Ok, so it’s been a week since Easter I’ve been able to have treats. Two weeks ago I would’ve thought that I’d be baking up a storm in here with cookies and brownies and other yummy baked goods. But I’ve gotta tell ya, I’m a little treated-out (new word. treated-out: to have so many treats to come to the point of that feeling like “blehh”). So that is why I decided to come back to my good old friend muffin.

Let me tell you, making muffins this weekend was not all rainbows, sunshine and unicorns. One of the muffin recipes I made was a total disaster (notice the bold AND italics…it was baaaad) The bad recipe I made looked like it could’ve been awesome. I’m sure it could be if I doctored it up a bit. But we’ll see how things go between me and mr. peanut butter muffin. He’s not exactly on my good side right now.

Brunch Peanut Butter Muffins

 These muffins, they were dry and bland. The dryness could be my fault. Maybe I over baked them? But next time, (if there is a next time) I would probably add peanut butter to the base, maybe some cinnamon and some more oil.

At least it looks just like the picture on the recipe's website...

Got the recipe from Jif’s website. Maybe you’d like to try to spruce it up a bit? Anyways, I am ever so thankful that I discovered this gem of a recipe…

Ahhh, finally quality pictures from a good camera

And apples. What can I say? I’m an apple addict. I will not go through my whole apples aren’t just for the Fall thing again. Because if you want to hear my brilliant logic you can just go here or here.

Speaking of seasons/months. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT’S FINALLY MAY!!! This may not be a big deal to anyone from the South or other lucky people who live in warm places. But here, in the Midwest, at least for, May is like the last step to Summer. The last step to freedom for those kids like me who are stuck in school all day. (Sorry, adults who still have to be stuck at work all day in the summer) I don’t know why I’m even more excited for summer this year than usual. Maybe it’s because I’m stressing about my AP exams for the week. Or maybe it’s because we’ve had this brutal winter. It could be that I miss having my sister at home and I’m sooo excited to try all the recipes we picked out to make this summer with her. Ohhh and the Farmer’s Market! Nothing says a summer Saturday morning like the farmer’s market. Well, until then. Make muffins.

Apple Strudel Muffins

(Adapted from allrecipes.com) 

2 c. flour

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/2 c. butter

1 c. white sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 t. vanilla

1 1/2 c. chopped apples

TOPPING:

1/3 c. packed brown sugar

1 T. all-purpse flour

1/8 t. ground cinnamon

1 T. butter

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 12 cups in muffin pan.
2. In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar and eggs until smooth. Mix in vanilla. Stir in apples, and blend in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin pans.
3. In a small bowl, mix brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture is like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over tops of mixture in muffin pan.
4. Bake 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Allow to site 5 minutes before removing muffins from pan. Cool on wire rack.

 What’s your favorite kind of muffin?