Nothing is more comforting than a soft, hot cakey muffin jam-packed with apples and spices. After being knocked on my tuckus from the flu this week, I was in dire need of some coziness from the kitchen. I will go to my death bed (and I came close this week) proclaiming that I am not a baker. My man is gifted with the baking gene, and when the holidays come he whips out his natural skills and bakes away. The one year we baked together my pumpkin pies turned out like hockey pucks. You might ask who can screw up the easiest pie in the world. That would be me.
I do the cooking.
After establishing this fact I was still glaring at a conundrum: a huge pile of fresh apples looking right back at me. Something must be done. How dare they stare at me with those cute little cheeks!
My husband ran down the stairs to a kitchen filled with flour, sugar, spices, pumpkin and diced apples and exclaimed “Awww! You are baking!”
I grimaced, sniffled and said “I don’t know how to bake.”
Lovingly, he emitted “Oh, yes you do.” These little words gave me the motivation to finish the task at hand.
I’m proud to say there is hope for me in the baking department. It must be the Nyquil…
Pumpkin Apple Muffins Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 ¼ tsp. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. allspice
- ¼ tsp. ginger
- ¼ tsp. nutmeg
- 1 ½ tsp. cinnamon
- 1 cup sugar
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ½ tsp. vanilla
- ¼ cup light amber maple syrup
- 2 eggs
- 1 ½ cups peeled, cored, diced apples
- 1 can of organic pumpkin
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Liberally grease muffin pan or line with muffin papers.
- Sift flour, baking powder, and spices in a medium bowl until combined (you can sift to get out any lumps). Stir sugar, pumpkin, maple syrup, vanilla, oil and eggs in a large bowl until well mixed.
- Toss the apples with the dry ingredients to coat.
- Combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients being sure to not over mix.
- Fill each muffin cup to the top (these muffins are dense and only puff up slightly).
- Sprinkle sugar liberally over the muffins to help create a crackle on top of the finished cakes. Bake until they are golden brown and a tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 30 minutes (more time for larger muffins). Allow muffins to cool before serving (righhhht).
These look delicious! I love that you added whole wheat flour! I hope you feel back to your wonderful self soon - and you ARE a baker!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful recipe. I understand about not being the most comfortable baker. I certainly am not. But with this blog and my foodie baker friends I am making strides. I still love to use box cake mixes but I would feel bad about it. Then I saw Paula Deen use a box mix on Rachael Ray and I said..well if Paula can do it, so can I! Keep baking and I'm glad you feel better.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your effort here, these turned out amazing. The best thing I like about them is the big chunks of apple in there. Wish I had a few for breakfast. Yum! Sometimes we are the worst critics of ourselves-so ignore that critic and keep on baking.
ReplyDeleteThis looks wonderful. Hope you feel better soon. And you are a great baker.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the idea of combining my two favorite fall ingredients...pumpkin and apple! Fabulous looking muffins~
ReplyDeleteThese sound so good! I haven't made muffins in ages - I will have to try these!
ReplyDeleteWhat yummy muffins! Glad you are feeling better!
ReplyDeleteHope you're feeling better!!! These muffins look awesome and perfect for this fall weather. Yum!
ReplyDeleteGlad you are feeling better! I think it's going around. :(
ReplyDeleteLove the maple syrup in these and I bet that pumpkin makes them ridiculously moist. Yum!
They look wonderful, seems like you are indeed a baker!
ReplyDeleteHmmm...Nyquil increases your ability to bake. I must investigate this because I'm a DISASTER when it comes to baking. These look amazing! Hope you're feeling all better now! Buzzed :)
ReplyDeleteI feel the same as you...baking, I'm not so good at (except cookies but I'm not sure they really count). The muffins look lovely (pun intended).
ReplyDeleteNow that I'm a full week late, I hope that you're feeling back to your old self again. The muffins look delicious - especially the big chunks in the middle...
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