I made these this past weekend, spur of the moment, since we had frozen blueberries and I just got a cute silicone heart mold (on sale). My favorite baking pan has been the donut one, hands down, because I can make anything and call it a donut and it instantly becomes more awesome. Now I can make things out of my heart mold and prefix everything with “love”, ie “love muffins”, or “love brownies”.

I always add protein powder in my baking, and Sun Warrior is wonderful in just about every recipe I’ve tried. You can omit it and just replace the extra 1/2 cup with flour if you’d like.

I also sprinkled a pinch…like less than a teaspoon total, of coconut sugar on the donuts/muffins on top of the crumb topping because I was afraid it might be too bland (not for me, but for others). I don’t think it really made a difference, the pecans, cinnamon, and nutmeg gave it a nice flavor. I’d probably omit the sugar in the topping it in the future.

These were really really tasty, and were really simple to make. I got the idea for the topping from a pie crust I made. I just happened to have pecans and walnuts on hand at the time, but the muffins are great on their own. The crumb topping makes it seem like a sugary treat, when really there’s just good stuff.

For 12 muffins:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup vanilla protein powder (or leave out, and sub flour)
• 1/2 cup sugar (I used coconut sugar)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup almond milk (or other non dairy milk)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup+ applesauce
• 1 cup frozen blueberries

Directions:

• Set oven to 400°F.
• Grease pan.
• Mix the dry ingredients together.
• Add in wet ingredients. Add more applesauce if batter is too dry.
• Fold in blueberries.
• Sprinkle crumb topping.
• Bake for 20-30 minutes.

For the crumb topping:

• 1/4 cup rolled oats (or oat flour)
• 1/4 cup pecans
• 1/4 cup walnuts
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp sugar (optional)

Directions:

• Mix everything in a blender until finely ground.