Spinach Cake Mini-Muffins

I wanted to make “fun” muffins. I always use white whole wheat flour, and I didn’t want to change that, but I feel like I always put fruit or something healthy in there, and I wanted something less…. virtuous. Maybe chocolate chips. So I made these chocolate chip muffins, but sadly, I didn’t like them. The batter was as stiff as cookie dough, they browned too quickly and came out too dry, the paper liners tore upon removal, and worst of all, they were actually too sweet to be enjoyable (coming from me, that’s really something).

So then I ended up making spinach muffins. I know this seems like troll logic, but as the title says, they’re “cake muffins” and are really delicious. Plus, they sport a nice shade of green. We all loved them! I had to stash some in the freezer before they all disappeared. This recipe is from The Bump, which ran a list of the top 10 recipes for 1-year-olds, curated by Catherine McCord (she of Weelicious). I’ve reordered the ingredients, but haven’t changed the recipe beyond that. The yield is 24 mini-muffins.

1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
½ cup unsweetened applesauce
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup (packed) fresh spinach
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Grease a mini-muffin tin.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Place the applesauce, egg, vanilla, spinach, sugar, and oil in a food processor and purée. Pour the mixture into a large mixing bowl.

Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet until combined. Scoop batter into the prepared tin, filling each cup 2/3 of the way. Bake for 12 minutes.