Bake Apple Fritter Muffins

In my household we have two dieters currently, Mom and Dad. So when I make the items on my list that are considered “cheat food” for them, I have to keep those to weekend days, typically Saturdays. Due to the Super bowl we moved the cheat day to Sunday. For breakfast I tried Baked Apple Fritter Muffins from Sweet Anna’s.

AMAZING!

To say I was shocked at how much I loved them would be a lie. I love apples and so does my family. The fact I veered from the amount of apples a bit didn’t make me change any of the other ingredients though. I probably added 2 cups more apples than it calls for.

I apologize in advance these picture do not do the fritter muffins justice. Let’s just say biting in to them was appley delicious and Sweet Anna deserves some kind of medal for coming up with this idea.

Below is Sweet Anna’s recipe in parenthesis is my change.

Baked Apple Fritter Muffins Recipe

Adapted from Sweet Anna’s 

Due to the size tin I used, I got about 12 small muffins and 5 extra large

Ingredients:

For the coating:

2/3-cup sugar

1-tablespoon cinnamon

½ cup butter, melted and browned*

For the muffins:

1-½ cups flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup sugar

1/3-cup butter, softened

1 large egg

1-teaspoon pure vanilla extract

½ cup milk

3 cups finely diced apples (about 3 large) (I used one large granny smith, and 3 medium sized baking apples)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

In a small bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon for the topping; Set aside.

*To brown the butter:  In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat until melted and starting to foam.  Stir occasionally while the butter continues to cook, turning a bit brown on the bottom and smelling rich and nutty.  When the butter is browned and aromatic, pull it off the heat and set aside.

Browned butter has the most delicious smell and taste to it; seriously don’t be afraid to brown the butter!! Honestly, the nutty flavor the butter gets when browned only adds to the heavenliness of the fritter muffins.

Butter or spray 2-24 ct. mini muffin pans and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg & salt.

In the bowl of your mixer, cream together the 1/3 cup butter and 1/2 cup sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg and vanilla until well combined.

Gently stir in the flour and milk, a bit at a time and alternating (1/3 of the flour, 1/2 of the milk, 1/3 flour, 1/2 milk, 1/3 flour) until just combined.

Fold in the apples and spoon into the muffin tins, about 3/4 full.  (You won't probably fill all of both pans, but you will get more than one pan-full!).

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the muffins a springy when you press them and a toothpick inserted in to one of them comes out clean.

Remove the muffins to a wire rack until they are just cool enough to touch.

When you can pick them up...  take each muffin and dip it in the browned butter and then roll it in the cinnamon/sugar mixture.

Serve warm with a big glass of cold milk!

A picture snapped quickly with my cell phone, Naked Baked Apple Fritter Muffins (they taste just as good, ask my Dad)

Not only can you serve nicely with cold milk, my boyfriend drinks ice-cold milk with everything (so it was a given he would drink milk with his). My Dad couldn’t wait to try them so he ate several naked fritter muffins (those without the cinnamon sugar brown butter bath) covered in syrup. He loved them like that. Bless my Dad’s heart, he had it set on French toast. My mom and I popped a few into our mouths and savored the flavors while we each moved onto our next cooking project for the day.