Apple Muffins

Recipe follows story

You know those apples I wished would bake themselves …

Well, thankfully, they didn’t.  
I actually needed them because they had a bigger purpose. 

I needed to make Apology Apple Muffins.

There are a series of photos on my iPhone, from last Friday night,  wherein my friend and I are smiling, pointing at wine bottles, staring at cheese with a drunken sex-like glow.

I hadn’t achieved a glow like that in months.  

There might even be a photo where I’m sticking my entire hand through my giant hoop earring and waving at the camera.

Clearly, one baked good wouldn’t be enough.
So I made a batch of Please Forgive Me Pumpkin Scones.

What does one do when they’ve gone out to dinner, to a fantastic restaurant in the East Village (where a family member works), gets loaded, takes pictures, and doesn’t calculate the tip properly?

That’s right, you write a card, bake a sweet treat and march back down to the scene of the crime - even though the thought of re-entering in sobriety is mortifying.  Even though the thought of walking through Tompkins Square park haunts you because you feel like you might very well bump in to someone you used to date while out on his night walk with his very cute dog.  Luckily, I only managed to bump in to Alan Cumming and his two dogs.  

I made the drop-off last night, and I was thanked with a hug and many smiles and Ciaos.  In making an ever so graceful exit, I tripped down the restaurant stairs and prayed neither my cousin nor his manager saw the slip of my foot.  

I left feeling confident in my baking decisions; as confident as I could be. I recalled a conversation I had with my cousins wife.  She recently made an apple cake and pumpkin muffins last weekend, so I knew they might enjoy seasonal treats in their package.  She and I often chat about baking and cooking and I know she understands my love for it - so there was no better way for me to communicate my feelings.

Sharing food and using words is the only way I know how to say thanks and I love you.

Sweets can heal any moment in time - right?

I know I’ve ended many an ill date with dessert and always felt a little better inside - even if I never saw the person again.  Sure, it doesn’t remove the awkwardness or a bad kiss.  Sweets do not magically erase the moment where you tell the manager at a restaurant that you love his voice. Then when he walks away, but is still in ear shot - you tell your friend you want him to yell at you in bed.  No, no, no.

But, I tried.  

There are restaurant rules and in my pea sized brain they exist as follows:

1.  Never go back to a certain location with a new date if you’ve had a bad date there.
2.  Never go back to a restaurant where you’ve gotten sick in or where you’ve fallen off of a bar stool in drunkeness.

Bad juju.  

3. Wait two years (or more) before going back to a restaurant where you feel the need to apologize (I’m sure I made a bigger deal of this in my head) for your behavior with a box of muffins and scones.  

I was happy to bake and put my love for food in a box and offer it from my heart to my cousin and his wife.  

I hope they enjoy the treats.
I hope I’m allowed to have dinner in the East Village again.  

Apple Muffins

2 large apples (peeled and cubed)
1 stick of butter + 3 T. (softened)
3/4 c. sour cream
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. flour (sifted)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
Non-stick cooking spray

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees, coat muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray a put aside
-Cream stick of butter and sugar, add eggs, vanilla - continue to mix - add sour cream and incorporate well
-Sift together flour, baking soda, powder and salt - adding to wet mixture and blending well
-Once flour is completely mixed in, gently fold in apples
-Spoon muffin batter in to pan and top with crumble (instructions below)
-Bake for 20 minutes and let cool on a wire rack

For Crumble Topping

-Cut 3 T. of butter in to small pieces, add brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and combine well (with fingers or a fork), until mixture is crumbly

Pumpkin Scones With Spiced Glaze
*referenced the Starbucks Pumpkin Scone Recipe, but made some tweaks based on my own scone recipe 

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour 
1/3 c. sugar 
1 T. baking powder 
2 tsp. pumpkin spice
1 stick of butter (cold and cubed) 
1/2 c. canned pumpkin 
1/4 c. heavy cream 
2 large eggs

-Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices in a large mixing bowl
-With a fork, pastry knife, or food processor, cut butter into the dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly and no chunks of butter remain
-In a separate mixing bowl, whisk pumpkin, heavy cream, and egg
-Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients and form dough into a ball
-Pat out dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a 1-inch thick rectangle
-Use a large knife to slice the dough into 5 equal portions and cut diagonally to produce 10 triangular slices of dough 
-Place on prepared baking sheet (covered with parchment paper or a Silpat)
-Bake for 14–16 minutes until scones turn light brown and cool on a wire rack before you ice

Spiced Glaze

2 c. confectioners sugar
1 tsp. pumpkin spice
1/4 c. heavy cream 

-Combine all ingredients with a baking spatula and ice scones