Picture this: the early morning sun has woken you by slipping through the windows, brushing your eyes with warmth and light. It’s so quiet… The boat is almost imperceptibly rocking and there is a gentle spring breeze caressing your face from the open porthole next to your bed. A stretch of your aching muscles reminds you of all the work you put in yesterday…

Although you count it as a minor victory all you really did was screw 8 nuts and washers on to bolts on the underside of the deck while contorting yourself into Extreme Advanced Boat Yoga poses. The rest of yesterday’s projects consisted of drilling some holes, lifting about a million pounds of rope, chain, anchors, what-have-you, wrestling a mattress from one place to the other, shifting lots of displaced items so you could have space to do Extremely Advanced Boat Yoga, and digging around in Narnia for the tools that allow these things to happen. All in a day’s work, right?

As you lie there, contemplating your to-do list for today, itemizing it in your head, you realize you are ravenous. What to have for breakfast? The to-do list fades from you mind as you mentally skim through your pantry. A few eggs, some butter…Pancakes? No, that takes too long. Lots of apples… Apple muffins!

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We like these apple muffins so much we made them twice in one week. They keep well (if you don’t eat them all the first day!) and are yummy and filling.

Apple muffins (adapted from Joy of Cooking)

Makes 11 muffins (which is the size of my muffin tin)

• Equipment needed:
  vegetable peeler
  grater
  two bowls
  mixing spoon
  muffin tin
  oven

Prep time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 15-25 minutes

• Ingredients:
  2 medium or 3 small apples
  1/3 – 1/2 cup sugar (depending on how tart your apples are and how sweet you like things)
  2 eggs
  4 tablespoons melted butter
  1 cup flour (can use 1/2 cup whole wheat and 1/2 cup white if desired)
  2 teaspoons baking powder
  1 teaspoon baking soda
  1 – 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

If you have an electric oven: preheat oven to 400

If you have a gas or propane oven: turn the oven to 400 once you put the muffins in (we are all about saving resources, you know?)

Peel and grate the apples, saving the juice. You should have about 1 cup, though a little more or less won’t hurt.

Whisk the eggs and sugar in a bowl then add the grated apples. Let sit for 5-10 minutes so the apples release their juice.

Measure your flour by spooning it into the measuring cup so the flour doesn’t get packed down. (Cooking tip: Be sure to only use measuring cups intended for dry ingredients and wet measuring cups for wet ingredients. It does make a difference!)

In another bowl combine the dry ingredients.

Butter your muffin tin or line with papers. If you have a cast iron muffin pan that you found in an antique store in Ohio, so much the better!
Melt the butter. (I melt my butter in a stainless steel 1 cup [dry] measuring cup right on top of the burner turned as low as it can go. If you do this, watch it, of course. You can also use a microwave if you believe in those sorts of things.) Add the melted butter to the apple mixture and stir to combine.

Add the dry ingredients with the apple/butter mixture and stir until just combined. Over mixing will make them tough!

Your batter will be wet and look like it will never work. Go with it and trust that it will.

Spoon into your muffin tin.

If you are using a gas oven now is the time to turn it on.

Put your muffins in to the oven and set your timer for 15 minutes (they may take up to 25 minutes depending on your muffin tin, how much is in each tin, how quickly your oven heats, etc.)

When their tops are glossy and a toothpick, knife, or skewer stuck in one comes out clean they are ready to come out.

Let sit for 2-3 minutes before removing from the pan.

These require no butter, jam, or honey; they are just that delicious!