As my friends and family know, I love to cook. And what my CLOSEST friends know is: I love to experiment with cooking. Initially, I was going to bake my usual apple crisp, but instead, I ended up baking something else...
Knowing that the recipe requires some time and just a wee bit o' planning on my part, I did a little more research online to see if there was a quick and yummy way to make this amazing sweet manna from heaven. So, I found what looks like a really great recipe for "Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts" from TheKitchn.com.
Whereas I don't own a donut pan (at the moment), I used my 12-cup muffin tin instead. As I started making the batter, I realized that there was one particular ingredient that I didn't have: apple butter. To make some right then and there would have added a couple of hours to my kitchen time...THAT was not going to happen today.
After a little bit more research (can you tell I love using the Internet???), I found a great substitute for using apple butter, and--remembering that I had plenty in the freezer--used the apricot butter (known as Lekvar, in Hungarian) instead. To make up for what was missing for not using the apple butter, I added clove spice to the recipe and decided to replace the canola oil with the chunky applesauce that I had leftover in the fridge (I think next time I'm going to try this with canola oil to see what the difference would be).
The end result came out SO DELICIOUS! I'm really pleased with how they came out. My daughter and I each devoured one when they were still warm from the oven.
So here now, is the final recipe:
Spiced Apple Apricot Muffins (Or Donuts)
Yields around 16 muffins when using the 12-cup muffin tin.
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp clove
1 egg
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup Hungarian apricot butter (Lekvar - Check out June Meyer's recipe)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup apple cider
1/3 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
2 Tbs applesauce
Preheat oven to 400°F and grease a 12-cup muffin tin or donut pan.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In another large bowl, whisk together the remaining (wet) ingredients. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredient mixture and whisk until just incorporated. Don't over-mix! Just as in making pancake batter, a few lumps are okay.
Spoon the batter into each donut mold until about 3/4 full. Bake for about 12-13 minutes and cool on a wire rack.
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So there it is! My wonderfully delicious adventure in the kitchen. Feel free to try out the recipe and share in the comments section below what you did to make these muffins even better.
Thanks so much!
Until next time...
Happy cooking!