Apple Muffins
Apple Muffins With Crumb Topping
The Gourmet Goddess invites you to experience the quintessential apple muffin. Moist, flavorful and aromatic with just the right amount of sweetness, this will be your now and forever apple muffin recipe. Brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves combine with sweet-smelling apples and a brown sugar crumb topping for a delicious muffin to bake with your autumn apple harvest. A delightful treat to serve with breakfast on a crisp fall morning!
September is a time for apple picking, apple festivals, apple rituals and of course, lots of apple baking. Many picture apple harvesting as a New England tradition, but the apple first fell off the tree in Central Asia. This fragrant fruit rolled its way to Europe and the colonists were thoughtful enough to bring them on the voyage to America. They are grown in many states, but to get into the spirit, let’s all visualize autumn apples and fall foliage in New England.
Apples may be the oldest cultivated fruit. They are often included in the mythologies of the goddesses. In Norse mythology, the goddess, Lounn, provided apples to the gods to give them eternal youth.
Ancient Greek mythology tells us that Paris awarded an apple to Aphrodite to recognize that she was the most beautiful of the goddesses. From that point forward, Aphrodite the Goddess of Love, has been associated with the apple.
Apple trees have beautiful blossoms in the spring and it is no wonder the taste of the apple is fragrant, as it is related to the rose. Cooking and baking with apples emits an entrancingly fragrant and sweet aroma in the air.
What a versatile fruit - it makes muffins, pies, pan-dowdy, cakes and sauce. This apple muffin is divine! Join all the goddesses now in experiencing the wonder of the apple.
Happy Baking!
And Remember...
Always Stay in Touch with Your Inner Goddess!
Ingredients for Crumb Topping
4 tablespoons of Butter, melted
½ cup All Purpose Flour
3 tablespoons Light Brown Sugar
3 tablespoons Granulated Sugar
½ teaspoon Cinnamon
Pinch of Nutmeg
Pinch of Salt
Ingredients for Muffins
Dry
2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
½ teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon Nutmeg
Pinch of Ground Cloves
Wet
½ cup (1 stick) Melted Butter
2 Large Eggs, lightly whisked
1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
3/4 cup Light Brown Sugar
1 cup homemade buttermilk (1 cup whole milk 1 teaspoon white vinegar...I prefer this rather than store bought buttermilk, since store bought is often low fat)
2 cups apples - ¼ inch dice (I used honey-crisp)
Powdered Sugar for Dusting
Makes 12 muffins
Baking Instructions
Make Crumb Topping
Melt butter slowly and carefully. Remove from heat source or microwave just before all is melted and stir. If you are using a microwave melt on very low power level checking at 10 second intervals.
Add vanilla. Set aside as it cools a bit.
Combine dry ingredients.
Mix butter with dry ingredients and knead together by hand creating crumbs. Place on a flat surface like a plate and refrigerate.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line muffin cups with papers.
Peel, core and dice apples.
Measure 1 cup of milk and add 1 tablespoon of vinegar.
Combine dry ingredients.
Stir together melted butter, eggs, granulated and brown sugar, vanilla.
Add dry ingredients and milk alternately, until combined.
Fold in apples.
Fill lined muffin cups with batter about ¾ of the way.
Top with crumbs.
Bake for 18 -22 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out dry.
Cool in pan for 5 minutes.
Carefully remove.
Cool completely on wire rack.
Dust with powdered sugar.
