Cozy Day.

My house smells like heaven right now.  I almost always, every single year, end up baking on the first rainy day of the season.  I woke up this morning at about 3:30 am to the sound of sprinkles passing through the leaves of our blossoming pear trees and could barely contain my excitement.  I was up and out of bed with the birds, plotting my day of cooking, baking and cool weather nesting at home.  I'm a huge fan of summer, but I love the winter, especially when it comes to cozy foods. 

As I was poking through my refrigerator taking inventory, I realized I had buried a small bag of market apples that I'd strangely forgotten about.  Not wanting to change out of my toasty pajamas (or waste some perfectly good apples), so I decided to throw together a quick-bread muffin recipe using ingredients I had in my cupboard already.  Simple, delicious and surprisingly light.

*Honey Apple Muffins*
2 cups of all purpose baking flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tbsp golden brown sugar
3/4 cup milk
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1 cup apples, cored/chopped

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease a muffin tin and set aside.  Combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  In a separate small bowl, beat egg whites lightly.  In a third mixing bowl combine all wet ingredients and mix well.  Fold the egg whites gently into the dry bowl.  Once the egg whites have been mixed in, add the contents of the wet bowl into the dry mixture.  Add the apple chunks last.  Gently fold and mix until properly combined- the mixture will be thick.  Fill each muffin tin/cup halfway, place in oven and bake for 20 minutes or until caps are nicely browned.

I would absolutely love to sit on the couch and eat the whole tin of these little treats in the next couple hours BUT, I have to leave room for dinner *wink*.  I told the hubbs he could take the batch to work in the morning for his lovely coworkers to enjoy, so I hope they do.  Now I'm off to prep this evening's meal...  An insanely delicious braised Thai green curried beef, full of fresh ginger and garlic, served on top of crunchy baby bok choy.  Stay tuned for that recipe as well!

Stay warm and comfy,
B