Caramel Apple Muffins

This week my family had the opportunity to pick apples and peaches.  And pick apples we did!!  I think we probably picked over 100 apples off of those trees and plan to go back in a few weeks for more.  Now that I have all these apples, I have to find something to do with them.  We will most definitely be enjoying apple recipes for the next couple of weeks and I have plans to make large batches of several different recipes to freeze.  This recipe came about because my husband commented that my strawberry muffin recipe would be yummy with apples.  And what goes better with apples than caramel?  I experimented with the recipe and came up with this.  This recipe can also be made without the caramel candy.  Yummy! 

First, beat wet ingredients in a small bowl.  In a larger bowl combine flour, salt, baking powder, sugars and cinnamon.  Toss apples into the dry ingredients and then add wet ingredients to the dry.  Stir until moistened.

At this point, I had forgotten to add the baking powder.  Oops!  No big deal, I just tossed it in and mixed--everything worked out fine.

Now, fill muffin tins 1/3 full of batter and place a caramel candy in the center of each tin.

Cover the caramel candy with additional batter.

Top with cinnamon sugar or brown sugar/cinnamon mixture.

Bake until golden brown and caramel is oozing out of muffins, approximately 25 minutes.



Enjoy!

Caramel Apple Muffin Recipe


1/4 cup applesauce
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsps. baking powder
1/2 c. white sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 3/4 c. flour
2 c. peeled, diced apples
12 caramel candies

Cinnamon Sugar Topping
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

Brown Sugar Topping
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease 12 cup muffin tin.

In a small bowl, beat applesauce, milk, egg and vanilla lightly. In a seperate bowl, mix flour, salt, baking powder, sugars and cinnamon. Stir in chopped apples. Add milk mixture and stir to moisten. 

Fill muffin tins 1/3 full of batter.  Place caramel candy in center of muffin tins.  Top with additional batter.
Combine cinnamon and sugar or brown sugar and cinnamon for topping.  Sprinkle on top of muffins.  Bake for 25 minutes.