Bushels and Bushels of Apples!

Apple Picking- a code phrase that our family occasionally uses to tell each other we're actually going to be doing something else. Sounds confusing right? It was confusing- for the first 2 years that we decided to use this since we actually do go apple, peach, and strawberry picking a lot. But last weekend, mom and I actually did go apple picking. We drove up to Pisgah National Forest, took the Blue  Ridge Parkway to Asheville and then stopped to pick some apples from our usual spot in Hendersonville. 

16 lbs of apples later, I'm trying every apple recipe I can get my hands on! Apple muffins, apple desserts, apple sauce, sausage stuffed apples! 

And of course, testing out all of these recipes on friends. For brunch today I made  apple muffins that I adapted from a Paula Deen recipe. Her recipe calls for an equal quantity of raisins and apples. Now, I don't hate raisins. I especially like them in oatmeal cookies. But I don't like flinging them willy nilly in recipes that they don't really belong in. I think they are overused in some baked foods. I don't even like them in my fruitcake! 

So I took the raisins out of this recipe. I also added milk to the recipe to make it more like a batter and less like dough. I might use yogurt or buttermilk next time.

Apple Muffins:

1 cup water

1.5 cups sugar

2 cups grated apples (I used Pink Lady and Granny Smith)

1 stick butter

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp allspice

1/2 cup milk

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 F

In a saucepan, combine apples, sugar, water, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. Bring to a boil and stir completely. The mix will look like a brown gluey mess. But it'll smell and taste like apple deliciousness. Remove the pan from the heat and cool completely. 

In a bowl,  mix the flour and baking soda. Add the apple mixture and milk to the bowl and mix thoroughly.

Pour batter into greased muffin tins.  Bake for 15-20 min. This recipe will yield 12 small muffins.