Capture the feeling and flavor of fall with these rich, moist apple cider muffins. Full of good ingredients, like chopped apples, cinnamon, ground rolled oats, and apple cider, these muffins are as nourishing as they are delicious! They taste kind of like a healthier version of those delicious apple cider doughnuts you can get at your favorite cider mill. Grab one for breakfast or pack one in your lunch and enjoy! And don’t forget how good your kitchen will smell as they are baking!
I adapted this recipe from a blueberry muffin recipe I found years ago in Real Simple Magazine. Over the years I have changed and substituted things, as our tastes and choices have evolved. The original recipe calls for orange juice and blueberries, but since we are currently in the midst of a beautiful fall, I wanted to reflect the season. Adding chopped apples instead of blueberries and the apple cider instead of the orange juice takes these muffins to a new level of deliciousness. And what are baked apples without cinnamon? Of course I had to add cinnamon.
The fall color around here is so beautiful, and I’m not sure we have even reached the peak of the color yet, since there is still quite a bit of green out there. I hope you all have a great weekend, and hope you get a chance to get out and enjoy the glorious colors. My son has two soccer games and we have out-of-town friends and my ex-pat cousin and her sons coming into town, so we will have lots of chances to savor the season. I am so looking forward to all of it! But now I must clean my neglected house! At least it smells really good in here, like apples and cinnamon. These muffins are wonderful. I hope you give them a try! I am sharing a plate over at Angie’s Fiesta Friday, co-hosted this week by Elaine @ foodbod and Michelle @ O Blog Off.
Apple Cider Muffins
Ingredients:
- 1 and 3/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
- 1 cup of old fashioned rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- 1 cup of plain Greek yogurt (if you don’t have plain, flavored Greek yogurt works too!)
- 1/2 cup of packed brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted
- 1/4 cup of fresh apple cider
- 1 large egg
- 1 and 1/2 cups of apple, peeled and finely chopped (about 2 medium apples)
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin or line it with paper baking cups.
In a blender or food processor, combine the flour, rolled oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Pulse until the oats are finely ground and everything is combined.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the yogurt, brown sugar, melted butter, apple cider, and egg. Stir until well combined. Gradually add the flour/oat mixture to the wet ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon until well incorporated and a batter forms (do not overmix). Fold in the chopped apples.
Spoon the batter evenly into the muffin cups. Bake in your 375 degree oven for 22 to 25 minutes, or until golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let cool for 5-10 minutes before removing the muffins from the tin. Enjoy!
If left to my own devices, I would probably eat way too much bread and cheese. So it’s really nice when I can find a super-healthy, clean eating recipe that I love, a dish that can energize my body and help me work hard and stand strong. The balance of flavors in this salsa is wonderful. A bit of sweetness from the mangoes and honey is mixed with a bit of zing from the lime juice and cilantro. It is a great snack, salad topper, or side dish.
I adapted this recipe from my husband’s beloved “Thrive Energy Cookbook” by Brendan Brazier. I was drawn to it because my grocery store has had mangoes on sale for the past couple of weeks, so we have had mangoes in our fruit bowl waiting to be used. Now that I have found this salsa, I expect it will become a regular in our rotation, because it is so delicious, easy, and versatile. I used thawed frozen corn instead of fresh, and substituted honey and olive oil instead of the agave nectar and hemp oil called for in the Thrive recipe.
In any case, although I am very rusty, it feels good to have that part of my life back again, and I know my dad would be glad about it too. I stumbled across a really pretty song that I am now working on, called 
It seems that fine lines are a bit of a theme for me this week. In my most recent yoga class, the instructor talked about finding that space between control and letting go. We have to have some measure of control in our lives, in order to keep the train on the tracks (for the most part!). But we also need to not grip too tightly. We need to surrender to larger forces, too, and be open to outcomes we cannot imagine. It is a tricky balance. Things come up continually to help teach us to find balance–car problems, scheduling dilemmas, decisions about budgets and resources, to name a few!
In light of all the challenges and teaching moments, I’m not sure how well I did with the whole balance thing this week, except for with these cookies! With these cookies, I feel like I found it. The recipe is adapted from the inner lid of my Quaker old fashioned rolled oats container, though I used chopped apples instead of raisins.
