It has been two months since I last wrote a post - that has to be the longest post break since I started writing this blog. Life is generally getting busier and finding the time to create and write posts isn't as easy as it once was.

I'm getting far more work as a stylist working on food shoots - many of which are time consuming projects, that eats up so much of my time. I'm not complaining; it the sort of work that has been on my wish list for the last few years, but ultimately the blog is the first things that gets pushed to the side. But this sort of work comes in peaks and troughs, so it won't always be this way.

I took these images a couple of weeks ago at the start of autumn. I was keen to cook something autumnal and healthy, so tried my hand at this recipe from the wonderful Green Kitchen Stories blog. They're delicious and utterly guilt free - perfect for breakfast or as a snack. This batch didn't hang around for long!

The original ingredients list for this recipe included homemade apple sauce. This is obviously the best option – the shop bought varieties are full of sugar. But without a glut of apples to hand, or indeed time to make the sauce, I used an organic sugar-free apple puree – the pouch varieties that you feed to babies. It worked a treat.

Apple, Almond & Buckwheat Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

Dry ingredients:
100 g almond flour
100 g rolled oats
75 g buckwheat flour
2 tbsp arrowroot
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cardamom
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp sea salt

Wet ingredients:
160 ml plain unsweetened yogurt
80 ml olive oil
10 fresh soft dates, pitted and mashed
3 large eggs
120 ml apple sauce or puree, unsweetened (see my tip above)
3 apples

Preheat the oven to 400°F / 200°C. Grease a muffin pan with oil or butter or line it with muffin tins.

Add all the dry ingredients to a food processor or blender and process on high speed so the oats turn into coarse flour and all ingredients are mixed. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.

Add eggs, yogurt, oil, dates and 80 ml of the apple sauce / puree (save the rest for later) to the food processor or blender and mix until smooth, and then transfer to the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients. Grate two of the apples and add them to the batter.

Divide the batter into the muffin tins, filling them only half way up. Drop a heaping teaspoon of apple sauce / puree in the middle of each muffin and then cover with the remaining batter. Slice the last apple thinly, brush the slices with oil and place one or a few slices on top of each muffin, pressing them down slightly. Dust with cinnamon.

Bake for about 18-20 minutes. Let cool for a bit before taking them out of their tins and they will release easier. Enjoy!