Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Appley-Apple Muffins


It may be summertime, but I'm feeling the need to give a quick vocabulary lesson today.

Fast food: Food that can be prepared quickly and easily and is sold in restaurants and snack bars as a quick meal or to be taken out...(Wikipedia dictionary)

Mom-is-busy-fix-it-yourself-food: Food that can be prepared quickly and easily and is found in the freezer section of the kitchen fridge and doesn't require anything more than a toaster oven and motivation to be eaten...(Mom)

During the summer, mornings are busy. Here's what a typical summer morning schedule might look like...

1. Enjoy the peace and quiet while sipping that first cup of morning coffee.
2. Open all of the windows and doors, but only after turning off the house alarm. (Very important!)
3. Pour second cup of coffee, set it down somewhere while I water the outdoor hanging flower baskets and pots.
4. Fold load of laundry that was brought in the night before.
5. Waste 15 minutes searching for the missing coffee cup that is surprisingly in the last place you would think to look.
6. Wake up kids.
7. Pour a third cup of coffee and head out to the garden to water.
8. Get side-tracked on the way to the garden by playing with the baby turkeys in the tractor, checking the bees, chatting with the cows, or listening to the Mister explain his latest technique on mole-trapping.
9. Walk down to the mailbox to retrieve the morning paper.
10. Hang load of laundry outside.
11. Close all of the windows and curtains; turn on the fans to keep the house cool.
12. Wake up kids...again.

This list doesn't include potty breaks from all the coffee, actually reading the paper, or answering any phone calls that are just a given. By the time I get around to actually fixing breakfast, it's almost lunch time and really, who wants to heat up the kitchen at that point?

In the spirit of keeping the kitchen and mom's mood cool, I'll keep the routine and load the freezer with muffins.

It's a lot safer.☺

~Appley-Apple Muffins~
(Makes 24)

~The Players~

3-1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (also known as soft white wheat)
4 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground cloves
1/4 t. sea salt
1 cup whole milk plain yogurt
2 large eggs
6 Tb. sucanat (Rapadura or dark brown sugar)
4 Tb. coconut oil
2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and grated
1-1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup currants (can use raisins)

Preheat oven to 375F. Grease muffin tin. (I used coconut oil.) Do not use paper liners.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the yogurt, eggs, sucanat, and coconut oil until smooth. Stir in the apples, applesauce, and currants.

Pour the apple mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until just blended.

Spoon the batter evenly into 24 muffin cups. Bake for 23 minutes, or until springy to the touch and lightly browned.

Cool on a wire rack. Freeze leftovers in gallon freezer bags when completely cooled.

Enjoy!☺

3 comments:

inadvertent farmer said...

Thanks for the recipe...I'm going to try this tomorrow! Kim

Anonymous said...

Yummy! These look good. Thanks for sharing :O)

*Christi jo*

Amy Dingmann said...

Excellent post - you made me giggle. I lose my coffee cup a thousand times a day. My husband said he's going to rig up a clapper on it so I can find it. :) Muffins looks good, and I know what you mean about stocking the fridge so the kids leave you alone. Ah, summer.....