I love to bake. My loving of baking is pretty much how I ended up on this crazy almond adventure to begin with. There is something incredibly therapeutic in cooking and baking. You get to take all of these disjointed ingredients and make a delicious creation for the people you love. I'm fairly certain my love and ability to cook and bake is what has landed me a fiance.
But life and work has been getting in the way lately and there has not been as many messes made in our kitchen as there should be. So I have made a mini resolution to get back in there and play around more. It's interesting because somehow, "We have nothing to eat" ends up producing the most delicious food. This morning was one of those mornings, two people, 1 egg, 2 pieces of bacon and like 10 lbs of apples. After my suggestion of apple sauce for breakfast was met with a flat "no" I turned to the pantry to see what inspiration may lie in there. After scraping together a little of this and a pinch of that these Backyard Apple Almond Flour Muffins were born. Without further ado, the recipe:
To make the applesauce for this recipe, peel, core and chop 2 1/2 lb. apples. Place in a heavy saucepan with 1/3 cup water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, partially covered, stirring occasionally, until very soft, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from the heat. Allow to cool and then puree in food processor. Taste and add sugar if needed. The applesauce can be stored for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator. It can be used at room temperature or cold in this and other quick bread recipes. Makes about 2 1/2 cups.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups almond flour (any flour will do but in the spirit of Giddy Up, almond flour was used)
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
- 3/4 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp. ground allspice
- 1/3 cup almond oil, walnut oil or canola oil
- 1 egg
- 1 heaping cup applesauce (see headnote above)
- Unsalted butter for serving
- Cinnamon Sugar for topping
Directions:
Preheat an oven to 350°F. Grease 12 standard muffin cups with butter or butter-flavored nonstick cooking spray.
In a bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and allspice.
In a bowl with a fitted mixer, beat together the oil, egg and applesauce until smooth. Add the flour mixture in two additions to the applesauce mixture and mix until until evenly moistened. The batter may seem dry at first, but it will loosen and smooth out as you beat the mixture.
Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling them level with the rim of the cup. Bake until the muffins are golden, dry and springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 18-20 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Unmold the muffins. Serve them warm or at room temperature, with butter. Makes 12 muffins.
And these babies were good, like really good. As evidenced by the crumbs and mixing bowl licked clean. Happy weekend and happy baking!
