So...on this lovely February afternoon, I thought I would list a few of my favorite things, in no particular order, that I may end up talking about from time to time on this blog...
- Cooking
- Baking
- Gardening
- Housekeeping
- Parenting
- Reading
- Country life
- My husband
- My children
- My family
- God/My faith
- Sunshine, fresh air, and flowers
I'd like to begin with sharing a recipe that I discovered the other day. While searching for a good granola bar recipe, I stumbled across the smitten kitchen blog. I haven't tried the great-looking recipe for granola bars that I found yet (still waiting to go to the store to grab a couple ingredients), but I also found this lovely whole wheat apple muffin recipe that had been adapted from a King Arthur Flour recipe. My son had a friend coming over after school, so I thought it would be a great time to try them. I ended up making a few adjustments to the recipe (I have a habit of doing that often!), which (I think) makes them a little easier to put together and doesn't require getting out the big mixer. They turned out fabulous! So fabulous, in fact, that my kids begged me to make another batch the next day. They're packed full of wonderful flavor - warm cinnamon, sweet and tart apple, and delicious and moist buttermilk cake.
I tried to upload a picture, but my upload function isn't working quite right. If you would like to see a few gorgeous pictures, head on over to the smitten kitchen blog - they're a lot better looking than my pictures would have been anyway(!)
Whole Wheat Apple Muffins
recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen Blog's adaptation a of King Arthur Flour recipe
1 cup white whole wheat flour (Bob's Red Mill or King Arthur)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp fine salt
1/2 cup unrefined (raw) sugar (could also use real maple syrup or brown rice syrup)
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed, divided
1/2 cup butter (1 stick) melted and slightly cooled
1 large egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 large granny smith apple, peeled and cubed
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
In a large bowl combine flours, baking powder and soda, cinnamon, salt, raw sugar, and 1/4 cup of brown sugar. In a small bowl, lightly beat egg and add buttermilk. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir to combine (batter will be very thick). Add melted butter and vanilla and stir to combine. Finally, fold in cubed apple. Line a12-cup muffin tin with paper liners, or grease and flour cups. Drop the batter evenly into 12 cups and sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup of brown sugar on the top of each muffin.
Bake for 10 minutes at 450 degrees, then reduce the heat to 400 degrees, baking the muffins 5 to10 minutes longer, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool the muffins in the pan for a few minutes, then place them on a cooling rack to cool completely.
That's the most difficult part for me - letting them cool! These are so delicious and they're not _too_ bad for you, so it's okay that I just ate two, right? Enjoy! :-)
- Cooking
- Baking
- Gardening
- Housekeeping
- Parenting
- Reading
- Country life
- My husband
- My children
- My family
- God/My faith
- Sunshine, fresh air, and flowers
I'd like to begin with sharing a recipe that I discovered the other day. While searching for a good granola bar recipe, I stumbled across the smitten kitchen blog. I haven't tried the great-looking recipe for granola bars that I found yet (still waiting to go to the store to grab a couple ingredients), but I also found this lovely whole wheat apple muffin recipe that had been adapted from a King Arthur Flour recipe. My son had a friend coming over after school, so I thought it would be a great time to try them. I ended up making a few adjustments to the recipe (I have a habit of doing that often!), which (I think) makes them a little easier to put together and doesn't require getting out the big mixer. They turned out fabulous! So fabulous, in fact, that my kids begged me to make another batch the next day. They're packed full of wonderful flavor - warm cinnamon, sweet and tart apple, and delicious and moist buttermilk cake.
I tried to upload a picture, but my upload function isn't working quite right. If you would like to see a few gorgeous pictures, head on over to the smitten kitchen blog - they're a lot better looking than my pictures would have been anyway(!)
Whole Wheat Apple Muffins
recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen Blog's adaptation a of King Arthur Flour recipe
1 cup white whole wheat flour (Bob's Red Mill or King Arthur)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp fine salt
1/2 cup unrefined (raw) sugar (could also use real maple syrup or brown rice syrup)
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed, divided
1/2 cup butter (1 stick) melted and slightly cooled
1 large egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 large granny smith apple, peeled and cubed
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
In a large bowl combine flours, baking powder and soda, cinnamon, salt, raw sugar, and 1/4 cup of brown sugar. In a small bowl, lightly beat egg and add buttermilk. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir to combine (batter will be very thick). Add melted butter and vanilla and stir to combine. Finally, fold in cubed apple. Line a12-cup muffin tin with paper liners, or grease and flour cups. Drop the batter evenly into 12 cups and sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup of brown sugar on the top of each muffin.
Bake for 10 minutes at 450 degrees, then reduce the heat to 400 degrees, baking the muffins 5 to10 minutes longer, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool the muffins in the pan for a few minutes, then place them on a cooling rack to cool completely.
That's the most difficult part for me - letting them cool! These are so delicious and they're not _too_ bad for you, so it's okay that I just ate two, right? Enjoy! :-)
