Stand mixer Sunday: Apple cinnamon muffins with butter

Katie is a good helper. When she was home for a holiday recently, she picked out this recipe to make with my mixer. She peeled, chopped, mixed and lined the pans. It took 10 minutes. Delish.


Here's the muffin recipe:

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 large apple, peeled and diced
1 egg
2/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 Tablespoon brown sugar


Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder cinnamon and salt. Use the whisk attachment to cut in the butter at the slowest speed. Set aside a quarter cup of this mixture for topping. Add the apple to the remaining mixture and blend.

In a separate bowl, beat together the egg and milk, then add to the flour mixture and stir at lowest speed until incorporated.

Add cinnamon and brown sugar to that quarter cup you set aside. To assemble, put a spoonful of the batter into a cupcake liner until it's about 2/3 full. The recipe says it makes 16, but I only got 12 out of it. Distribute the topping evenly on the muffins and place in a 425 degree oven for 17 minutes.

This makes a moist, tasty muffin with a crunchy top. Tim loved these.

If you're feeling festive, I encourage you to try making your own butter. It doesn't save any money, but it's cool to try. Let a cup or so of heavy cream come to room temperature while you freeze the bowl and whisk attachment. Put the heavy cream in and crank up the speed. You'll have whipped cream in about two minutes, then it will start to break down into chunks. Quickly knock the speed down to level two or else you'll have butter all over the kitchen. Not chill.

It will turn yellow and separate into solids, the butter fat, and a liquid, buttermilk. You can save the buttermilk for later, but pour it off. Then, fill the bowl with cold water to rinse off the remaining dairy. Do it until the water runs clear, maybe three times. Then dump out the butter on the paper towel and ring it dry, then you can store it in Tupperware for a week. It will make about half as much butter as what you started with.

It's pretty cool to make your own butter, give it a try sometime.

NEXT WEEK: Homemade sourdough