Magical Morning Muffins

I actually got to sleep in this morning.

I should clarify. By “sleep in,” I mean that I got to sleep until 8 am before the usual chaos of our house woke me up. It was delicious.

Equally delicious were the muffins my husband and children were making when I woke up. The spicy smell of these little muffins baking was what had pulled me from my warm bed.

Even better? They cleaned the kitchen. (It was my early Christmas present – and I didn’t have to buy it myself!)

Here is the recipe for these miraculous muffins. I hope your family cleans up after, too!

Magical Morning Muffins

Ingredients

1 stick butter, softened
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups apple butter or applesauce (my darling family made their own, but this is not necessary – just use an apple butter or sauce that is low in sugar)
2 eggs
4 cups flour (they used a 1:1 ratio of all-purpose flour and white whole wheat)
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 ½ cups dried fruit (cranberries, cherries, raisins, currants, chopped apricots, dates… whatever you like)
2 tablespoons crystalized ginger (optional)
1 tablespoon dried orange peel (optional)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°.

In a large bowl, combine the flour(s), salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Set aside.

In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the sugar into the softened butter. Once the butter and sugar have been incorporated, add in the vanilla and the apple butter or applesauce. One at a time incorporate the eggs.

Slowly, incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Don’t overmix! Fold the dried fruit and crystalized ginger and dried orange peel (if using) into the batter.

Spray a muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray or use cupcake papers. Fill cups about 2/3 full and bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes, turning the tins once during baking. Makes between 18 and 24 muffins. Not that they’ll last long!