Monster Pocket Muffins

I've learned the biggest hurdle for me in my lack of blogging recipes is pictures. I bake pretty often, at least enough to get one recipe up a week. However, I generally tend to make things the day they're headed somewhere, and whisk them out the door without getting a nice picture of them. Plus, I have no idea what I'm doing, and care more about the food than getting the gorgeous pictures I see around the web.

I've seen plenty of posts, however, where people don't take pictures for whatever reason and still post. So I should probably just get over it and continue blogging!

Today is a double win, though-blog and accompanying pictures! And...they're gluten-free and vegan! Total nuts! The son of the couple who leads my small group has a crazy long list of allergies, and I bring dessert every week. I like regular baked goods-full of butter, eggs, flour, sugar, the works. But I felt bad always carting the gluten-full desserts around in front of the gluten-free boy. So I worked way outside of my comfort zone, and brought these babies!

Gluten-free Vegan Apple Cinnamon Pocket Muffins! That's a mouthful! So what are pocket muffins, you're surely wondering? Originally these muffins had a base, and two toppings-fruit and struesel. However, the second they entered the oven, the muffin base rebelled and swallowed the toppings whole. Some turned out completely flat on top, giving no hint of what was inside. Others however, look like mini muffin monsters. There's just little hints of apple cinnamon attempting to dig it's way up and out to freedom.

Apple Cinnamon Pocket Muffins

Adapted from Never Bashful With Butter (no longer active)

Muffin

2 cups gluten free all purpose flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp cornstarch

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/4 cup margarine

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup plain applesauce

1 tsp canola oil

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup soy milk

In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients and set aside. In a separate bowl, cream the margarine and sugar, then add applesauce, oil, vanilla, and soy milk. Pour the wet ingredients, into the large bowl of dry ingredients. Fold until just combined, being careful not to overmix-muffins are meant to have a less refined texture than cakes.

Apple Filling

1 apple, cored, and chopped into small pieces

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly until soft.

Streusel Topping

1 Tbsp margarine

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp cinnamon

Mix together until crumbly.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Add batter to pan lined with cupcake liners, filling 2/3 full. Divide cooked apples evenly over batter, and top with about a Tablespoon of streusel. Bake for 10-15 minutes, and enjoy!