Recipe Collection: Apple Harvest Muffins

Written by Kresha Faber

In the chilly days of autumn, baking can be a welcome pastime.

It’s also a welcome excuse to bake with your kids, and these apple muffins offer lots of opportunities for kids of all ages and skill levels to cook with you.  Put on some favorite music, have some apple cider simmering while you bake, enjoy your treat when it’s hot out of the oven, and you’ve got all the makings of a harvest party in the kitchen!

Often, apple muffins and cakes use cooked apples, namely applesauce.  This recipe uses raw apples, making the process quicker if you’ve just come from picking apples, and it keeps the muffins moist for an extra day or two.

Enjoy!

Apple Harvest Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds tart apples, such as Granny Smith, washed and grated
• 1 cup whole cane sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups spelt or whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• a large pinch of fresh nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Directions:

Step 1: First, wash and grate the apples into a large bowl (or another surface that will catch all the accumulated juices).

Kid-friendly jobs:

• Wash the apples.
• Grate the apples on a cheese grater – be careful; cheese graters can be sharp!
• Collect apple cores and place them in the compost bin.

Step 2: Preheat oven to 325°F and generously butter 24 muffin tins or line 24 muffin cups with muffin papers.

Kid-friendly jobs:

• Double-check there’s nothing in the oven before turning it on.
• Turn the oven on to 325°F.
• Butter muffin tins or place muffin papers in the muffin cups –  remember to wash your hands first!

Step 3: Mixing time!  Toss the grated apple and all its juices with the sugar in a large bowl.  Whisk the eggs, melted butter, and vanilla in a small bowl.  Whisk or sift the dry ingredients in a medium bowl (flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt).

Kid-friendly jobs:

• Stir apples and sugar together with a fork.
• Whisk the egg mixture until fully beaten.
• Measure dry ingredients and dump them in the bowl.
• Use a sifter to sift all the dry ingredients.
• Grate the nutmeg – be careful; graters can be very sharp!

Step 4: Combine ingredients.  Pour the egg mixture over the apple mixture in the large bowl and stir until well mixed.  Add the dry ingredient mixture and stir again until fully combined.  (The batter will be stiff.) Stir in raisins and nuts.

Kid-friendly jobs:

• Dump each bowl at its appropriate time.
• Stir, stir, stir.

Step 5: Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tins, dividing the batter equally among the cups.  The batter should fill each cup about 1/2 – 2/3 full.

Kid-friendly jobs:

• Scoop batter into muffin tins.
• Help even out batter distribution if some muffin cups are full and some have very little – this is a great exercise for little ones about “less” and “more.”
• Scrape out the bowl, either to get as much batter as possible into the muffin tins or to have batter to lick off their fingers.

Step 6: Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, 25-30 minutes.  Cool on a cooling rack.

Kid-friendly jobs:

• Set a timer for 25 minutes (or 22, if you like to start checking early).
• Smell like a bloodhound.  Noses are even more important than timers.  The house will start to smell reaaaaalllllly good just before they’re finished, even if the timer hasn’t gotten to 25 minutes yet.
• Older children can insert a toothpick or skewer into the muffins to check for doneness.
• Move the hot muffins around on the cooling rack to help them all fit.
• Taste test, just to make sure they’re good. 🙂

 How do you get cooking with your kids?