My kids eat muffins for breakfast almost every school morning. I make them in big batches and throw them in the freezer, so all I have to do is a quick defrost in the morning. I throw them on a plate with some greek yogurt and a few berries and that’s it. It’s ready in less than three minutes which, if I’m being honest, is all we have because we are not morning people.
I had a giant jug of apple cider leftover from some experimenting last week that didn’t go so well. (Let’s just say you won’t see my recipe for Apple Cider Cake on the blog. Tasted amazing. Looked terrible. Not worth your time.)
Apple Cider muffins killed two birds with one stone — used up my apple cider and replenished my stash of morning muffins in the freezer. WIN!
These turned out to be my kids second-favorite muffins of all time. (The first is this pumpkin bread made in muffin form.)
p.s. The secret to these is simmering the apple cider first to reduce it down and have concentrated flavor in a small amount of cider. Don’t skip this!
Ingredients
1 and 1/4 cups apple cider
2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, room temperature
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
TOPPING
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
Place apple cider in a small saucepan and simmer over medium-low heat for 15-20 minutes, or until you have 1/2 cup of the concentrated cider. Place in freezer to cool for a few minutes while you're preparing the rest of the recipe.
Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray a mini muffin pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.
Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg, melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until smooth. Whisk in the buttermilk, vanilla, and 1/2 cup of concentrated apple cider.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and very gently mix together with a whisk. DO NOT OVERMIX THESE -- IT WILL MAKE THEM TOUGH. Mix just until combined and some small lumps remain.
Pour the batter into the mini muffin pan, filling cups 3/4 of the way full. Bake the muffins for 9-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Make the topping by mixing the granulated sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Dip the top of the muffins lightly into the melted butter. Then dunk them all the way into the cinnamon sugar, using your hands to mix it around so the entire muffin is coated generously. Repeat.
Adapted just slightly from Sally's Baking Addiction .
http://sugarmamacooks.com/apple-cider-cinna-mini-muffins/
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