by Texas Homesteader ~ 
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Sometimes you find yourself with food needing to be used in a different way than you intended in able to ward off food waste. That’s just what happened with these apples.

Oh they looked great. But when we got them home we just didn’t care for them. They were not granny smith, but were firm and tart all the same.

So I set out to look for things to do with them so they wouldn’t be wasted. They didn’t taste half bad peeled. So maybe I can cook with them instead of eating them fresh. I gave these chunky apple cinnamon muffins a try.

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1st Attempt Crash & Burn

A little background: I first attempted other recipes in searching for one that suits us. Apple bread and cake recipes abound. But they often just didn’t seem very healthy. All things in moderation, but I push toward healthier options when possible.

For instance, in searching for recipes I ran across a recipe for an apple bread that sounded good. And to me it seemed that apple bread would be sweet but not quite as much as an apple cake would be.

Plus I had all of the ingredients on hand. What could go wrong? So into the kitchen I went, armed with the recipe.

As I was assembling the recipe I looked a little more closely at the quantity of ingredients. It called for a stick of butter for the batter and another stick and a half for the crumble topping. AND THEN it was topped with a butter/sugar drizzle icing! OMGosh!

But at this point I was committed so I barreled through with the recipe and got it baked. When it was done we tasted it. Oh it was fine I guess, but I couldn’t get out of my mind how much BUTTER was in this bread!

Plus, do you want to know how many apples I was able to use up with this recipe?

O-N-E !

So I kept looking

Chunky Apple/Cinnamon Muffin Winner

I decided to try making chunky apple muffins. I found this recipe over at Lick The Bowl Good. I liked that it was using 3 apples instead of just 1 from the previous recipe. Plus there’s no butter this time.

And this recipe’s made a little healthier by substituting half of the oil with applesauce. I’ll use the homemade cinnamon applesauce I’d canned last year. Less oil, more healthy apple and even more cinnamony flavor. Sounds like a winner to me.

Making The Chunky Apple Cinnamon Muffins

The ingredients for this recipe are pretty simple. And the procedure was simple too. Y’all know I’m a sucker for simple recipes in the kitchen! #HaveIMentionedIDontLikeToCook??!

First I creamed the sugar with the eggs using the whisk attachment and my *KitchenAid Mixer. Then I added the oil, applesauce & vanilla. While the mixer was doing it’s thaaaang I turned my attention to the simple dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl I measured 3 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda and 1.5 teaspoons cinnamon. (I may have purposely been heavy-handed with the cinnamon measurement. We love cinnamon!) It was all mixed to blend it completely.

Now that the wet ingredients are ready I folded the flour mixture gently into wet ingredients just until combined. The batter was very thick. 

Now my attention turned to those apples! I’d think your actual apple quantity might vary a bit depending upon how big your apples are. You’re looking for approximately 3 cups.

So I brought out 3 of those apples. I used my *Apple Peeler/Corer to peel, slice and core each apple in seconds. Faster/Easier in the kitchen is my wheelhouse, y’all.

(have I mentioned how much I LOVE that thing??!!)

Then I quickly chopped the apple slices into smaller chunks. I prefer actual chunks here, but feel free to chop them smaller if you like.

When all was ready I used a large spatula to fold the apples into the thick batter. I love how many chunky apples I’m seeing!

Baking The Chunky Apple Muffins

Now it’s time to bake them up! This is a large recipe that makes about 24 muffins. So I brought out two muffin pans to hold it all.

Into each muffin spot I added my *Reusable Silicone Muffin Cups. This is the first time I’ve gotten to use them since I bought them!

Using a large cookie scoop I transferred the batter into the muffin cups. I tapped the muffin pan on the counter a few times to smooth the batter some.

Optional Crunchy Sugar Topping

Then I wanted to sprinkle a little sugar on top to give them that subtle muffiny crunch. I’ve used brown sugar in the past and it gave the muffin tops a cinnamon-toast texture that RancherMan loved.

But today I’m sprinkling just a small amount of *Sugar In The Raw instead. The larger granules of this sugar makes a delightful topping texture too. I guess in all I used about 1/4 cup of sugar to sprinkle the top of the muffins.

Now into the oven my muffins went. I set the timer for the lesser time as I typically do. But when I checked the muffins they were still a little moist from all those apples.

So I put them back in for the full baking time. You’ll want to bake them until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the muffins comes out clean.

When all was done I brought the muffins out of the oven and allowed them to cool. I was pleased that the muffins peeled from the silicone muffin cups pretty easily.

Those reusable muffin cups were easy to wash too. I’m going to love not buying disposable muffin papers anymore!

RancherMan gave the muffins a try. He loved them! Truly, my heart is happy when he raves like this. 🙂

Muffins Made In A Bread Pan Instead

The next time I made this recipe I wanted to bake it in a loaf pan instead of muffins. That way I can bake and freeze a whole loaf to have something sweet available, even for unexpected company. I’ve read you can change a muffin recipe to a bread-pan recipe by changing the baking time to about an hour.

The procedure for making the batter is all the same of course. But instead of scooping the batter into muffin cups, I transferred it all into a loaf pan. I didn’t bother greasing the pan or anything, but of course you could do that if you wish.

Yep, I’m a ‘Shoot From The Hip‘ kinda gal! And easier/faster/less effort in the kitchen always gets my vote. LOL

My loaf pan was larger 10″ x 5.25″ sized so all the batter in this large recipe fit. I’m not sure it would have fit into a typical 9″ x 5″ pan.

But with the temps & humidity spiking like it is I’m sure not gonna turn on my oven for an hour! So I baked the loaf in my *Solar Oven instead. It turned out awesome too.

Baking A Loaf Of Apple Bread – Regular Or Solar Oven

I’d think in a regular 350-degree oven you’d bake it for 60 minutes. But as with the muffins, you’ll use a toothpick inserted into the center to test to see if it’s done. When the toothpick comes out clean, your chunky apple cinnamon bread is done.

For my solar oven it was closer to 1.5 hours baking time. It all depends on how much sun/clouds you end up with and whether or not you adjust the oven to track the sun.

But in a solar oven I don’t worry much about bake-time perfection. It’s almost impossible for me to burn the bread, so I just make sure it gets plenty of baking time & I’m done.

Honey Drizzle Topping Option

RancherMan’s got a sweet tooth. So occasionally when I’m baking a sweet bread like this or Cantaloupe Bread, or even Pumpkin Bread, I’ll add a quick honey glaze. It’s so easy.

I use a glass measuring cup to melt a Tablespoon of butter in the microwave. Then I stir in a Tablespoon of brown sugar and stir until it’s dissolved.

Finally I add 1/4 cup honey and stir it all up. Then I drizzle it on the top of my loaf while it’s still hot from the oven. Sometimes I’ll add chopped pecans too if I have them.

So this turned out to be a very flexible recipe to use up those apples we didn’t want to eat raw. Muffins or bread – it’s all good!

~TxH~

Other Easy Desserts

• Depression-Era CRAZY CAKE – No Butter, Eggs or Milk
• No-Cook Chocolate Frosting
• Stir-n-Pour Drizzle Chocolate
• Quick Homemade Whipped Cream
• Easy Instant Pot Cheesecake
• Apple Crumble QUICK With Pie Filling
• Fast Dessert: Spiced Rum Fried Apples
• Pumpkin Bread (with Cake-Mix Shortcut)
• Healthier Banana Bread Recipe
• Rich, Chocolaty Homemade Brownies
• Chocolate Pudding In A FLASH
• Banana Pudding – A Hug From The South
• Cherry-Pie Tortilla Rolls
• Cantaloupe Bread w/Pecan Praline Glaze
• Easy Blueberry Muffins
• Easy Homemade Shortcake
• Strawberry Shortcake Dessert
• Fresh Pear Cake
• Healthier ‘Ice Cream’ Using Bananas & Fruit
• Easy Cookies-n-Cream Ice Cream Cake
• Homemade Honey Graham Crackers
• Cake-Mix Cookies – Only 3 Ingredients!
• 3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
• Double Chocolate Banana Chunk Cookies
• Sugar-Free Chocolate No-Bake Cookies
• Triple Chocolate Truffles
• Rich & Creamy Hot Cocoa
• Chocolate-Covered Rice Krispie Treats
• …And MANY MORE!

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