Fall is finally in the air! It’s actually my favorite time of year with all the rich colors, yummy smells, leaves, and best of all…baking!

The end of summer and during the fall, is harvest time for all those delicious fruits and vegetables. Fall baking is nice because all the fresh, harvested fruits/vegetables can be used to create warm, homey treats. They combine warm spices, sweet sugar, and plenty of fall colors.

This month, I thought I would share a new recipe that I came across while browsing Pinterest for new ideas. I know that I love cinnamon and apples together, but the desserts are always something I have to eat at home and on a plate. With apple muffins, it is literally like apple crisp right in your hand. There is a brown sugar topping that bakes into a crunchy top for the muffin which I love (and it stays crunchy even when stored!).

So I decided to give the muffins a try, I mean what could go wrong when you have cinnamon and sugar?

The ingredients in this recipe are also pretty simple; I already had everything I needed in my kitchen. One thing I noticed was the batter gets thick….VERY thick. The reason the batter has to be thick, almost like cookie dough, is because the apples will release juices while they bake, which will add in more moisture to the muffin. If the batter is too wet to begin with, you will end up with muffin soup!

Another thing to note is to make sure your apples are diced, which is just small little cubes that are all the same size–this will ensure even cooking.

Recipe Courtesy http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2010/02/apple-muffins.html

Yield: 18 Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar (I used about 1 ½ cups so it wasn’t too sweet…..and they turned our perfect!)

2 Eggs

1 cup oil (I used vegetable)

1 Tablespoon vanilla

3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

3 cups apples peeled, cored, and diced (about 3-4 apples)

Brown sugar to sprinkle on top

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350⁰ F and line a muffin pan with liners.
2. Put sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a bowl and cream together. In another bowl, sift flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. (When short on time, sifting can be skipped for this recipe…they still turn out right!)
3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir to combine…the batter is going to get really thick here. Add in the apples and stir to combine.
4. Fill paper liners about ¾ of the way and sprinkle brown sugar on top.
5. Bake for 20-24 minutes.

*Try making mini muffins! They are too cute and a great bite sized snack! Just bake for 16 minutes instead of 20.