It's hard to believe that the holidays are just around the corner yet again! In NYC, it's been a bit of a strange fall in that we kind of skipped right over it. We were have an abnormally warm fall with no color change in the leaves (we all know how I feel about that 💔), then skipped straight ahead to weather in the 30's to 50's. So it's understandable why I, along with so many of my friends, feel a bit caught off guard by suddenly seeing holiday decor and promotions pop up all around, even though it is time.

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to kick off the season of giving with my feedfeed family with a community Thanksgiving meal with Vitamix in the gorgeous new feedfeed space in Brooklyn and the launch of the Vitamix Explorian Series. Each of us editors were tasked with whipping up a festive recipe, using Vitamix's Winter Spice Seasoning recipe that just screams the holidays with its dizzingly delicious festive scent and flavors full of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, pink peppercorns, orange peel, and more. There's nothing I love more than utilizing my Vitamix to simplify traditionally laborious recipes, so I decided to make an easy and healthy blender holiday spice muffin that has some sweet and some spice!

Based on oats and applesauce (and naturally gluten-free and dairy-free), you don't run the risk of overbeating your batter by blending it up, as you would with traditional gluten-containing wheat flour. With that, if you overbeat your batter, your baked goods can turn out super gummy and tough.

Thankfully, this recipe is as easy as dumping ingredients into that blender, blending, pouring into a muffin tin and voila! You could even make these out of basic pantry items for a last minute Thanksgiving dessert that's a little lighter on the stomach than pies and such.

Special thanks to the feedfeed team and Vitamix for sponsoring this post!
And thank you to my readers for supporting the brands that keep Living Minnaly going❤️

Holiday Spice 'Sweet n' Spicy' Blender Muffins

Gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan optional
Makes 1 dozen muffins

Ingredients

2 ½ cups old-fashioned oats, (GF-certified) + 2 tbsp extra for sprinkling on top of muffins
1 large overripe banana, mashed
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup milk of your choice (I used hemp + almond)
2 large eggs (flax egg optional if vegan)
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted + 1 tbsp extra to grease the pan
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp Vitamix's Winter Spice Seasoning
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp Himalayan pink salt

Recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 360ºF and lightly grease muffin tin with coconut oil.

2. Place all wet ingredients (applesauce, banana, milk, eggs, coconut oil, vanilla extract) into Vitamix blender, and blend until well combined. Add in all dry ingredients (oats, Winter Spice Seasoning, baking powder + soda, and salt) and blend until thoroughly combined and oats are broken down to a desired consistency.

3. Pour batter into muffin tins until 2/3 full in each cup, sprinkle remaining oats on top to decorate, and place tin in oven. Bake for about 20 minutes, until edges are golden and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

4. Transfer over to a cooling rack, and then serve! Muffins stay good in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days, and freeze well for up to 2 months.