Apple Butter Muffins!

A few weeks ago, I pulled an apple muffin recipe off allrecipes.com  and have since been tweaking it to build more flavor (it was a little bland at first).  I think it’s pretty fabulous now though and am so happy to share it with you.  SOOOO YUMMY!

Apple Butter Muffins

6 T butter, melted

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 cup chunky applesauce

1 cup apple butter (or extra cup of chunky applesacue & 1/8 t cloves & 1/8 t allspice - if you want to know how to make apple butter, I’ll add the instructions to the end of this post)

1/2 t salt

1 T cinnamon

2 T vanilla (I ONLY use Mexican vanilla - it tastes way better than American, but you may get a slightly different flavor profile by experimenting with different foreign vanillas, so get creative - if you want to know how to make your own vanilla, I’ll add instructions to the end of this post)

1 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 cup flour

Add the ingredients together in the order listed in a medium/large mixing bowl, making sure to mix thoroughly with a whisk or fork after each ingredient to smooth and fluff the batter.  Be sure to sift in the flour so you don’t end up with chunks of dry flour in your muffins.  Then grease your muffin tins or use muffin paper cups, add your batter and bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees.  Once you’ve pulled your muffins out of the oven, pop them out onto a cooling rack and turn right side up to cool about 5 minutes.  Enjoy!

Apple Butter

This recipe is for canning, so it’s quite large - yeilding approx. 4 quarts of apple butter, but you could easily make less by eyeballing (and tasting as you go) the ingredients in smaller amounts, until you reach the taste you like.

18 cups of apple sauce (I love using homemade applesauce, but you can use store bought sauce too)

1 T cinnamon

1 t cloves

1/4 t allspice

1 cup sugar

I use my roaster oven to cook my apple butter, but you can use a crockpot or a roaster pan in your oven.  Add all the ingredients to your cooker of choice, cover loosely (I used a chopstick in between my pan and my lid to keep a small gap open - this lets the moisture slowly steam off) and cook on low (about 225 degrees) for 6-18 hours, stirring occasionally.  Once cooked, I use an immersion blender to completely smooth the butter into a creamy texture.  To can, bathe your jars in water for 15-20 minutes.

Homemade Vanilla

1 (750 milliliter) bottle vodka

2 vanilla beans

Rinse vanilla beans and submerge them in vodka, seal and store in cool dry place for several weeks, shaking occasionally.  As you use it, top it off with more vodka until beans are completely dissolved.  This is a good, basic recipe. Some tips to help you: 1. Two vanilla beans are fine, but your desired flavor will develop over time, so if it’s not vanilla-y enough for you, add more beans and visa versa.  2. Just keep the beans in the liquid, using it as you go.  3. Mix up your liquor selection! Try making vanilla extract out of bourbon for a richer flavor--it's great for fall recipes (pumpkin pie, apple crisp, etc). Make sure you use high quality liquors for the best taste.  4. This is a never-ending process. When your batch is at strength you like, decant most of the liquid into a separate bottle. Top off the original bottle with more liquor, and start the process over again.