Rainy, glum days always seem to automatically produce irritable, bored kids in my house. And since I’m quite possibly the worst crafter on the face of the planet, my poor children were starting to go a little crazy today.

By about 2pm, after games and books and quick trips to the store were all exhausted, I desperately needed something to distract my three girls from their non-stop arguing and fighting.

Baking to the rescue! My 4-year old Lauren loves to help out in the kitchen. And her sisters love to eat baked goods. So we set to whipping up a batch of carrot applesauce muffins.

This recipe is inspired by the carrot applesauce muffins from 100 Days of Real Food. I love that site. And the recipes rarely need any changing. But I made a small tweak here and there to make these muffins more me.

Ingredients

1½ cups whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup soft butter
½ cup honey or pure maple syrup
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 – 1½ cups unsweetened applesauce
¾ cup grated carrots
¼ cup of hemp seeds – optional

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. (And hemp seeds if you choose to add them. They can change the texture a teensy bit. So you may want to try them both ways and decide which way you like the muffins best).

In a large bowl, mix together the butter, honey, egg and vanilla. I use an electric hand mixer to thoroughly mix these ingredients together.

Add the flour mixture and continue to mix until it’s all combined.

Finally, add in the applesauce and carrots and mix with a fork or a spoon. Divide up the batter into a greased muffin tin. I find it generally makes 12 good-sized muffins. (Which don’t last long in our house!)

Bake for 18-22 minutes, depending on your oven. Until the muffins start looking golden brown.

Another healthy snack idea my kids can take to school and will gobble up! Perfection.