Baked Apple Mini Muffins

Fall is upon us in New England which means cooler weather, fall foliage, and apple picking.

M and I went last weekend.  It was a little late in the season and there were only 3 varieties available for picking - macintosh, red delicious, and cortland.  I went for the cortlands.  I remember growing up that my grandmother always used cortlands for her apple pies so I stuck with her favorite. 

When we got to the farm, I almost dropped dead when we were told the price. $20 for the SMALL bag!!!  Had we not driven for 20 minutes with the dog, I might have walked away.  But, I really wanted to go apple picking so we swallowed our pride and paid the ghastly price.

It was a great fall morning and Maddux really enjoyed himself too.  He ate the grass mostly.

Now I stuffed that bag as full as I could get it.  I wanted my money's worth, you understand.  So once I got the bag to the point of spilling over, we went on our way.  I made a stop at the country store and purchased some cider donuts, apple cider, and apple butter (I first typed apply butter.  It does make everything better).

Anyway, now I had all of these apples and needed something to do with them.  I found this recipe for oven baked apple donuts that I wanted to try.  After they were done, they were more like mini muffins so that's what I'm calling them.  I still have a bunch of apples left and as I type, I have an apple-brown sugar coffee cake in the oven.  My house smells awesome. 

We actually had some new neighbors move in a couple of weeks ago so I thought it would be nice and neighborly to introduce myself and bring them some freshly baked mini apple muffins.  I would have loved that if I was a new neighbor.  I hoped they liked them!  I know I did.

Oven Baked Apple Mini Muffins
Adapted from Chocolate Shavings

1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 granulated sugar
6 tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
3 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped into tiny bite sized pieces

Cinnamon Sugar Coating
1/4 cup melted butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in a bowl.  Add the cold butter.  Rub the butter pieces with the flour and sugar mixture with your fingers until it forms coarse crumbs.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs.  Add the milk and apples.  Fold into the mixture.  Add the egg and apple mixture to the flour and sugar mixture.  Stir to combine.

Grease a mini muffin pan.  Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan.

Bake in the oven for about 17 minutes.  While the muffins are baking, mix together the cinnamon and sugar for the coating.

When the muffins are done, remove from oven.  Let cool slightly.  Remove each muffin from the pan and brush with the melted butter.  Then roll the muffins in the bowl of cinnamon sugar to coat.  Shake off any excess.  Enjoy!

Note: Be careful storing muffins in a bag or an airtight container as the cinnamon sugar could melt and become wet.  They are better when some air is allowed to get to them.