasta.  You can find the recipe here.  Now as promised, the recipe for the muffin tops!

Applesauce and Oatmeal Muffin Tops

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 large egg

1 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup raisins

Directions

1.  Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a large baking sheet.  In a large bowl combine the flour, oats, baking soda, salt, and spices.  In a smaller bowl combine the egg, vanilla extract, sugar, and applesauce.

2.  Slowly combine the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until well mixed.  Stir in the cranberries and raisins until evenly distributed.  Spoon the batter onto the baking sheet, about 2 tbsp per top, and press lightly to flatten.  These tops don't increase in size much when baked, they pretty much stay about the same size.

3.  Bake the muffin tops until lightly golden on the bottom, about 10 minutes.  Let stand and cool for another 5 minutes (they need this time to set up properly).  Eat alone, or topped with a nut butter.  My batch yielded approx. 15 tops.

Happy WIAW Everyone!