Fruity Lunchbox Muffins

What do you put in your kids’ lunchboxes? Are you concerned with the contents of bought-in packets, or maybe you’re trying to lower the amount of plastic packaging within the lunchbox. These fruity lunchbox muffins are dual purpose. They have a healthy, yet stealthy portion of 1 of your 7-a-day recommended fruit and veg intake. The muffins also have a secret to reducing refined sugar in lunchbox treats that might surprise you.

Once a fortnight I make a batch of 24 muffins for the lunchboxes. I freeze what we don’t need immediately and simply take out what we need the night before school. That means the muffins are always fresh.

[recipe][recipe title=”Fruity Lunchbox Muffins” servings=”24″ time=”30 mins” difficulty=”easy”]

Ingredients

• 125g unsalted butter
• 75g caster sugar
• 3 free range eggs (cracked)
• 400g plain flour (you can go 50:50 with wholemeal and plain flour if you like but the muffins will be denser)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 cooking apples, peeled and grated coarsely (use a box grater)
• 100g fresh or frozen raspberries
• 2 ripe bananas peeled
• Handful of oats to sprinkle on top

Method

Preheat your fan oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Line 2 cupcake tins with muffin cases (24 in total).

Make sure all the above ingredients are at room temperature. Put everything into a very large stand mixer or food processor. Yep everything (I’m serious).

Switch the blender/mixer/processor on to low until the dry ingredients are combined with the wet ingredients. Once combined, move the dial to medium until you have a rich creamy batter. Turn off the machine.

Use an ice cream scoop to portion the muffin mixture into the case. Sprinkle oats on top of the muffin batter.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes before removing from the oven and allowing to cool. Freeze as you need them.[/recipe]

Note: To make half the batch, half all the ingredients except for the eggs; use 2 instead of 3.