Looking for a healthy toddler muffin without all the junk? Look no further!

It seems like all toddlers go through a picky phase. Sarah (my 1-year-old) is my most adventurous eater, but lately even she is starting to get opinionated about what she likes and doesn’t like.

She’s not crazy about meats right now, so I wanted to find something with a lot of protein.

On the hunt for a healthy toddler muffin

I searched the web to find the perfect protein-packed healthy toddler muffin, but I couldn’t find one without refined sugar or flour. So I used inspiration from this recipe to create my own.

(To avoid inflammation and leaky gut, we are holding off on gluten as long as possible.)

The spinach in these healthy green toddler muffins provides vitamin a, vitamin c, potassium, iron, calcium, magnesium, and a little bit of protein.

But the majority of the protein in this recipe comes from the eggs, almond meal, and hemp seeds.

 

Ingredients for this recipe include:

Unsweetened applesauce (or baby food puree of your choice), eggs, vanilla, fresh spinach, banana, maple syrup, coconut oil, almond meal, cassava (or your other favorite gluten-free) flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and (optional) hemp seeds.

 

To make:

Measure out about 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce, or any puree you’d like. For this batch, I used HappyTot Organic Super Foods blend. It has pear, mango, spinach, and super chia. One pouch equals almost 1/2 cup.

The great thing about this recipe is that it’s pretty much fool-proof. You don’t have to use exact measurements.

Add applesauce (or puree), eggs, vanilla, spinach, banana, maple syrup, and coconut oil to blender. (I use this personal blender. Just the right size!) Blend until smooth.

 

 

Next, measure out your dry ingredients. Isn’t this almond meal beautiful? PS – My mother-in-law gave me these adorable mason jar turquoise measuring cups. LOVE! You can find them here.

 

 

 

Pour the spinach-egg-banana-etc. mixture from your blender into a large mixing bowl. Add remaining dry ingredients.

Mix on low speed for about two minutes, or until everything is well-incorporated. Side note: my awesome mom gave me this KitchenAid Stand Mixer for Christmas several years ago. It is by far my fave kitchen gadget ever.

 

 

Place 12 muffin liners in a cupcake pan. (I use these silicone muffin molds. They work great and you don’t even have to spray them to keep the muffins from sticking.)

Once the batter is ready, fill your cups about 3/4 of the way full. (I use this scooper to fill them without spilling.)

After you’ve filled them (this recipe makes about 12 muffins), place in an oven that has been pre-heated to 350 degrees. Bake 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

 

 

Allow muffins to cool slightly and then remove from silicone molds. If you have any leftover you can keep them in the fridge for a couple of days or freeze. I keep a batch in the freezer for when I need a quick snack for Sarah.

 

Yum!

Protein-Packed Healthy Toddler Muffin

Yields 12 muffins

Ingredients

–  1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce or baby food puree of your choice
–  4 large eggs
–  2 teaspoon vanilla
–  2 cups fresh (uncooked) spinach
–  1 ripe banana
–  1/4 cup maple syrup (NOT pancake syrup, ha!)
–  2 tablespoons coconut oil
–  1 cup almond meal (almond flour works, too!)
–  1/2 cup cassava flour (or substitute coconut or other gluten free flour if you do not do cassava)
–  1/2 tablespoon hemp seeds (You can omit if you do not have, but they add extra protein and omegas)
–  1 teaspoon baking powder
–  1/2 teaspoon salt
–  1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Instructions

1- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2- Place the first seven ingredients (puree/applesauce, eggs, vanilla, spinach, banana, maple syrup, and coconut oil) into a blender and blend until smooth. You can also use a food processor if you don’t have a blender.
3- Pour liquidy spinach mixture from blender into a large mixing bowl.
4- Slowly pour in remaining dry ingredients and mix with the wet ingredients until well-incorporated. (About two minutes on low speed if using a mixer. You could also mix by hand.)
5- Scoop the batter into silicone muffin molds. Fill about 3/4 full.
6- Bake about 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Please let me know in the comments if you try these! I’d love to know how it goes!

PS- Check out another variation of this muffin! Paleo Pumpkin Spice Muffins Mmmm…so good!