Musselman's: At Home, On The Go and Delicious Recipes! {Review & Giveaway}

Now that spring is here, I love finding time to step outside and spend a quick moment taking it all in. The flowers are blooming, the birds are singing and daylight stretches later into the evening, leading to even more minutes to enjoy this wonderful time of year.

Along with changing over our wardrobes so that snow boots are packed away and shorts are filling the dresser drawers, I appreciate finding any and all reasons that my family can get out and reconnect with nature. Whether that means playing at the park, going for a hike or hopping on our bikes for a ride, there are few necessities that I need to pack for us to be ready.

Water bottles for staying hydrated, sunscreen and hats for protection from the rays and healthy snacks for quick, easy and tasty refueling. Our most recent favorites? The delicious and nutritious flavors from Musselman's.

If there is another name in apple sauce, I don't know it. Musselman's fully believes that making healthy, delicious apple sauce is more than just a job, it's a way of life for this 100-year-old grower-owned co-operative. Along with their traditional apple sauce, they offer apple sauce blended with other fruit flavors, lite apple sauce for those who are counting calories, apple juice, apple butter, and more.

Now that the growers in Musselman's orchards are finished with winter pruning and preparing for apple blossoms, it is the perfect time to bring home the great taste and versatility of their apple sauce. It's not just for eating anymore (although it's still delicious that way, of course), it's now a must-have ingredient in recipes that will quickly become family favorites.

While we have long been fans of Musselman's apple sauce, I have to admit that I have never tried cooking with it. How am I this behind the times?

Even though my kids were clamoring to eat the Musselman's Original and Cinnamon apple sauces that arrived, I promised that they would end up enjoying it just as much once we had tried out some of the yummy recipes that had come along with them. The hardest part was deciding which to try first, as the Chewy Fruit Bars, Easy Low Fat Granola and two types of cookies sounded delicious (as well as perfectly portable to eat at home or on-the-go)!

After much debate, we opted for the Fruit & Nut Trail Cookies and got right to work gathering our ingredients.

Ingredients

½ c. Musselman's Natural Apple Sauce
½ c. sugar
½ c. brown sugar
1½ tsp. vanilla extract
2 egg whites
1¼ c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
¾ tsp. cinnamon
1 c. quick-cooking oats, uncooked
½ c. chocolate chips
½ c. dried cranberries
½ c. pecans (optional)

Directions

Beat apple sauce, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. In another bowl, use an electric mixer to beat egg whites until they are frothy and begin to firm up. Fold egg whites into apple sauce mixture.

Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Fold into the egg mixture. Stir in the oats, chocolate chips, pecans, and cranberries.

Drop by heaping teaspoons onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on wire rack.

I was expecting to like these cookies, but I was not prepared for just how much I would fall in love with them. The combination of the flavors all came together to work perfectly for a satisfying, sweet bite each and every time — these are definitely in the running for my new favorite cookies!

 Although I would like to say that our Fruit & Nut Trail Cookies lasted long enough to be packed to enjoy on our next outing, I have to admit that they didn't (mostly because of my immediate addiction to them).

The kids and I loved the sweet, slightly sticky texture of the apple sauce and oats, while the addition of the chocolate chips and dried cranberries gave an extra burst of flavor in each one. I'm definitely making these again very soon!

We also had the chance to try out Musselman's Chewy Fruit Bars and Easy Low-Fat Granola and they both proved that baking with Musselman's is a definite must. Along with the four tasty recipes that were sent over, I realized there is a huge collection of recipes right on their website so that we can find new and delicious ways to incorporate apple sauce (and Musselman's other products) into many more meals and treats to come!

Whether enjoyed straight out of the container or cooked with other ingredients into a mouth-watering snack, Musselman's is perfect for eating at your kitchen table or when away from home. We tend to keep a large, family-size plastic jar in the refrigerator to pull out at meals, while the single-serving cups are a convenient favorite to pop into lunchboxes or bring on picnics. Either way leads to quite a bit of excitement!

Be sure to visit Musselman's website to find out more about their whole line of products, find coupons and check out their recipes. Watch out, though! Once you start eating what you've baked, it's hard to stop!

And, thanks to their generosity, one person will be able to bring home the wholesome goodness of the best apple sauce around as well, because...

One lucky person will win a prize pack of Musselman's 
apple sauce products*!

*Prize pack will include the four recipe cards, Musselman's Cinnamon Apple Sauce single-serve cups, Musselman's Natural Apple Sauce multi-serve jar, and Musselman's Apple Sauce single-serve cups.

(Enter with the Rafflecopter form below. If you have any questions or problems entering, there is a video tutorial found here that can help.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A big thank you to Musselman's for providing a prize pack for me to review as well as for one lucky giveaway winner. The opinions shared are my own and honest and if you really need to see more, click here to see how I roll.