A day of being “walled about with apples” produced these apple-bran muffin beauties

I’ve always loved the expression “walled about with rain”, a line from one of my favorite historical novels, The Child from the Sea. On Saturday we were  “walled about with rain” from sunup to sundown. My planned day of gardening tasks had to be set aside, but who’s complaining? Our sun-parched land was so grateful for the soaking moisture.

Instead, I became “walled about with apples”. The drop in temps and the sure sign that fall was at hand got me grabbing up every apple I could find and stirring up apple goodies. How fall-ified the house smelled with apple things baking.

We loved these Apple Bran Cereal Muffins, the recipe having been procured from the Chickasaw Nutrition Services a few days before. Finely chopped apples and bran flakes were the key elements in these tasty gems. Interesting: the recipe called for 1/2 cup applesauce, which I didn’t have on hand. I merely inserted a diced, peeled apple into the blender and pureed it until the apple was a nice mush. I poured in a tablespoon of water, a sprinkle of sugar substitute, and dash of nutmeg. Instant applesauce to use as an ingredient! No emergency trips to the store; no opening a can. This helped make the muffins plenty moist; they turned out beautifully golden.

Pulling weeds could wait while we luxuriated in the smells and tastes of welcomed fall.

Apple Bran Cereal Muffins

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

2 cups bran flakes

1 cup skim milk

1 egg white (I used 1/4 cup egg substitute)

1 cup apple, cored, finely chopped

1/2 cup applesauce

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons margarine, melted

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 12 muffin pan cups with cooking spray. In a large bowl mix flours, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In another bowl mix cereal and milk; let stand 3 minutes. To the cereal mixture add egg white, apple, applesauce, brown sugar, and margarine. Mix well. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Stir until moistened. Spoon 1/3 cup batter into each muffin cup; bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 12 muffins. (Source: Chickasaw Nation Nutrition Services)

Apple Cinnamon Waffles a delight for all ages and appetites

This is a repost of today's blog. A thoughtful reader noted that the cup-and-a-half of chopped apples, although mentioned in the first paragraph, didn't make it into the ingredient list. So here is the addition. You'll love this recipe!

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Never have a cup-and-a-half of chopped apples had such a special mission. They went into a batter for some Apple Cinnamon Waffles to be served during the first breakfast of Camp G&G, just after the enrolled camper arrived for his first day on site.

Camp G&G is the activity this week for our 1-year-old grandmunchkin, who’s camped out at our place while his parents are gone for a much-deserved getaway. Hubby and I have set aside the week for his entertainment. Naturally we wanted the inaugural breakfast to go well—and to get things off to a healthy start. Since I’m still hard-charging to help bring on fall by cooking as many apple dishes as possible, a breakfast item containing apples just had to be in order.

A tad of cinnamon added to the fairly traditional batter recipe with the apples folded in (recipe courtesy www.southernfood.about.com) gave these waffles on the griddle a wonderful aroma. When they were done, Munchkin dined on baby-sized bites, while Granddaddy’s bites were a bit more sizable. Both gents seemed perfectly pleased with their apple delectables. (A note about the recipe: I didn’t have egg whites from the separated eggs, since we use egg substitute, so I didn’t have the beaten egg whites to fold in but simply used 3/4 cup egg substitute, the equivalent to 3 whole eggs. I didn’t find that this substitution hurt the recipe one bit.)

I confess that I don’t think I’ve ever added apples to a waffle recipe before, but after trying these and enjoying them immensely, I don’t know why I waited so long. This made for a wonderful breakfast; if an apple a day truly keeps the doctor away, we’re destined for a healthy Camp G&G week.

Apple Cinnamon Waffles

2 cups sifted flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon sugar (or sugar substitute)

1/2 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

3 eggs, separated (or 3/4 cup egg substitute)

1 1/2 cups skim milk

5 tablespoons melted shortening

1 1/2 cups chopped apples (I used about 2 rather large Granny Smith apples)

Mix and sift dry ingredients. Combine beaten egg yolks, milk, and melted shortening. Beat until smooth. Stir in chopped apples. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Pour or spoon apple waffle batter into each section of a hot waffle iron. Cook waffles until they are crispy and browned. Makes 6 servings.