Drop The Baby Weight

When you’re pregnant, it’s rare to find a dish that satisfies all your needs: protein, carbs, a little sugar, some fiber, and that most importantly TASTES AMAZING. (Homemade protein bars make me shudder.) But when I was pregnant with Toot I discovered this recipe, the grand prize winner of a muffin contest in Cooks Country magazine. The recipe is below, but I’m warning you — these are like crack. I made these about every 2 days when pregnant and just after — they were portable and yummy and fueled my nursing with ease. I love them with milk. I love them with hot tea. I love them warm. And I have a full dozen sitting on my counter, just out of the oven. Waiting the ten minutes of cooldown is the hardest part. 

***** Dutch Apple Cheese Muffins *****

2 cups AP flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 TBS baking powder (yes, a full tablespoon)
1 tsp salt
8 oz cheddar cheese, chunked up or grated 
8 TBS butter (one stick), sliced into about 8 pieces
3/4 cup milk
1 large egg
2-3 Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled and sliced into half-moons 

 Mix dry ingredients in food processor and add cheese and butter; mix til cheese and butter have been incorporated into the dry ingredients and it looks nice and crumbly. Add milk and egg and mix just until combined. Spoon into greased muffin tin, press about 3-4 apple slices into each muffin, and bake for 15 min at 375F. Do NOT use paper muffin cups! (Then add glaze and bake for another 10 minutes, as below.)

Glaze: 

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
juice of one lemon (about 2TBS; substitute water if you have no lemon)
2 TBS butter

Melt glaze ingredients together over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 5-6 minutes. The glaze will darken and bubble  a bit and will thicken if you let it cool for a minute or 2 before using.

Remove muffins from oven and drizzle glaze over them, using a spatula  to lift up the muffin edges and get the glaze to drizzle down into the sides of the muffins in the tin (this is why you don’t use paper muffin cups). Place muffins back into oven for 10 more minutes. Remove and let cool in tin for 10 minutes more before removing.

*****

I usually make up a few mixes of the dry ingredients and put them in Ziploc bags to make a batch even easier. And eating and sharing these muffins definitely Works For Me! For more WFMW posts, go to We are THAT Family.

(Lovely photo from Big Bold Beautiful Food.)

Tags: dutch apple cheese muffins

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 at 8:04 AM and is filed under Eating strategery, WFMW. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.