Fall foods are a personal favourite of mine. All of those fall spices! Cinnamon, nutmeg, clove... the list goes on. This muffin recipe combines all of them with pumpkin and apple. More fall food fun!
This muffin recipe is the perfect way to use up any leftover apples you have from taking the kiddies apple picking. It calls for 2 1/2 cups of apples, but I always just use two of the biggest apples I can find, til my (measuring) cup runeth over.
Plain Greek yogurt gives these guys a rich, moist texture - and apparently it's healthier than oil. Apparently... With all of these fall flavours and ingredients everywhere you turn, and with most of them already in your home, these muffins are a great dessert when you're in a pinch and the grocery store's already closed. Yes - there is always a can of pumpkin in my pantry, I kid you not.
Look, I know nobody likes to be told what they should or shouldn't do, but trust me when I tell you that you should not add in all the flour at once. It really is not a fun time trying to move that spatula through the mixture. Think of stirring concrete and that's pretty much how it feels.
Okay, maybe there are two pieces of advice. If you do a lot of baking and don't own a cookie scoop, go get one. NOW! It will change your life forever.
When baking on the barbecue it is very important to bake using the indirect method. For our barbecue, it works best when we turn on the outer burners and place the baking sheet in the center of the grilling surface. This helps the muffins make evenly and prevents the bottoms from being scorched with firey hot flames.
AUTUMN HARVEST GINGERBREAD MUFFINS Recipe
Makes 16 Muffins
Ingredients:
- 1/4C unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2C granulated sugar
- 1/2C light brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2/3C pumpkin puree
- 1/3C plain yogurt
- 2 Tbsp molasses
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3-4 tbsp pumpkin pie spice (yes, this is cheating)
- 2C all purpose flour
- 2 to 2 1/2 C apples, peeled and chopped
- Plus additional sugar for topping
Directions:
- Prepare the barbecue for indirect baking, preheat to 350°F and line your muffin tins.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and two sugars. When three become one.
- Add in the rest of the wet ingredients and mix until combined.
- Mix in the salt, baking soda, baking powder and pumpkin pie spice.
- Now for the fun part, stir the flour into the wet mixture in small portions. Usually a half a cup at a time works best to make sure everything is combined and so you don't break your arm trying to work it all in at once.
- Using a cookie scoop, divide muffin mixture evenly between lined muffin cups. Sprinkle tops with granulated sugar.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until center is no longer moist.
- Let cool in pan for a few minutes before removing. Patience is a virtue. I know you're just dying to tear into them, but wait.