I'm hoping Fall has finally arrived, because I'm ready to bring out my scarves and even a sweater or two. The crisp air reminds me of that first bite of an apple and apple-picking time is here! Now while I've yet to go apple picking, I do have plenty of apples which recently came in handy for the wonderful Maple Apple Muffin recipe I came across on the DailyMeal website. While the recipe calls for "ground cardamon," I could find it; I did have cardamon pods but removing their skins, then grinding them was something I didn't want to do. I swapped out the ground cardamon for Pumpkin Pie Spice which worked perfectly. The choice of apple is up to you but I like an apple that can hold up while being cooked, such as Honeycrisp or Granny Smith.
INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 egg
2 apples, cored, peeled and grated or cut into small pieces
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 400*
Using an electric mixer, cream together the butter, oil, brown sugar and maple syrup.
Add the egg and whisk until combined. Add the grated apples, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, cloves, vanilla extract and salt. Combine flour, oats and baking soda and gradually mix into the wet mixture. Mix until combined and fold in the walnuts.
Line a muffin tray with liners and fill each 1/4 full. Bake in the oven and after 10-minutes, reduce the temperature to 380*. Continue baking until a tester comes out clean from the center of each muffin.
