So last night I decided to make something with a bag of key limes I picked up... Here's my muffins! 
Dairy free, oil/butter free, and CAN be made egg free. They turned out pretty moist, and I'm happy with the finished product to say the least!
Dairy free, oil/butter free, and CAN be made egg free. They turned out pretty moist, and I'm happy with the finished product to say the least! Key Lime Pear Bran Muffins
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup oat bran
- 1/2 tbsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup brown sugar {you can substitute with any sweetener if you want to make this vegan. If using a raw sugar, add it to the wet ingredients instead so that it dissolves a bit.}
- 1/4 cup golden liquid honey {again, if making this vegan, simply omit the honey and add an equal amount of pure maple syrup instead.}
- 3 tbsp vanilla almond milk {you can use regular milk if you like, however I wanted to keep these dairy free, and almond milk is a wonderful substitute to regular milk!}
- 1 egg {you can use an egg substitute such as the flaxseed substitute of 1 tbsp ground flaxseed + 3 tbsp warm water if you don’t want to use egg.}
- 2 tbsp unsweetened apple sauce
- 6 key limes {for this recipe, you will need to finely grate the rind of each of these key limes, and you will also need to juice each one. They’re a little tricky to juice because they’re so small.}
- 1 Bosc pear {peeled, seeded and finely chopped}
- Pre heat your oven to 400 F, and line a muffin tin with 6 paper muffin cups.
- Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. {Flour, oat bran, baking powder, salt, sugar and the grated rind from the key limes.}
- In another bowl, mix the almond milk with the honey.
- Add the egg, and lightly whisk until combined.
- Add all other wet ingredients to the egg mixture, except the chopped pear, and mix well.
- Add the chopped pear, stir, and then pour into the flour mixture.
- Fold the wet mixture in with the dry ingredients just until mixed. DO NOT OVER MIX.
- Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups, and fill to just under the top of the cup. They don’t rise too high, so you don’t have to worry about them overflowing.
- Bake on the middle rack for about 20 minutes. {Oven times vary, so check at 15 minutes, then again at 20. When they’re done,the tops will no longer be soft and sticky, and a knife or toothpick inserted into the center will come out with very few somewhat moist crumbs on it.}
- Note: Allow to cool on a rack {outside of the muffin tin} before eating. Because apple sauce makes muffins VERY moist, you need to allow them to cool so that they set properly, and don’t fall apart as soon as you take off the paper cups.
- These can be stored at room temperature over night and eaten the next morning. If keeping longer, simply place in an airtight bag or container, and keep in the fridge for up to 5 days. You CAN freeze these for up to 3 weeks, but I don’t recommend it as they taste at their best the day after baking.
