Mini Snickerdoodle Apple Muffins

The perfect marriage of moist apple cake and snickerdoodle cookie, in a cute little muffin. Correction, cute, HEALTHY, little muffin. But let's get back to how awesome the combination of apple, cake, cinnamon, and cookie is...

You can probably guess my inspiration for this treat - I wanted to make something with both apples and cinnamon. That seems to happen right around this time every year - it's a classic fall delight. And there's no doubt the tried-and-true combination is popular for a reason. The warmth of the cinnamon perfectly complements the tartness of the apple - even when you choose a sweeter apple variety.

In this scenario, I wanted to pool snickerdoodle vibes and incorporate them into the muffins. So, now you have a moist, apple-y muffin with a generous sprinkling of cinnamon-sugar on top. Moist muffin, crunchy topping. The best of both worlds.

So why are these healthy? The moisture in the batter is largely from applesauce and Greek yogurt. In fact, there are just 5 tablespoons of butter in the whole batch, and the recipe makes 45 muffins! That's just 1 gram of fat per muffin!! Plus all the goodness from the yogurt and applesauce... Of course, there's sugar on top, but just a sprinkling.

Mini Snickerdoodle Apple Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
2/3 cup Greek yogurt
For the topping: 
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 45 cups of mini muffin pans with cooking spray.
To make the muffins, in a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well with a fork to combine. Set aside.
Beat the butter and 1 cup of the sugar together in a mixing bowl until blended. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Beat in the applesauce. Beat in half of the flour mixture. Beat in all of the yogurt and then the remaining flour mixture.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pans, filling each cup with about 1 tablespoon of the batter (the cups will be about 3/4 full).
To make the topping, in a small bowl, combine the 3 tablespoons granulated sugar and cinnamon. Mix well. Sprinkle the mixture over the muffins, topping each with about 1/2 teaspoon of the cinnamon-sugar blend.
Bake for 8 minutes, until a wooden pick comes out clean or with little moist bits clinging to it.
Cool on a rack for a few minutes before serving. Store leftovers in an airtight container.

Makes 45 muffins