Apple and Pumpkin Picking Make Apple-Nut Muffins! Sort of…

Columbus Day weekend is upon here in the US.  It’s a long weekend and you get to rest relax and try new recipes!  (Okay, so maybe that’s not a thing…)

I did the hunting for a new recipe online and originally wanted pumpkin muffins but quickly decided to switch to apples.  Why?  Because I went apple-picking a few weekends ago and didn’t make one single solitary thing with those fresh-off-the-tree apples!!  Doing my penance now and bought some lovely looking Gala apples for 99-cents a pound from the grocery store.  (Don’t you love apple season??!)

[Total aside: We went apple picking at Harvest Mood Orchard & Farm in North Salem, NY which is 60 miles outside of New York City.  (The apple tree in the picture was off-limits as those apples are not ready yet!)  Did I mention they have awesome pumpkins to pick from pumpkin mile?]

 

 

Okay, back to the baking!  After about a quarter of an hour, I happened upon Emeril Lagasse’s apple muffin recipe with a streusel topping.  It seemed like it would be good so off to the grocery went I and the little toddler baby girl.  Yes, a toddler in a grocery store.  I really wanted apple muffins!

I get in and begin putting it all together.  This is the classic dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet in the other.  The topping is made in yet a third bowl.  The recipe calls for buttermilk but I used half-n-half (I react a bit better to this form).  As a result, my muffins were not as moist as they could be but still very delicious!  The first day — Sunday — I made them as the recipe called for.  And this was the result…

I so did not get to the muffins before my two teenage boys got to them.  So, the test run clearly went well.  But I didn’t like that the streusel topping sank into the muffins.  Tasty but not aesthetically pleasing.

Since there was still another holiday weekend breakfast to be had I did a redo of the muffins and added one additional tablespoon of flour to the topping recipe.  The result?

Voila!  A much better product.  The streusel topping could stand a bit more flour to it.  I have found that the crumblier the topping (and the drier) the better it stands up to the heat of the oven and will make a pleasing crumb topping for any baked product.

And today, I DID get to the muffins before the boys did.  It also helped that they were still asleep when the muffins came out of the oven. :-)

Well, we’re going to The Met to see the new exhibit of Middle Kingdom Egypt which opens today.  I’m a bit geeked about it.  Hope you guys enjoy your day today!

Ta-ta for now,

NB