Apple Cinnamon Butterscotch Muffins

Like many other places on the East Coast, we had a snow day recently.  Ours ended up being more snow than ice, but here in South Carolina, that was reason enough to stay in 🙂  We had some friends over, and they decided to stay over because of the weather.  The next morning, we woke up to snow and I decided to bake some muffins for us to enjoy.  I looked at ones I had bookmarked, and since I had all the ingredients on hand for these, they were the obvious choice.  These muffins were so easy to put together, and they were truly delicious.  I love the combination of apples and cinnamon, and adding butterscotch in the mix made them even better.  There are several options for the topping, but I just kept it simple and sprinkled the tops with some cinnamon sugar.  These were a great snow day treat, and loved snacking on these while watching movies and being lazy all day 🙂

Apple Cinnamon Butterscotch Muffins
Source: Annie’s Eats, originally from Sugar Plum

Ingredients:

2½ cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
¾ cup old-fashioned oats
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup applesauce
2 large eggs
1½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup milk
¾ cup butterscotch chips
¾ cup chopped apples
1/3 cup toasted pecans, chopped

For topping (optional)

Dried apple slices
Maple syrup
Granulated sugar

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line the wells of two muffin pans with paper liners (about 18 liners total).  Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Mix lightly with a fork to blend.  Stir in the oats.  In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and smooth, 1-2 minutes.  Beat in the applesauce, eggs and vanilla extract until incorporated.  With the mixer on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients in three additions alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and beating just until incorporated.  Fold in the butterscotch chips, apples, and toasted pecans with a rubber spatula.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared muffin cups.  If desired, press a dried apple slice into the top of the batter in each cup.  Drizzle lightly with maple syrup and sprinkle with sugar.  Bake about 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: about 18 muffins