Apple - Cinnamon Muffins

Valentines Day in the Klassen house is incredibly busy and I still wanted to do something nice for breakfast. I tend to make a lot of bread items for breakfast since Jon is against the idea of anything that looks or tastes "egg-y." In other words, no quiche, egg casseroles . . . not even french toast. And, I don't like making the same things all the time. As a result, I am often in a search for new recipes.

This recipe I found on the blog, Two Fat Als. And as I am typing this blog entry, the muffins are in the oven and oh, my goodness, deliciousness is filling the air. I hope they make it to morning!

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/4 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups shredded apple

1/2 cup chopped apples

1 tsp cinnamon

3/4 cups walnuts

Strudel topping:

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 tbsp all-purpose flour

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon butter

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375. Line muffin pan with muffin cups. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a medium-sized bowl. In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and then vanilla. Stir in apples and walnuts. Slowly stir in flour mixture until just combined. To make strudel topping, use your fingers to mix the ingredients until it feels coarse. Spoon batter into muffin cups, and sprinkle strudel on top. Cook for about 18 minutes for regular-sized muffins, or about 20-25 minutes for larger muffins.

My notes about the muffins:

~ When dealing with apples, I tend to be very lazy. I went ahead and didn't even bother with pealing the apples in this recipe. It didn't seem to make any difference. They tasted great and probably had an added health benefit of added fiber and nutrients found in the skin.

~ In addition to the strudel topping, I sprinkled some of my Pampered Chef Caramel crunch sprinkle on top.