Muffookies (4 Star)

I love to make muffins, but I despise cleaning muffin pans. And I don't really care for muffins in cupcake papers because half the muffin ends up in the paper unless you allow it to cool, but a warm muffin fresh out of the oven is the best muffin there is. So I have developed my own strategy--muffookies. They are muffins made on a cookie sheet. I admit that I think muffins are best made in a greased muffin tin because I love the crisp crust that develops, but muffins made on cookie sheets are almost as good and I often make them this way in order to avoid the annoying cleaning that must follow.

I found one of my favorite muffin recipes in a book that I purchased a while back from one of our doctors called "Back to Health: A Comprehensive Medical and Nutritional Yeast Control Program" by Dennis W. Remington, M.D. and Barbara Higa Swasey, R.D. I know that's kind of a scary sounding title, and a seemingly unlikely place to find a muffin recipe, but there are some good recipes in this book, and I want to give credit where it is due.

The muffins that I make most often are the applesauce ones because all of my boys like them. They are moist, apple-y-cinnamon-y, and lightly sweet. I, personally, think that muffins and cake are different things but that most "muffins" are more like cake. While I enjoy cake, I prefer my muffins to be lightly sweet and healthful, which these are. I think the flavor and sweetness level is perfect in these "muffookies".

Applesauce Muffookies (Adapted from the above mentioned book.)

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 cup applesauce
1/2 cup milk
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 Tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine the first five ingredients in a medium sized bowl and make a well in the center.

Whisk the last four ingredients in a separate bowl and pour into the dry ingredients. Stir together until just moistened.

Grease a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan and spoon batter onto pan in 12 mounds. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly brown on the edges and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. (15 minutes is perfect in my oven.)

Eat as soon as you can touch them without burning yourself!