Chunky Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Now that I’m a mom, I can’t help but feel giddy when September rolls around.

September means the start of holiday season which is super, extra fun when you have a little one to celebrate with. Everything is so new and exciting and it just makes me excited.

The other day when Andrew and I made a trip to Barnes and Nobles — because we had to get out of the house or else we’d go crazy -there were Halloween and Fall themed books everywhere. Perfect for a mama who gets giddy with new holidays and for a kid who loves to read.

We grabbed like 15 books on the subject and read them in a cozy corner.

It was really fun to talk about the seasons changing, what animals do for the change, Halloween, apples, pumpkins, and all the other stuff we discovered in the books. We also checked out about 20 books at the library Fall and Halloween themed.

It seems a bit excessive but I promise you, we read through those books in like 2 days. Andrew is a reader like his mama.

In the midst of all those books, we found a book about Annie the Apple Farmer and in the back there was a recipe for apple cinnamon muffins that was in desperate need of a real food tweak! It gave me the itch to bake. Quite frankly, it doesn’t take much to give me the itch, but this time around we were going to make something with apples.

Since apples are every. where. this was pretty easy to do.

I’m not going to lie, I was a little nervous as to how these muffins were going to turn out. I’ve said this before but I’ll say it again to those who are new around here — I like my desserts in the form of cake, not fruit. I only like fruit in a few things like cherry pie or pound cake trifles but that’s about it.

When we put chunks of apples in the batter, my stomach dropped a little.

Sometimes we have to move out of our comfort zone and try new things because we never know what good things may come out of it!

And guess what? I’m happy I did!

The batter is not too sweet, so the sweetness of the apples really balanced the whole muffin out. Coupled with the quintessential spices that represent fall, I was incredibly pleased. And the apples? I actually enjoyed them — especially fresh out of the oven, nice and warm, with the cinnamon vanilla coconut sugar topping to add a bit of depth to it all.

Yum.

Andrew, on the other hand, wasn’t convinced about the apples in the muffin. He had no problem eating them while we were baking together but when it came time to eat the muffin with the apples inside, well, he made me pick them out.

The things you do for love.

And all things Fall.

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

 

Print

Serves: Makes 1 dozen muffins

Ingredients

Equipment needed

• Hand mixer (where to buy)
• Muffin tin (where to buy)
• Muffin paper

Ingredients for muffins

• ½ cup vanilla coconut sugar (learn to make it here)
• ¼ cup pastured butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 2 cups einkorn flour (it's my fav flour, get it [HERE|])
• 1 cup coconut milk (this brand of coconut milk is what I always buy)
• ½ tsp unrefined sea salt (this sea salt is really affordable)
• 2 tsp aluminum-free baking powder (like this)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp allspice
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• 1½ cup diced organic apples (I chose Fuji for a sweeter apple)

For the topping

• 2 Tbl vanilla coconut sugar
• ½ tsp cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Using your hand mixer, cream together the sugar and butter; add egg; beat well; stir in milk
3. In another bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, and spices; mix well
4. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and blend with spoon or spatula until just moistened (batter may be lumpy, that's okay)
5. Add apples; blend carefully by folding apples in
6. Fill batter into muffin papers; fill well
7. Sprinkle cinnamon vanilla coconut sugar topping over top of muffins
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes (mine took 20 minutes)
9. Let cool and enjoy

Notes

Tops may look burnt but it's just the vanilla coconut sugar topping. Since the coconut sugar is naturally caramel colored, the top of the muffins will look darker.

3.4.3177