apple pie muffins

Xavier was asking for apple pie the other day and while I wasn't up for making a pie, I found this recipe for apple pie muffins.



They were easy as pie...ha ha. Seriously, they were easy. The boys favorite part was adding the crumb topping to the muffins.



Apple Pie Muffins
FOR THE CRUMB TOPPING:
•½ cups Packed Brown Sugar
•1 cup All-purpose Flour
•¼ cups Melted Unsalted Butter
•1 teaspoon Cinnamon

•For Muffins
•1-½ cup Packed Brown Sugar
•⅔ cups Vegetable Oil
•1 whole Egg
•1-½ teaspoon Vanilla
•1 cup Buttermilk
•2-½ cups All-purpose Flour
•1 teaspoon Baking Soda
•¼ teaspoons Salt
•2 cups Diced Peeled Apples

Topping:
In a small bowl, toss together crumb topping ingredients until crumbly. You may need more flour to get a good crumble. Set aside.

Muffins:
In a large bowl, whisk together the brown sugar and wet ingredients (brown sugar, oil, egg, vanilla, buttermilk) until smooth.In a separate bowl, sift together flour, soda and salt. (I don’t have a sifter, so i just fluff/mix it up with a fork.)
Stir oil mixture and flour mixture together.Fold in apples, mixing just until combined. Batter will be a bit runny, but that’s okay.Spoon into greased muffin cups or use liners, filling 3/4 full. (The easiest way is to use a 1/4 cup measuring cup.)Sprinkle topping over evenly. (It’s easiest to use your fingers.)

Bake at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown and the tops spring
back.

I subbed out half of the white flour for whole wheat and made my own buttermilk using vinegar and used yogurt for half the oil. Next time I will cut the sugar just a bit. I meant to do it this time but I had helpers and got distracted:) Someday I will tackle a good crust, but until then I have these muffins:)

Healthy Blueberry Banana Muffins

Is this thing on????

I thought this would be a fun way to stay connected with family and friends. I think I will post photos, recipes and maybe some of my projects. One of my goals in this new year is to actually make something from the cookbooks that I have been collecting!

My good friend Shannon got me a subscription to Everyday Food, one of Martha Stewart's magazines for my b-day. Thanks Shannon! I have already made 3 things from it! On Saturday morning Xavier helped me make these muffins. It was very easy.... except for the "helping" part. Here is the recipe.

Healthy Blueberry Banana Muffins
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter (I used 1/4 cup butter & 1/4 cup canola oil)
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
2 ripe bananas
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 375. In a bowl, whisk together flours, wheat germ, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, with a mixer beat butter and sugars until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In another bowl, mash bananas with a fork; stir in milk and vanilla. With the mixer on low, alternately add flour mixture and banana mixture, beginning and ending with flour; mix until just combined. Fold in frozen blueberries. Divide batter among lined muffin cups. (mine made 14, I used large bananas and my helper wanted a few extra blueberries). Bake 25-28 mins. (Nutrition info. per muffin based on 12 muffins: 9.2 g fat (5.3 sat. fat);4.4 g protein; 32.3 g carb; 2.6 gram fiber) ***note by cutting the butter and replacing with canola you cut down on the amount of saturated fat. 1/2 cup butter has 58 grams of sat fat vs. 1/2 cup canola oil has only 8.5 grams sat. fat.......I bet you could make these with all canola and not really sacrifice much flavor:)

We thought these were good. Xavier ate 3 and Dax ate 2! They were not as sweet as a commercial muffin. If you like a sweet muffin, increase the sugar a tad or use super ripe bananas. Did you know you can freeze a banana in the skin? It is true... just ask my mom. They will turn really dark in the freezer but they are great for baking. I usually peel mine and put it in a bag though because I don't want to deal with the peel later.

Mmmmm...muffins

Testing to see if it is cool enough!