Perfect Apple Muffins

I am still trying to use up some of the many apples in this house.  I went apple picking with Mark, Kenzie went apple picking with Nick, and then Mark and I also bought a bag at the Westminster Farmer's Market.  We've eaten tons and I've baked with as many of them as I can, but there was still need to use up some more.  So I decided to browse through my Pinterest account for some apple ideas, and I came up with these: perfect apple muffins.  You can't have a better name than that, so I peeled and chopped three apples and off we went.

Are these the perfect apple muffins?  Yes, most likely they are.  And they are the best right out of the oven.  Everyone here really liked them.  The problem was, this was the same day that I made the cake I will be blogging about next.  And my family was 100% obsessed with the cake, so the muffins kind of got forgotten (out of 2 dozen, we ended up tossing 5... that's not too bad for my family, but to be fair, Tuck and Linda took home 6 because Linny really loved them!) .  But on that day, warm with a cup of coffee or tea, they really were good: moist, apple-y, not too sweet (one and a half cups of sugar are plenty).  The cinnamon and brown sugar in it really complement the apples.  They were, in short, a lovely fall apple treat!

Recipe:

perfect apple muffins
from Grey House Green Door
makes 18-24 muffins

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup oil
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups peeled, cored, diced apples (about 3 apples)
brown sugar for topping (around 1/2 cup)

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly spray muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray or line with cupcake liners.

2) Cream together sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla.

3) Sift flour, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon.

4) Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture and mix until combined.  The batter will be very thick.  Add the diced apples.

5) Fill the paper liners almost to the top, about 3/4 of the way full.  Sprinkle with brown sugar.

6) Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.