Spicy aromas in every corner while these apple muffins bake

Bring-on-Fall Recipe #3—Easy Apple Cinnamon Muffins. Saturday seemed like another baking-with-apples kind of day. I was ready for that autumnal aroma to fill every corner of the house again; Hubby was ready for a special, Saturday-morning breakfast.

Allrecipes.com helped me out with these quick muffins that spiced up our weekend—and, as we just observed, were the prelude for a few actual rain sprinkles this morning (at least our loved ones in East Texas are getting a good bit of moisture).

Easy Apple Cinnamon Muffins are filled with delicious apple chunks and topped with streusel. The prep on this was quick—even more speedy because Hubby helped with the apple chopping. Nothing like a little cheerful teamwork in the kitchen!

The topping helped hold the baked muffins together well after they were removed from their tins. Best yet, although the recipe said it yielded 6 servings, I somehow managed to get 10 muffins out of the mixture—even with filling the pan to the top of the muffin cups as the recipe called for. Easy Apple Cinnamon Muffins may not have brought on fall’s full effects just yet, but they brought on a joyful day and weekend and more hope for fall's arrival.

Easy Apple Cinnamon Muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose four

3/4 cup sugar (or sugar substitute)

1/2 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg (or 1/4 cup egg substitute)

1/3 cup skim milk

2 apples—peeled, cored, and chopped (I used Granny Smith)

Topping:

1/2 cup sugar (or sugar substitute)

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup butter, softened and cubed

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease six muffin cups or line them with paper muffin liners. Stir together 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt, baking powder, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Mix in oil, egg, and milk. Fold in apples. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups; fill to the top of the cup. In a small bowl stir together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix together with fork; sprinkle over unbaked muffins. Bake in a preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin emerges clean. Serves 6-10.