Monday, April 21, 2008

Apples Apples Apples! (Tartlets & Muffin)

I have had 2 huge green apples sitting around for a while now and haven't been in the mood to eat them so I decided to bake something with them.
The tart crust is made from cream cheese, butter, and flour. Sat in the fridge over night. Roll out and pressed into the tart shells. The filling is a apple filling I created cause I love experimenting with different things. It is apples cooked in brown sugar, lemon juice, vanilla extract and cinnamon. Used corn starch for thickening. For those who don't know, if you ever want to bake with apples make them green apples. They turn out the best and never get too soggy as red apples tend to get.


The muffins came out really great. I decided to add cinnamon to the batter and topping along with nutmeg in the topping for more flavor. You could really taste both spices when eating it and they always go well with lemon. I didnt have enough brown sugar for the batter so i added half brown sugar and half granulated sugar. I also ran out of buttermilk so I used milk and it came out great

For the first time I am going to add the recipe because I didnt really adapt this recipe like I have other recipes because it wasnt necessary:
Apple Pie Muffins

2 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 c. buttermilk (I used milk for half)
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c brown sugar (i used 3/4 c brown sugar & 3/4 granulated sugar)
2 c diced apples (no skin, green apple)
**1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 c. brown sugar
1/3 c all-purpose flour
**1/2 tsp cinnamon
**1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 TBSP butter, melted

**I added to the recipe for more flavor

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine 2 1/4 c. flour, baking soda, salt, and 1 tsp. cinnamon in a small bowl
3. Cream egg, buttermilk, butter, vanilla, and 1 1/2 c sugar together with a mixer
4. Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients until combined. Make sure you don't over mix because muffins will come out dry.
5. Stir in diced apples until just combined. Do NOT over mix
6. Using a ice cream scooper scoop into greased muffin tins
7. Mix the dry ingredients of the toppings in a small bowl (1/2 c brown sugar, 1/3 c flour, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg)
8. Slowly pour in melted butter while mixing.
9. Using a tsp pour over batter in muffin tins
10. Bake for 25 minutes or until cooked (using a plastic knife place in the middle of a muffin to see if it comes out clean).

I think everyone should try these, they are pretty easy and fun to make and make for a great breakfast.