Applesauce Muffins

It feels like I haven't done a food post in FOREVER!  We're still eating, I swear. 

When I was going through all my treat recipes, trying to narrow down my holiday baking list, I came across this one.  It's actually called Applesauce Cake, but there's a note at the beginning that says it makes good muffins.  I hadn't done a batch of muffins in ages, so I whipped these up yesterday morning.  Super quick, super easy, and they came together in a saucepan.  A first for me.

Here's the recipe, from the newspaper, with my notes:

Applesauce Cake
For muffins, reduce the baking time to 15 minutes.

3 large apples, peeled, cored, quartered and cut into chunks
1/4 C water
1/2 C firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 C vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 1/2 C all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat flour for 1/2 C of it)
3/4 tsp course salt (I used 1/2 tsp)
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
Powdered sugar, optional, for serving (I skipped this for the muffins)

Preheat oven to 350.

Lightly oil an 8-inch round cake pan.  (I used a standard 12-hole muffin tin.)

In a medium saucepan, bring apples and the water to a simmer over high heat.  Cover, reduce heat and cook until apples are very tender, 10 to 12 minutes.  Mash apples with a whisk, stirring to cook off some of the moisture, about 2 minutes.  Remove from heat.

Whisk brown sugar into apples, then add oil.  Whisk in eggs, then flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Transfer batter to pan and bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 30 to 35 minutes.  (My muffins took about 12 minutes.) Let cool in pan on wire rack, about 20 minutes.  Invert and let cake cool on rack.  To serve, dust top with powdered sugar, if desired.

Here's our muffins, ready to inhale:

And of course, on my plate:

I thought they were yummy.

The kids inhaled theirs and then said, Is this all we're having for breakfast?  I want pancakes and scrambled eggs!

Sigh.