Chocolate & Coconut Oatmeal Cups

My almost-3 year old daughter reached a new milestone this month:  she started preschool!  She is a highly social person who is eager to learn, so of course she adores it.  As for me, I adore having three mornings a week free to clean, write up blog entries, or just simply zone out in front of the computer for a few hours.  What I don't adore?  Trying to get both of us ready in the morning.  With me being 8 months pregnant, and my daughter being in the "I-wanna-do-everything-myself" phase, we are always in a rush to get to school on time.  Fortunately, I found the perfect breakfast for those hurried mornings:  Baked Oatmeal Cups.  It's a breakfast that can be made ahead of time, and is great to eat on-the-go (like in the car on the way to to school).  It's filled with all sorts of nutritional goodness, like rolled oats and flaxseed, but tastes enough like dessert so your kid will scarf it down.    

Make sure you stick with real, unprocessed ingredients (like real maple syrup; most stuff in stores are actually just corn syrup!).  I like to get my ingredients at Earth Fare, because I don't have to worry about unhealthy additives in my food.  That's what I love the most about this recipe: even when I'm in a hurry, I don't have to resort to giving my daughter overly processed cereals or granola bars.  I have these Baked Oatmeal Cups on hand instead!  I make a few batches once a month, store them in the freezer, and then simply grab one and defrost it in the microwave as needed.  It is the perfect healthy breakfast for your kids, and parents love Baked Oatmeal Cups too.  Feel free to make it more grown up by playing around with ingredients:  maybe dried cranberries and chopped walnuts instead of the chocolate chips and coconut flakes?   Or blueberries and sliced almonds?  Cinnamon and pecans?  The possibilities are endless!

Chocolate & Coconut Oatmeal Cups

Makes 12 Oatmeal Cups

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 Cups Rolled Oats

2 Tbsp Ground Flaxseed

1/2 tsp Salt

1/3 Cup Natural Peanut Butter (or nut butter of choice)

1 Cup Unsweetened Almond, Coconut, or milk of choice

2/3 Cup Unsweetened Applesauce

2 Tbsp Coconut Oil

1/4 Cup Pure Maple Syrup

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1/3 Cup Mini Chocolate Chips or Raisins

1/3 Cup Unsweetened Coconut Flakes

DIRECTIONS

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease (or put down cupcake liners) a 12 muffin baking tin.

2.  In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients until well combined.  Spoon batter evenly into the muffin pan (should be enough batter to fill each 12 spots most of the way up).

3.  Bake at 375 degrees for 17-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Eat immediately, or store refrigerated.  Muffins can also be frozen, and thawed individually when ready to eat.  They can be served hot or cold, with additional syrup (or even milk) on top.  I personally like mine as-is, served cold.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Serving Size: 1 Cupcake

Calories:  192

Fat:  10

Carbs:  24

Protein:  5