Spicy Apple Muffins

Uprisings, p. 185

WET

2 cups apple cider

1 cup chopped dried apples

1 cup safflower oil

¾ cup honey

2 tbl. Lemon juice

2 beaten eggs

DRY

4 cups [whole wheat] pastry flour

1 cup dry milk powder

1 ½ tbl. Cinnamon

1 tbl. Nutmeg

1 tbl. Allspice

1 ½ tbl. Baking powder

Soak apples in half of the cider and set aside.

Mix the remaining wet ingredients together with a whisk.

Combine and sift together all dry ingredients.

If you weren't feeling all boots-and-vests autumnal yet, you will be after you smell this spice blend.

Make a well in the dry ingredients and whisk in the wet ingredients, using as few strokes as possible.

Then add the soaked apples.

Pour batter into greased muffin tin.

I used fresh apples in lieu of dried ones. They tasted fine to me.

Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.

Check for doneness with a fork.

And boom goes the dynamite.

My Rating: 3/5 "The apples are a nice punctuation to the overall flavor of the dough, and it really does have a killer spice blend. The disappointment for me, though, was that the muffins came out dry. This is a recipe from a professional bakery so I thought they'd come out all moist like you'd want to spend seven dollars for one of them, but instead they're pretty parched. Better bakers than me are welcome to find a way to improve these."