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Monday, October 1, 2012

Whole Wheat Apple Spice Muffins

Happy Fall, friends!!! 

I don't know about you, but I absolutely LOVE Fall! I'll be honest though, when I think of Fall, I think of what Fall is like back at home. Here in Utah, there seems to be only 2 seasons, Winter and Summer, with brief transition periods in between. 

Back home, in Northern California, Fall is beautiful. Golds, deep reds, bright oranges, luscious greens.  The air is so fresh and cool. And don't forget about all the great fruits and veggies that come to life. Some of my favorites Pomegranate, Parsnips, a huge variety of squash and of course APPLES! And let me tell you, we have an abundance of apples from the tree in our yard right now.  
Kind of wishing I took some good pictures of the tree in its glory. Now, sadly, it has been picked just about clean. So what to do with all of these apples? Well, I have made apple pie, apple sauce and these glorious muffins. 

I think some of you will be pleased to know that these amazing muffins have NO oil or butter in them and I would dare say they are very low in fat. But don't be discouraged, I promise you won't end up with rock hard, dry, sorry excuses for muffins...well, that is as long as you follow the recipe. If you're like me, baking can be a bit intimidating and end in disaster more than you would like to admit. Honestly though, I can say that things have been improving for me. I almost have this baking thing down. Boy, if you knew some of my goofy mistakes...
This recipe NOT being one of them :) 

Well, let's get on with it, shall we?


Whole Wheat Apple Spice Muffins
Makes 12 regular muffins



Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon, make it a heaping one 
1/8 tsp pumpkin spice (or 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg + 1/8 tsp ground ginger + 1/8 tsp allspice)
1/3 cup Organic cane sugar, you may also use honey or brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup Greek yogurt, I used fat-free
1/3 cup applesauce, unsweetened if you want to be extra healthy
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups grated apples, number of apples you will use will vary on size 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

To prep your apples:
Wash, peel and grate your apples. 

  You may want to grate them over a mesh strainer so that you can squeeze out the excess apple juice. We bottled ours after heating it almost to a boil. Yay for fresh apple juice! 

Measure out 1 1/2 cups. 

Now don't fret about the apples turning brown...they still taste fine and you're going to bake them anyway. No one will know :)



Set aside the shredded apples and grab yourself a couple of medium sized mixing bowls. 

In one you will combine all of the dry ingredients, and you guessed it, the other will contain the wet ingredients. 




Now here's a little tip, which some of you may know, when making muffins, pancakes, cupcakes and anything of the like...it is a really good idea to whisk your dry ingredients. This aerates it and will make for a lighter finished product. This creates the same result as sifting your dry ingredients, but doesn't this seem way faster? 

You can go ahead and whisk together your wet ingredients also. This will make sure everything is combined real well. 

Next, stir your apples into your wet ingredients until they are well incorporated. 

Pay close attention to these next steps to ensure fluffy moist muffins!

Add half of your dry ingredients into your wet and give it just a few good stirs. Then dump in the rest of your dry ingredients. Gently fold these in just until everything is moistened. I cannot stress enough how important it is to not over-mix when making a batter! It really effects the outcome of your final product. 

Once combined, evenly divide into your lined muffin tin.  I spray mine with a little cooking spray just to ensure the muffins don't stick. I have never made these without doing it, so I honestly don't know if they will actually stick without the spray. 

Bake for 15-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 

And here they are again 

I even made some minis for my baby girl to enjoy. She loves these and I don't feel one bit bad about giving these to her because they're pretty healthy. 

*Note: Should you decide to make a double batch, do not double the recipe. You will have to just make the recipe twice, separately. I have just come to learn that baking is so finicky and not all recipes can be doubled...something about the science of it all. Don't worry, even if I knew the scientific explanation, I wouldn't dare bore you with that. 

Oh and just to do this right, here is the link to recipe I based mine off of: Carrot-Apple Spice Muffins


Also, if you can't already tell how fabulous I think these muffins are I just want to give them an extra ego boost by telling you this... a couple weeks ago I made these muffins and brought a couple in for some coworkers. THEY LOVED THEM, so I gave them each a copy of the recipe. One of them came back to me the next week and said she made some and shared them with her neighbor and one of her daughters and they both LOVED them equally as much. 

Have I fully convinced you to make these yet? 


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