My parents’ apple tree is in full production mode and its limbs are heavy with fruit. Apparently, the tree needed a sturdy trimming last year in order to be this fruitful. We are glad to be recipients of baskets and bagfuls of these tart green apples—and Livia is thrilled to experience apple farm outings in her own Nana and Papa’s front yard!
I plan to make apple butter in the crockpot soon. I made some applesauce as well which didn’t turn out so great. That’s what I get for “winging it” and forgoing all recipes. Gloppy, sticky applesauce. It smelled great and tasted fine, but I can’t say I want to eat it a week later (texture is key!). I am thoroughly enjoying the new Zion Cookbook however and decided to cook up Karen Hunt’s apple muffins. This is the part where I have to eat my words. I’ve told many friends in the past that I DON’T LIKE muffins. (I think I wrote it on the blog, too.) Well, guess what. I made Karen’s apple muffins and they were delicious. Yum-o. Tasted great. So scratch my old prejudice against muffins. New days of muffin-y goodness awaits the Tredway household.
For the record, the new Zion Cookbook rocks. It has a lot more recipes than the old one and has breathed new life into my kitchen. If you’d like one but don’t attend Zion or Redeemer, you can send me an email (). Cookbooks are $15 and I imagine you’d need to include something extra for shipping and handling. Without further ado, I present the recipe for Apple Muffins.
Muffin
- 2 C flour
- 3 t baking powder
- 1/2 C sugar
- 1/2 t salt
- 3 T shortening
- 1 egg, beaten
- 3/4 C milk
- 1 t vanilla
- 1 C apples, peeled & chopped
Preheat oven to 400. Sift together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Cut in shortening; set aside. Combine eggs and milk. Add to flour mixture, mix until flour is just moistened. Fold in apples. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin tins half full.
Crunch topping
- 1/3 C brown sugar
- 1/2 t cinnamon
- 1/3 C nuts (opt)
Combine topping mixture. Sprinkle over muffin batter. Bake for 25 minutes.
4 Comments
Mom L Sep 19, 2008 2:51 PM
No kidding, Beck, you need to look into a job in food photo shoots…that muffin shot is great!! Of course, you are a woman of many talents. Love, Mom
Lori Sep 19, 2008 9:14 PM
I have tons of apples from my parents’ tree as well. Thanks for the recipe! I was actually looking for apple recipes on allrecipes.com when I decided to take a break and start blog surfing. I’m definitely going to make these!
Sarah B. Sep 19, 2008 10:23 PM
Love it. From the food pics to the apple shots to the change-in-heart about muffin-y goodness.
And is that a Pampered Chef cooling rack the muffins are sitting on? :) Oh, and FYI: I thawed a batch of cookie dough prepared from your dear ole Aunt Ruthie’s recipe and baked up a batch tonite.
Jen Sep 20, 2008 7:09 PM
If you don’t like your applesauce texture, you can still blend it before you use it. Otherwise, you can use it in most muffin recipes, replacing the oil with applesauce for the low-fat option. I do this for granola too. My favorite applesauce recipe is in the old Zion cookbook – Jill Greff’s in the This and That section.
Sonny Parson’s apple butter is also fabulous – but you can leave the skins on the apples because you blend them also.
By the way – your pictures are wonderful. Can you teach me? My pictures only identify the subject – yours are much different. Sigh-inducing. Art.