Muffins for Grandma

I can't remember the last time I went to Georgia. Oh wait, maybe I can...kind of. But it was so long ago. All I remember is eating the most amazing clam chowder and mashed potatoes at a seafood restaurant. I also remember creeping on pretty houses with my mother to get new ideas for a wrought iron banister for our soon-to-be-built home. But really, I was only about 15.

So when Weston asked if I'd like to visit his grandparents in Georgia, I was super excited at the idea of visiting the state again. And to show my appreciation to his grandparents, who I knew would be treating me with their famous southern hospitality, I thought and thought for something perfect to bring to their home. Initially I settled on cookies...then I thought, "too simple." Not to mention, I only had the ingredients to make peanut butter cookies and Weston's aunt is deathly allergic to peanuts. So that was out. Hilariously, the perfect gift came to me in a dream - muffins! Apple muffins. Could you make apple muffins? For some reason, I thought this was a pretty out of the box idea, so I typed it into the handy dandy interweb and low and behold - a billion recipes appeared. Apparently my ingenious idea was not so unique. Sad panda.

This is the recipe I used. But I was a bit aghast at the obscenely high amount of oil. I cut it down to about 2/3 of a cup and then added a 1/2 extra apple and a splash of milk for extra moisture. I used one Granny Smith and one Red Delicious apple and I cut them into pretty tiny pieces. If I did it again, I would cut them a tad larger - probably between 1/8 and a 1/4 inch cubes.

I was very much impressed with the quality of my baking soda - within seconds I saw bubbles and bubbles = moist, puffy batter.

Again, remember not to over-mix your batter because the flour will develop its gluten and become gummy. Finally, instead of just plopping some plain brown sugar over the top of the muffins, I mixed in a little cinnamon and that really added a lot of flavor and made these the perfect autumn muffin - perfect for breakfast, dessert, or as a gift to your boyfriend's grandmother.