Foodie Friday: It's the apple time of year. Or Fall.

Some people really love the changing of the seasons from summer to fall. Honestly, being a Texas girl, I rarely notice much of a difference in the weather until its February and there is ice all over the road.

Whatever.

I have just never been one to ooh and aaah over the turning of summer to fall. Yes the colors on the trees are pretty, IF they actually turn colors and not just a dull shade of brown before dropping to the ground like women's dresses in a James Bond movie.

I'm not one that puts bails of hay and a scarecrow out on her front porch to decorate for the season. This is the extent of my fall decorations that I pulled out the other day.

Yeah. Pathetic, huh.

But one thing I do love about this season is that apples are in season. And my favorites are Honeycrisp.

The name says it all, no?

Honeycrisp.

Amen.

This post could end right there, but it won't because I have a new recipe to share with you. However, since Honeycrisp apples are just so good raw and since Granny Smiths are so good in baked goods, we'll be using Granny Smiths for our recipe. M'Kay?

The thing that I love about baking is that I can take these...



and this...



and throw it together, stick it in the oven, and kind of like Aaron and the Israelites as they waited for Moses and that golden calf just popped out of their fire, out pops this...



Apple Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
¾ cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 stick butter, cool room temperature
1 cup buttermilk cool room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
1 ½ - 2 cups coarsely chopped peeled Granny Smith apples
2 teaspoons cinnamon sugar
1 tablespoon butter


Method:

Sprinkle 2 teaspoons cinnamon sugar with coarsely chopped apples and toss to lightly coat. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in small sauté pan over medium high heat. Once the butter is fully melted and bubbling in the middle, add apples and allow them to cook just until they start to sizzle while stirring periodically. This will only take a few minutes (approximately 3 minutes). Once they have cooked down a little (released some of their juice) and look nice and sticky, remove from heat, return to the bowl you used to toss them in the cinnamon sugar and set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl. Work room temperature butter into dry ingredients using fingers until it makes various sized “pebbles”. Form a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add buttermilk and vanilla. Gently begin folding wet and dry ingredients together and gently fold in apple chunks at the same time. Do not over-mix as the dough should remain rather lumpy. Spoon into 12-15 muffin cups and bake at 425 F for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan for at least 5-10 minutes or so before removing to a wire rack to continue cooling.


So hop on over to the recipe blog, whip you up a batch of Apple Muffins, grab you a glass of milk or a cup of coffee and sit down and enjoy one of my favorite times of the year...

The apple time of year.