Once again, I found myself with an abundance of apples this fall. But I didn’t get them all at once, so I never felt like I had enough to make applesauce. I made some apple crisp, and some apple pie, ate them plain, and then I got a new bag of apples that I needed to do something with. I decided to do something new (for me) and make apple butter.

Have you ever made apple butter before? I hadn’t, but it turns out it is so super simple. But then I found myself with more apple butter than I knew what to do with – I mean, spreading it on toast is great, but I got to a point where I wanted to try some other things. I put it in a pork chop recipe (delicious), and a pulled pork recipe (also delicious), but I think my favorite use for it are these apple butter muffins.

They may be my new favorite muffin. Simple without being boring, tasty without being fussy.

Recipe source: Eat at Home
I’ve made a few alterations: use half whole-wheat flour and half all-purpose, added cranberry option, adjusted oven temp and cook time (for my oven, so that may be different for you)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 Tbs baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 Tbs butter, melted
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 cup apple butter
• 1 egg
• rough chopped fresh or frozen cranberries, optional

Directions for putting them all together:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F and grease or line a muffin tin.
2. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt together in a large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl or glass measuring cup stir the melted butter into the milk, apple butter, and egg until well combined.
4. Pour wet ingredients into the dry, add the cranberries, and stir just until moistened.
5. Distribute batter evenly into your greased or lined muffin tin and bake for 12-15 minutes.

Yield: 12 muffins

I especially like these warm from the oven with a smear of butter, but they’re also delicious at room temperature.

What do you do when you find yourself with an abundance of apples?