This morning, the girls and I made another Gooseberry Patch Comfort Foods recipe, Caramel Apple Muffins. They were a big hit and definitely a recipe we’ll be making again and you might just want to whip up this recipe for a weekend morning treat this coming weekend.
Today is my first day at home without daycare on a weekday in a long time. I am a full time stay at home mom for two weeks, plus work that I still need to get done…regardless if I’m on “vacation”. But each day at home, the kids and I are going to a fun project together. This morning’s project was making Caramel Apple Muffins together before we headed out to swimming lessons. This afternoon’s project is mowing the lawn. Fun, right?
I doubled the Caramel Apple Muffin recipe but will list the original recipe.
Preheat oven to 350F.
Start with 2 cups of all purpose flour in a large bowl.
Add 3/4 cup sugar,
2 tsp baking powder,
1/2 tsp salt,
and 2 1/2 tsp cinnamon.
Combine and set aside.
In the midst of combining the above dry ingredients, sweet Miss E dropped the vanilla on the ceramic tile floor. My mom kindly and calmly suggested via a telephone call we could make our own vanilla extract.
A vanilla bean mashed into a little vodka worked magnificently.
In another large bowl, mix together 1 beaten egg,
1 cup milk,
1/4 cup melted butter and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.
Add flour mixture, stirring just until blended.
Stir in 1/2 cup cored, peeled and diced apple and 12 caramels, unwrapped and diced.
I had the caramels but instead found these caramel bits and used them. You don’t have to unwrap or dice them!
I added 1/2 cup of caramel bits instead of the 12 caramels.
Divide batter evenly among 12 greased or lined muffin cups. I sprinkled a few caramel bits on each muffin before baking at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
Serve warm.
We quickly put Caramel Apple Muffins on a plate and brought them to “Daddy” and everyone at our family business to enjoy as a mid-morning snack.
We quickly put Caramel Apple Muffins on a plate and brought them to “Daddy” and everyone at our family business to enjoy as a mid-morning snack.
The muffins were a perfect snack right before the last day of swimming lessons where Miss E bravely jumped off the diving board by herself and passed the “tadpoles” to become a “water frog”!
Now nap time is over and we’re off the enjoy the afternoon outside where Miss A is learning to pedal with a skirt on and Miss E thinks she should be able to ride the new John Deere riding lawn mower by herself.
What’s a favorite muffin recipe you make?
Special thanks to Gooseberry Patch for providing me with this great cookbook to try and share with you. If you would like to purchase this or other cookbooks, please visit their store. If you would like to see other great recipes, check out www.realfarmwivesofamerica.com .
These look wonderful and I love those little caramel bits. Do you think I could sneak some zucchini in there…
I am always looking for new recipes for muffins, and this one really looks like a good one to have! THANKS for sharing!! I can almost smell them from here! 🙂
Looks like a keeper recipe Katie! I will give it a try. My favorite right now is of course my chocolate zucchini muffins. Just made them Tuesday in fact. Will prbably make more since we have a plethora of zucchini!
Those look so good! Although if I had caramels sitting around I’m not sure they’d make it into a recipe!
Wow, your mom is amazing – homemade vanilla extract. I’m impressed! Those muffins look great. Think I’ll make them when the apples on our farm are ready. And the caramel bits are a great idea. I don’t think I’ve ever seen those in our stores. That would save a lot of time. Growing up it was my job to unwrap all the caramels when my mom was baking with them.