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Friday, September 23, 2016

Apple Cinnamon Walnut Muffins - Happy Fall Y'all!

Happy Friday & Happy Fall! I've got a new muffin recipe featuring two of my favorite fall flavors and aromas; apples and cinnamon! Since my favorite Honeycrisp apples are now available, I thought what better way to help usher in fall than with a recipe for Apple Cinnamon Walnut Muffins. You can use whatever kind of apple that is your own personal favorite. This entire batch of 3 dozen muffins (40 to be exact) used only 1 medium apple (adding approximately 16 grams of net carbs and 14 grams of sugar to the entire recipe). Divided between the 40 mini muffins that I got from this recipe, it added less than 1/2 gram of net carbs (.4) and about 1/3 of a gram of sugar (.35) per muffin. 

I prefer leaving the skin on my apples for both fiber and color, but peeling them is probably what most folks prefer to do. These muffins are moist and lightly sweetened and each little piece of apple still retains a little crunch with the kind of apple I used. They were delicious warm, spread with a bit of softened butter and would be great eaten as a snack, spread with a little smear of peanut butter, too. My favorite way to eat them though is “as is” just popped into my mouth (in two bites). The aroma they created while baking was amazing. There is just something about the smell of apples and cinnamon wafting through the kitchen while you are baking on a cool fall morning. 

I'm going to make another batch of them this weekend. I think they taste even better the next day after the apple flavor and moistness has worked its way throughout the muffin. I recommend you cut your apples into small dice (1/4" or so) so the apples get distributed evenly throughout all the muffins and you get a bit of apple in each bite. Also, I want to share one interesting thing that I noted. I baked 2 dozen muffins at a time and refrigerated the batter uncovered until I was ready to put the 2nd batch in the oven and I to. I noticed that the 2nd batch of muffins that's batter had sat for about 25 minutes rose higher and were fluffier than the first batch baked right after mixing (they had nice rounded crowns). It was noticeable enough for me to purposely place the entire bowl of batter in the fridge to sit for 20 minutes or so before scooping and baking all of them next time. The recipe and photos are below. Enjoy!











Apple Cinnamon Walnut Muffins

INGREDIENTS:

1-1/4 cups Honeyville Blanched Amond Flour
2 tablespoons coconut flour 
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup Swerve Sweetener (or preferred granular sweetener)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 large eggs
1/4 cup extra light olive oil or melted coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 medium apple, peeled, cored and finely diced
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Olive oil spray or coconut oil spray for greasing muffin tins

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray mini muffin pans with oil and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together almond flour, ground flax, coconut flour, baking powder and 1 cup sweetener until combined.


In a separate medium bowl, beat eggs, oil, vanilla extract, and buttermilk until well combined. Stir wet mixture into dry mixture, stirring just until combined. Fold in diced apples and walnuts. Spoon batter into muffin cups; fill almost to the top. Bake for 18-21 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes in pan; flip and cool completely on a wire rack. Makes approximately 3 dozen mini-muffins.

            

14 comments:

  1. Hi GGC,

    The muffins look wonderful. And the photos are beautiful ... quintessential Autumn! :-) What are those gorgeous leaves lining your serving tray?

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    1. Hi CyberSis,

      Thanks! Believe it or not, the leaves are a round placemat or mat to put in the center of a table. I got it at Pier 1. Now if we can just get the temps to realize it's Autumn we'll be set. Was low 90s yesterday (Sunday).

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  2. Looks lovely! Have you ever tried this with Jicama? Apparently, you can use it to replace apples in recipes. Just cook it on the stove with the seasonings, and add some apple extract. I'm going to try it in the future for a recipe or two.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Lisa,

      Thanks. I've see jicama used as an apple sub before but never used it. I suppose in s pie or something where more apples are used it would make more of a difference in carbs/sugar but in this recipe I'm ok with using a real apple for 40 mini muffins. Let me know what you think of jicama if you try it.

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  3. Could they be made in regular muffin size as well?

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    Replies
    1. Hi anonymous...yes, you would simply need to increase the baking time.

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  4. Charlotte Moore9/24/16, 9:46 PM

    Apple muffins with cinnamon are one of my favorite muffins. This is the season for apples too. These look wonderful!

    I like to never got the I'm not a robot thing to work. It kept saying check this and then this. Never had this to happen.

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  5. What can I sub for flax seeds?(I'm allergic). How about ground chia??

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    Replies
    1. Hi, yes ground chia can be used in place of flax but I'd use slightly less.

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  6. Hi Charlotte,

    Thanks. That's strange about the robot security check. I've noticed more hoops to jump thru about proving I'm not a robot on other sites including my banking site recently as well, too.

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  7. Hello Ayla! Your new home and kitchen look beautiful! Question:
    I bought some of the Wheat Free Market sweetener to try, and I am wondering if you have baked with it? I have used Swerve a lot, which I know you usually use too, but I wanted to try this other one. With the reduced quantity used, will I need to alter recipes, do you think, because this sweetener has much less bulk?

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    Replies
    1. Hi Barb,

      You may need to alter some of them, not all. The bulk is one reason and the ratio of wet and dry ingredients being another reason. I've used it before and can't recall the reduced equivalent amount. What for instance is the equivalent of it for 1/2 cup sugar or swerve?

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  8. The package says to use just 1/4 of the usual amount of sweetener, which is a significant reduction! I'm unsure how to accommodate for that loss of bulk? Thank you for your help!
    Barb

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    Replies
    1. Hi Barb,

      If I were going to try it, I'd probably increase the almond flour by 1/4 cup (to 1-1/2 cups) and decrease buttermilk by 1/4 cup (to 1/2 cup) and see if that works. That way you are adjusting the ratio of dry to wet ingredients. Maybe toss in 1 extra tablespoon of sweetener you are using (to 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon). Let me know how it goes if you try it!

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