BYOB - Cider Doughnut Muffins

What could be easier than a simple apple flavoured muffin, dipped in butter and rolled in cinnamon sugar? It's a dead ringer for the seasonal apple cider doughnuts that will be popping up at the coming Fall festivals!

Get ready everybody! Here come the apple recipes! Fall is upon us in New England and the early apples are just starting to show up in the stores and at farmers markets. Pretty soon, the air will be scented with that distinctive cinnamon and fried dough smell of cider doughnuts. The outdoor festivals will be cranking out the doughnuts and cider, pumpkins, squash, bouquets of bittersweet and everlasting wreaths, apple and pumpkin pies. The New England leaf peepers will be cruising in from all over the world to see the fall foliage and babbling brooks, poke around in the antique markets, stop for lunch at the local diners and get 'rusticated'.

SB and I love our cider doughnuts, so when I saw Stephanie's Cider Doughnut Muffin recipe over at Girl Versus Dough, I just knew we had to have some of that sweetness! The timing is pretty perfect too!, as Stephanie is the featured blogger for this month's 'Bake Your Own Bread' with Heather, that girlichef!

Yup! Put a hole in these muffins and they might as well be apple cider doughnuts! But wait! They're not as greasy as doughnuts, so I am feeling a bit less guilty about knoshing them. They are so good warm from the oven! We had ours with our afternoon tea, but in the next few weeks, I envision making a batch to have with mulled cider. They are perfect treats for the trick-or-treaters, come Halloween! Oh man ... the lowly muffin recipe's bar has just been raised a notch or two! Thanks to Stephanie for posting a great seasonal treat!

Cider Doughnut Muffins

a Girl Versus Dough recipe

 

Ingredients:

¼ c. butter, softened

¼ c. vegetable oil
½ c. sugar
1/3 c. light brown sugar
2 tbsp. thawed apple juice concentrate
2 large eggs
2 ⅔ c. unbleached flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
a pinch nutmeg
¾ tsp. salt
1 c. milk

 

Topping:

3 tbsp. butter, melted

6 tbsp. cinnamon-sugar for dipping

 

Making the Muffins:

 

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F and place 12 to 16 muffin liners (depending on the size of your muffins) in your muffin pans.
2. Mix the butter, vegetable oil, sugar, brown sugar, and apple concentrate until the mix is creamy and smooth.
3. Add the eggs and beat well.
4. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a small bowl.
5. Measure the milk.
6. Mix some of the flour mixture into the sugar and apple mixture, then add some of the milk and stir in, then more flour and mix, then the rest of the milk, and finally the rest of the flour.
7. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups so that they are ⅔ of the way full.
8. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from the oven and take the muffins out of the muffin pan(s) and place on a cooling rack. Cool for a few minutes.
9. Melt the butter in a small bowl and have the cinnamon sugar mix in another bowl and ready for dipping.
10. Remove the muffins from their liner papers and dip the tops and down about ½ an inch in the butter and roll in the cinnamon sugar.
11. Place on a platter and repeat with all the muffins. Serve warm or  re-warm them just before serving if you’re making them ahead of a breakfast or other event.