Sweet Potato Apple Oat Muffins with Brown Sugar Oat Crumble

One late night, I was thinking up the next evening's dinner, when I saw a lonely sweet potato just calling out to be cooked. But one potato? What on earth could I do with that? Muffins! Yes, that will do nicely. "To the internet!" I said, but I just did not find a recipe that I wanted to tinker with.  After a browse through my pantry, I decided to give it a shot at making my own... and so, the sweet potato apple oat muffin was born.

These are nice for breakfast or even a snack. My 1.5 year old son would eat two of them if I let him (notice his little hand creeping towards the muffin in the picture, haha!), so this is a simple treat that both adults and children will enjoy!

Sweet Potato Apple Oat Muffins
Makes 11-12 muffins
Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup of milk, and an additional 1 tablespoon of milk
• 3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
• 1 apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
• 2.5 tablespoons of maple syrup Sweetener of choice (karo syrup, brown sugar, agave nectar, etc) may be substituted.
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup quick oats
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 3 tsps baking powder
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp all spice
• 1 tbs vanilla

Directions:

• Cook sweet potato. I prefer to steam my potato, but you can also bake or boil it. If boiled, drain well.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Mash sweet potato with 1 tablespoon of milk, 2.5 tablespoons of maple syrup, and 3 tablespoons of butter.
• In medium bowl, beat egg, 3/4 cup milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Beat in 1/2 cup sweet potato mixture.
• Stir in flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, all spice, and apple until moistened. 
• Line muffin pan with muffin liners and fill about 3/4 of the way with batter. Top with brown sugar oat crumble (optional) and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Brown Sugar Oat Crumble*
Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup firm butter, cut up
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• Pinch of all spice or cinnamon
• 1/2 cup quick oats

Directions:

• Mix all ingredients together in a bowl with a fork until crumbly.

*This makes a LOT of crumble, enough for two batches (24) of average sized-muffins, but I like to err on the side of caution and have too much than too little.