Healthy Applesauce Oat Muffins

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with liners or grease the muffin cups. Set aside..
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the oats, applesauce, milk, egg, vanilla, butter and sugar. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt (and cranberries or raisins if using). Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the applesauce mixture. Stir until just combined (don’t over-mix or the muffins will be dense and dry). The muffin batter texture might be a bit different (a bit wetter) than other muffin batters but no fear, carry on!
4. Distribute the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups. Bake for 15-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Don’t over-bake or the muffins will be dry.
5. Remove the muffins to a rack to cool completely. Once cool, I place 6-9 muffins in a large freezer Ziploc bag, suck all the air out (oh yes I do) and seal the bag. Then I freeze them, pulling them out one by one to stick in my kids lunches or warm slightly for a snack.

Recipe from my friend, Katie K.