Maple Apple Muffins

I live in the DC area, and as of last week, peak Cherry Blossoms were scheduled for March 13-17. I’m now hearing we are potentially gearing up for a big Northeastern snow storm beginning tomorrow night. Just when I thought spring was around the corner, winter reminds us who’s boss.

Sooooooo…whenever I EVEN think of snow, I want to bake. Hence these Maple Apple Muffins. I’ll be honest, part of this was also cleaning out my fridge. I love looking in the fridge and coming up with recipes based around one item that I’ve got to get rid of. I have a TON of apples in my fridge right now so this recipe worked out perfectly. The juicy bites of warm apple and the fragrant spice of cinnamon, still speak to the apparently winter spirit of the next few days. Plus it’s super easy to whip up on the fly. My kinda recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup quick-cooking oats
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar (I used 2/3 cup coconut sugar)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup maple syrup (I used a syrup I have infused with cinnamon)
• 1 large egg, slightly beaten
• 2 cups apples peeled and chopped into tiny pieces
• pecans for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease or line a muffin tray with paper liners. Break out a large bowl and whisk together the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder and ground cinnamon.

In a smaller bowl, mix the milk, butter, maple syrup and egg together. Slowly incorporate dry ingredients to wet and then fold in your apples. Yes, that’s it. One of the reasons I love a good simple muffin recipe.

Fill muffin tins to the top and top each with a smattering of pecan slivers (as many as you like). Bake 12-18 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Mine were done around the 12-minute mark but I think my oven may run a little hot. Cool in pan and then top with room temperature butter for the perfect lazy breakfast.

So, we shall see about this giant snowstorm. In the meantime, I’ll be eating muffins and pretending spring is right around the corner.