Apple Cinnamon Walnut Muffins 7.12 To Whom it May Concern

“Well I'm confused. I haven't even had my coffee yet.” “I have your coffee and muffins hot from the oven.” “Okay.” “Well, actually, they're not really muffins. They're muffin tops because the muffin tops are the only parts you like.” “You baked me a whole basket of muffin tops?” Yep. I have got apple-cinnamon-walnut…”

Ingredients: 

For the muffins:

• ½ cup unsalted butter, softened

• ¾ cup white sugar

• ½ cup brown sugar

• 2 eggs

• 1 tsp vanilla

• ½ cup apple juice

• 1 tbsp honey

• 2 ¼ cups flour 

• 1 tbsp baking powder

• ½ tsp salt

• 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon

• ½ tsp ground nutmeg

• ½ tsp ground ginger

• ½ tsp ground cloves

• ⅓ cup chopped walnuts

• 2 cups apples, peeled and diced

For the crumble topping: 

• ⅛ cup flour

• ⅛ cup brown sugar

• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg

• ¼ tsp ground ginger

• ¼ tsp ground cloves

• 2 tbsp melted butter

Directions: 

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. 

• In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and both sugars. Mix in the eggs, one at a time. Then mix in the vanilla, apple juice, and honey until fully combined.

• Sift in the flour, the baking powder, salt, and cinnamon until fully incorporated. 

• Fold in the walnuts and apples. 

• In another small bowl, combine the crumble ingredients: flour, sugar, spices, and butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. 

• Line a 12-well muffin tray with paper or silicone muffin wrappers and scoop the batter evenly into the wells

• Using a spoon, add the crumble topping to each muffin well, making sure to cover the top completely. 

• Bake at 375 for 25-27 minutes or until golden brown.

I’ve been enjoying leaning into the seasons as I cook my encore. When I originally cooked my way through Gilmore Girls, I went through the show chronologically so I often had to cook off season so I’m loving making all these fall dishes.

This is one of many muffin flavors that Sookie makes muffin tops for to bribe Lorelai to babysit her kids. Last time I cooked this episode, I made a muffin bottom pie with double chocolate chip muffins. Do y’all want to see a muffin bottom pie for these apple cinnamon walnut muffins?

Happy cooking from the Hollow!

If you missed my last encore dish, catch up here!