Apple Muffins

These are the original muffins without the muffin tops.

I am re-posting this because I made these again with Sucanat sugar, and Fuji apples. I also ran out of cup cake liners when I baked it. So I just sprayed the muffin pan with Pam. These were even better this time, the interior was tender and not too sweet and that little extra crispness at the edges of the muffin top were oh so, wonderful! From now on, I am never going to use cup cake liners when I make muffins. Now I understand what all the fuss is about “muffin tops.’’

I adore apple muffins and love to try out new recipes. Here is one adapted from Vegan Baking Classics by Kelly Rudnicki. This is a library book that I plan to purchase for my collection – it’s a keeper. My only gripe with the book is she tends to use shortening and all-purpose flour. This particular recipe called for dairy-free margarine which I substituted with canola oil. I also used some whole wheat pastry flour instead of all-white flour. All I had on hand for apples was a huge Honeycrisp. I used about 3/4 of it for the muffins and ate the rest. These are beautiful little gems! Makes 12 muffins.

Ingredients
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup soy milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
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1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup Sucanat sugar
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1-1/2 cups apple, peeled, chopped into pea sized pieces with 1/2 cup set aside

Topping
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Mix together in small bowl.

Directions
Heat oven to 375 degrees and prepare muffin tin. Mix first four wet ingredients in large bowl and set aside. Mix dry ingredients in another bowl and whisk together. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just mixed. Don't over mix. Fold in 1 cup of the apples.

I like to use a ice cream scoop to scoop the batter into muffin tins. Add the reserved chopped apple to top the muffins. Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon sugar topping (more or less depending on your sweet tooth) over each muffin. Bake 23-25 minutes until lightly browned and inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Three Apple Crisp

I love the simplicity of apple crisp. I've been making a lot of them and they are dependent upon what kind of apple you use. If you get great apples all the time, wonderful. But sometimes the apples around here are a little questionable. I decided to combine three apples to heighten my chances for a great apple crisp. And I decided to hell with measuring ingredients. With apple crisp, does it really matter? I don't think so. My apple crisp turned out great! I used one of each: Granny Smith, Golden Delicious and Empire apples. If you use more than 3 apples, increase all of the other ingredients.

Ingredients
3 baking apples, take your pick,* peeled and chopped
heaping tablespoon or so of flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1-2 TB sugar, to taste
1 TB lemon juice, approx.
1 TB apple juice, approx.

Topping
1-2 TB brown sugar, to taste
2 TB or so of melted Earth Balance margarine
heaping TB of flour
1-2 TB One Minute oatmeal
more cinnamon to taste

Directions
Lightly spray cooking pan with oil. Toss apples with flour, cinnamon, sugar, and juices. Melt margarine and mix with rest of topping ingredients. Put apple mixture into pan and sprinkle topping over it. Bake at 350 or so for 30-45 minutes until bubbly, lightly browned on top, and apples are tender.

*It's worth your time to be familiar with the apples you can get in your area and to research online which ones are best for baking.

Apple Quinoa Spelt Muffins

What delicious little gems these are. They are not very sweet which I really like since it seems I'm usually cutting the sugar quantity in recipes. The original recipe is from vegangoodeats.com. I was attracted to them because I love to use quinoa in my cooking and especially my baking. The spelt flour was an added attraction. Spelt flour is easy to find if you look for it in the Bob's Red Mill flour and cereal section - usually in the health food section of your grocery store. You can also get a 4 pound package of organic prewashed quinoa at Costco for $9.99. If you want additional commentary (worthwhile!) or the original recipe go to: http://vegangoodeats.com/2010/04/quinoa-106-carbs-are-evil-apple-quinoa-spelt-muffins/

But here's my version...

Ingredients
3 tablespoons ground flax seeds
6 tablespoons filtered water
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2 cups of spelt flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
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1/3 cup of walnut oil
1/2 cup 100% maple syrup
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla
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1 cup of cooked quinoa, cooled with no clumps
1 apple, peeled and grated

Directions
In a small bowl, mix the flax seed and water, blend briskly and set aside. In medium bowl add the flour and rest of dry ingredients; mix. The flax should be gelatinous by now. Add the oil, syrup, applesauce and vanilla to it and mix together. Add to the dry ingredients and mix until it just comes together and there are no clumps of dry flour. Fold in the quinoa and apple. Spoon in to muffin tins lined with paper cups. I like to use a oiled ice cream scoop. Bake at 375 degrees for 22-25 minutes until toothpick comes cleans and muffins are lightly browned on top. Makes 14 muffins.

Betty Crocker Apple Crisp - Veganized!

Who doesn't love Apple Crisp? This is a very quick and easy recipe. I've cut the quantities down so it serves 2. If you want to make the full-blown recipe, just google "Betty Crocker Apple Crisp." Some good apples to bake with are Fuji, Granny Smith, Jonagold, Rome Beauty, Golden Delicious and Honeycrisp.

Ingredients
1 medium tart cooking apple, peeled, cored and sliced
2 TB packed brown sugar
2 TB whole wheat pastry flour
2 TB quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats
2-1/2 TB Earth Balance Vegan butter stick
1/4 scant teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 scant teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions
Heat oven to 375ºF. Grease bottom and sides of small baking dish.
Spread apples in baking dish. In small bowl, stir remaining ingredients until well mixed; sprinkle over apples. Bake about 30 minutes or until topping is golden brown and apples are tender when pierced with a fork.