Apple Walnut Muffins

Sorry about the relatively non-discripitve title. I should be better at titling things by now. Actually, considering I started out with Whole Grain, Homemade Apple Sauce, Cinnamon, and Walnut Muffins with Vanilla Crumble, as my title. The short and sweet one I used isn’t so bad after all, huh? Plus, it’s not like the long title really conveyed everything properly anyway. There are raisins, pepitas (shelled sunflower seeds), and apple chunks tucked in there too. So… Apple Walnut Muffins it is! Anyhow, regardless of title you will enjoy these perfect fall muffins. They are just a touch sweet, with big bold apple flavor, not only from the apple chunks, but also from the homemade roasted applesauce. (Remember last week when I told you this stuff is a-mayy-zing to bake with? Yup. Totally telling the truth.) Plus, these babies are stuffed chock full of good stuff! Remember the walnuts, pepitas, and raisins? Oooh, ooh, ooh, I should also mention that these muffins also totally count as whole grain due to the 2 cups Bob’s Red Mill Museli Mix we’ve got going on. I’m always pleased when something tastes good and ends up being whole grain. But whole grains or not, these muffins still feel like a really decadent treat. Maybe it’s the jumbo size I made them in?

I’ve gotta say it’s a good thing I have a decadent treat around the house right now, because I’m totally going to need it by the end of the day. Why?

I’ve been dealing with plumbing problems all day.

Yes. Plumbing problems. Every homeowners deepest nightmare. Ok maybe there are worse things. Natural disasters, fires, explosions… But plumbing problems seriously bite none the less. 

So our house is about 55 years old. We bought it in pretty beat up shape (though the bones were good), and have done a ton of work to fix it up. It is now gorgeous. It has a new carpet, paint, roof, yard… and oh so much more. We knew more or less what we were walking into with an old house. But, the one project we didn’t want to take on was plumbing. We has the house scoped and checked out before we purchased. Much of the plumbing had been replaced, and no problems were found with the scoping. We figured we were in the clear and bought the house. But… unfortunately either a problem was missed, which is what I personally believe happened, or something developed since we purchased the house. (My best house buying advice to everyone out there: Check you sewers out reeeally carefully before you buy!) 

This morning I was running a load of laundry, and was in a different room, when I heard the sound of running water. Not like the sound of the sink running. The sound of gushing, waterfall like, running water where it did not belong: AKA My bathroom floor.

All of the plumbing for the washer/dishwasher/kitchen sink connect directly to the master bathroom toilet and shower pipes. This turns the shower and toilet into an over-flow location if the water can’t get out where it belongs. Dumb-o design in my opinion, but apparently thats what you get with a 55+ year old house. 

Anyhow, I hear the sound of bad-water, immediately drop what I’m doing, and race for the bathroom to see what’s going down. Which is, dirty water flowing over the lip of the shower and ALL over the bathroom floor, heading right for my beautiful new bedroom carpet. I race to the washer, leaping over, and completely freaking out my two year old, to shut off the washer. I race back to the bathroom with towels, and do in fact manage to save my carpet (which is sweet). Then there’s cleaning up the mess, and of course the call to the plumbers.

Ah, plumbers. :::big sigh::: right here guys. 

I’ll cut to the chase. This is now the current state of affairs at my house:

• I have a ginormus clog of some sort in the pipe under my toilet. It is in fact clogging the toilet/shower/washer/basically every water using device in about 2/3rds of my house.
• The plumbers can not get said clog out. They are coming back tomorrow to stuff a camera in there and figure out what on Earth to do. I expect I will be paying for a rather expensive repair to the pipe below.
• Also, my toilet is sitting in my shower. 
• But, I’m kinda ok with that because I hate that toilet. I’m sorta thinking about getting a new one while it already happens to be detached from my floor.
• I have a load of half washed laundry sitting in the washer with the door open that I can not finish.
• I have a sink full of dishes I didn’t mange to wash before the trouble.
• Messiness stresses me out.
• Expensive plumbing repairs stress me out. 
• And the good part: my second bathroom happens to be on the correct side of the clog relative to the main line, so I have one working toilet, bathroom sink, and shower. Yippie! (That was not actually sarcasm. I am in fact extremely grateful this worked out to be the case. I can handle almost anything as long as I can shower.)

So again, it’s not like this is the worst thing ever to happen to a person, but you can also totally see why I need a muffin right?

Good muffins. Muffins good. :::lamaz style breathing over here:::

Meanwhile,  I’ll give you the update next post. So ok, go bake, enjoy muffins, go be pleased with yourself that you have no stupid plumbing problems in your house. (I even forgive you for that one. I would probably feel smug if my house had no pluming problems too.) 

Apple Walnut Muffins 

Yields 9 Jumbo Muffins

Muffins:

• 2 cups all purpose or whole wheat flour
• 2 cups Bob’s Red Mill Muesli Mix (Or any brand you prefer)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 6 tablespoons of butter melted
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups Homemade Roasted Applesauce
• 1 cup walnuts
• 1-2 apples cored and cubed into bite sized pieces

Crumb Top:

• 3 tablespoons of butter chilled
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/8 cup white sugar
• 1/8 cup brown sugar
• sprinkle of salt
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350* Grease a jumbo muffin pan well using spray oil. In the bowl of a stand mixer add flour, muesli mix, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg. Mix gentle to distribute ingredients evenly. 

2. Add the butter, eggs, and applesauce to the bowl. Mix until well combined. A thick, but moist batter will form.

3. Add the walnuts and apple chunks and mix to incorporate. Use the batter to fill the pre-grease muffin pan about 2/3 of the way full. The batter will not lay neatly. Set aside.

4. To make the crumb topping: Add the  flour, sugar, brown sugar, salt and vanilla to a small bowl. Cut the 3 tablespoons of butter into the flour mixture. Using a fork stir until crumbly mixture forms. Sprinkle 1-2 tablespoons of the crumble mixture onto each muffin.

5. Bake the muffins at 350* for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned and a fork comes out clean. 

*You can substitute store bought applesauce for homemade, but the apple flavor will be less pronounced. Be sure to double the spices, as my homemade recipe is fairly well spiced compared to store bought applesauce.