This was breakfast on Sunday morning.  It was cold out and I wanted something fall-ish and yummy to go along with the coffee that was brewing.  Coffee in the morning is rare in our house but it was decaf so no need to worry; I wasn’t bouncing off of the walls all day with a caffeine high :-)   I did a quick search and found a recipe for apple muffins but it wasn’t quite what I wanted… so I played with it and let’s say I was happy with the results!  Since I am not one to hoard recipes, here it is in all of it’s glory (with my changes).  I suggest that you make some at your earliest convenience; your tummy/ hubby/ 9 month old (yes Jay got to eat some too) or whomever you care to share with will thank you.

Apple Muffins- the original recipe made 18-24 but since I think muffins are better warm from the oven, I halved everything.  The recipe below will make 12

Cream together:

1 cup of sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup of oil (I used vegetable)

1/2 tbsp Vanilla

Sift: (I am occasionally lazy, especially in the morning, so I didn’t sift and they still turned out well)

3/4 cup wheat flour- you could use all white flour but I have been trying to incorporate whole grains into all of my baking lately

3/4 cup white flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon – I used apple pie spice which is a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice but you can use plain ground cinnamon

1 medium sized Granny Smith apple, diced (I like tart apples for baking)- about 1 1/2 cups

Brown Sugar for topping- about 1/4 of a cup

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture.  The batter will be very, very thick- think cookie dough consistency.  Add the diced apples. Mix until well combined.

Spray or line a muffin tin.  Fill the muffin cups 3/4 (or more if you like larger muffins) of the way full.  Sprinkle with brown sugar.  I put walnuts on a few of our which was good but not great- it’s a take it or leave it thing in my opinion- doesn’t taste bad but doesn’t add anything to the muffins either.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes (mine took almost the full 25 minutes and our oven usually bakes faster).  Take out of the oven and enjoy the warm-apply-fallish-goodness!

Oh and isn’t my kitchen helper cute?