Quick Breads #2 Apple Pie Muffins

*UPDATE – See this post about our new eating habits.(7/10/11)

Day two and we’re making muffins! Ya know; muffins are just cupcakes we eat at breakfast. We call them muffins so we don’t feel bad about eating cake for breakfast. Guess what? You don’t have to feel bad about eating cake at breakfast! Make some muffins and feel healthy! These muffins even have apples in them, so they gotta be good for you! Fruit! An apple muffin a day keeps the doctor away. You heard it here first.

To make Apple Pie Muffins you need brown sugar, all purpose flour, butter, cinnamon, oil, an egg, vanilla, buttermilk, baking soda, salt, and diced, peeled apples. You’ll notice that I didn’t get bulk apples. I saw these marked down and they were wayyyyyyyyyyyy cheaper than getting them whole. I knew I was going to use them the same day, so I chose these. I love mark downs! Also, I didn’t have any buttermilk in the house, so I used my buttermilk mix instead. You could also make your own buttermilk. See this post.

First you will make the topping. You will use brown sugar, flour, butter, and cinnamon. This is the beginning of something beautiful.

Melt the butter and mix it with the other ingredients. Stir together until you get a good crumbly mixture. Taste it. YUM!

In a large bowl, mix together brown sugar, oil, egg, vanilla, and buttermilk. Yours will look a bit different if you use real buttermilk.

In another bowl, combine your dry ingredients. The recipe says to sift. I never sift. Don’t tell Betty Crocker! I hate sifting. It’s so dumb. So, I put my dry stuff in bowl and stir it really good with a fork…….if I use a bigger bowl, I use a whisk. Ta Da! Sifted flour! You’re welcome.

Mix dry and wet ingredients. Mix lightly. LIGHTLY! The key to good muffins is not to over mix. It will be lumpy.  That’s ok. If you over mix, you will get tough muffins. Eww.

When it’s mixed, add your apples. Stir gently to combine. Gently, I said! It’s going to be runny, and that’s ok.

Divide batter evenly between 20 greased or paper lined muffin cups. Fill only about ¾ full because you need to leave room for the topping. I use a cookie scoop to fill mine because it’s less messy. It takes two scoops for me.

Sprinkle your topping over each muffin. It makes a mess. The mess I avoided earlier still came to visit. I like to think that any messy muffin is a good muffin.

Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and tops spring back when you touch them. Remove immediately from the muffin cups and cool on wire rack. Make sure and sprinkle the topping all over the floor while you do it so that your dog has something to eat. Then lick your fingers.

These muffins have fruit in them, so they won’t keep as long as another kind of muffin. You can store them in the fridge if you want to keep them for a while. They’ll last about 3-4 days at room temperature. Also, I had leftover topping that I kept for another use. I opened a can of biscuits and pulled the layers apart. I sprinkled the topping over each layer that I had brushed with melted butter and then I stacked the layers back together. Oh YUM. You could also sprinkle it over pancakes or waffles. Or eat it plain. I’m not here to judge you.

The two keys to great muffins – don’t over mix and don’t over bake. Otis Spunkmeyer has nothing on you now!