Apple Muffins

[cougars_catnip]

Wet cold autumn day outside, warm spicy sweet muffins inside.  Pour a cup of tea and you have the perfect snack for curling up with a blanket and a good book.
 

Apple Muffins

Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients:

MUFFINS:
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1½ tsp apple pie spice
1/2 tsp. salt
 1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup butter, melted
 1/4 cup golden syrup, honey, or maple syrup
1 large egg, slightly beaten
2 cups chopped, peeled apples 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick spray.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients

3. In a small bowl, mix milk, butter, syrup and egg; stir into dry ingredients and mix just until moistened. Fold in apples.

4. Fill prepared muffin cups 3/4-full. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until muffins test done.

Comments

[marmaladeginger]

Oh Yum! It must smell just heavenly while baking. Tea recommendations?

[cougars_catnip]

It certainly does and they are moist and chewy with just the right amount of sweetness and spice.

Apple Pear Tulsi http://www.amazon.com/Fusion-Tea-Room-Apple-Tulsi/dp/B003PQRNS8

I love a hearty robust Irish Breakfast Tea with cream and honey with these muffins.

[marmaladeginger]

The Irish Breakfast sounds so good! I have all kinds of tea in the pantry but no Irish Breakfast hmmmm...

The apple pear sounds wonderful as well! Off to check it out! Thanks!

[cougars_catnip]

my pleasure. :) Enjoy.

CC

[redcirce]

Oooh, I just got apples a few days ago so I'm excited to try these. Thanks for sharing!

[cougars_catnip]

You're welcome. :) I think you will really like them. They are wonderful with the maple syrup. If ya'll want to get really decadent top each muffin with a pecan half, bake and then drizzle with Maple Glaze.

Maple Glaze:
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbs maple syrup

Directions:
For glaze, mix sugar and syrup; drizzle over cooled muffins.

[redcirce]

Just wanted to say that I got around to making them, and they were delicious! I ended up making a few substitutions, so I wasn't sure how they would turn out, but they were very yummy. Especially love the subtle maple taste...

I will def try the glaze next time.

[cougars_catnip]

ooo what variation did you come up with??? Ya know I love how you can take a base recipe and by changing a few ingredients come up with something totally new. :)

Like this one. What if you use chopped peaches instead of apples and add a grating of fresh nutmeg and a pinch of cloves instead of apple pie spice, and instead of maple you use honey or golden syrup? I think that would be a spectacular summer muffin. :) And for a glaze I would use peach schnapps and powdered sugar.

CC

[redcirce]

Oh, this was totally just a "don't have ingredients" variation and not an exciting on! I was just worried that my substitutions might make it less tasty. I substituted a mix of turbinado and dark brown sugar for the light brown, vegetable oil for the butter, and a mix of cinnamon and powdered ginger for the pie spice. I also ended up with a bit too much chopped apples but threw them in anyway. The only intentional substitution I made was switching some of the all purpose flour with whole wheat, because I like my muffins to be a bit more hearty.

Regardless of the changes, they were great though. And peaches I think would be delightful! Mine definitely had a noticeable maple undertone, so I think a honey version would definitely be interesting in it's own right...

[cougars_catnip]

sounds yummy. :) Does the whole wheat flour make a big difference in texture I wonder? ya know you could add nuts to this as well. Maybe walnuts chopped fine. And even dried sweetened cranberries or raisins. That would make them more hearty as well.
If it is to heavy on the maple flavor for you, you could mix the maple syrup with Golden syrup or honey, and/ or depending on what honey you use it could change the flavor completely. You could even use Agave syrup if you want a more neutral flavor.

CC