Monday Morning Muffins

After not wanting the cereal I poured for her and barely eating the oatmeal that she wanted next, my daughter brought me a mini-muffin pan and announced that she wanted to eat muffins. I tried (obviously unsuccessfully) to tell her that I'd make muffins later or tomorrow and that they took a long time to bake. After about 10 minutes of that "discussion" I gave in and gave her her first hands-on cooking experience that didn't involve plastic food and the little kitchen in her bedroom. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad that this is one argument she won.

She was great at the mixing and dumping parts of the recipe and not so good at the waiting. About halfway through the cooking time, she decided to eat a rice cake to tide her over. The good news is that she LOVED the end product and after sharing a few with her friend Brayden, there are only a couple left.

This is an adaptation of a recipe from Joy of Cooking and I left the nuts out today but I like them with walnuts.

Apple Mini-Muffins

Ingredients:
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. whole wheat flour (can use all white flour if you prefer)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg
1/3 c. sugar
1 medium apple, peeled and grated with juice
2 1/2 T. warm melted unsalted butter
1/4 c. chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare your muffin tins (see below for yield).

Whisk together the flours, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.


In a larger bowl, whisk together the egg and sugar. Grate the apple over the wet mixture so all the juice gets in there, stir together, and let set for about 10 minutes. Then, stir the butter and nuts (if using) into the egg/apple mixture. Add the flour mixture and fold until the dry ingredients are moistened but don't overmix. Divide it among muffin cups and bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 2-3 minutes and then on the rack. These are best the day they're baked.

Mini-muffins: Bake 9-11 minutes. Recipe yielded 20 mini-muffins
Regular size muffins: Bake 14-16 minutes. Recipe yields 6 regular muffins. For a full dozen, double the recipe