Apple Pie Muffins - FIVE YEAR Blog Birthday!

Hey! My blog's birthday has come and gone. Once again I was too busy to post. But I feel sad seeing that it was the FIVE YEAR anniversary of when I started this blog.

 

Every year for my blog birthday post I write a recap of what's different in my life. Usually nothing much has changed and it's the same thing year in and year out. But guess what! Times, they have changed!

 

1. I'm still singing a fair amount and booking more gigs than usual.

2. I quit my office job back in May and starting temping around a couple of months ago. It's been fun if not a little unstable.

3. I'm back to running when I'm not super busy or feeling injured.

4. I have a boyfriend! Yes! It's been awhile, but I have one! It's new, so keep following my blog to see how the relationship grows (and maybe even catch a few pictures of us!)

 

Some of my favorite recipes from the last year are:

Pomegranate and Orange Sangria - This recipe is SO GOOD. Must bring to all holiday parties.

Caramel Rolls - I was so happy to ace my mom's recipe!

Dark Chocolate Ganache Crepe Cake and the version I created for July 4th: Crepe Cake with Almond Whip Cream and Cherries

Matcha Tea Cakes - It was the first time I used matcha. Expensive but fun!

 

As for this post, well, I went apple picking again and therefore needed to use up apples!

I found a nice muffin recipe and quickly put some of my prized apples in the batter. These muffins hit the spot on a dreary fall morning. If you have extra apples around, consider using this Apple Pie Muffin recipe. 

Apple Pie Muffin

recipe found here: Sally's Baking Addiction

Bake well and prosper!

Vanilla Bean Yogurt Loaf

This past Saturday I had tons of friends come out for a picnic in Central Park. It was so much fun and we all brought way too much food (a mark of truly good friends.) I took out my camera and started snapping away at the food that I had made. And then I realized that I forgot to put my memory chip back into my camera.

FAIL.

Oh well. The food, friends, and weather made the day so wonderful that I didn't care about my lack of memory chip. I took some photos with my iPhone camera, but thankfully there were 3 slices left of this bread at the end of the day. So I brought them home and took some photos (this time WITH the camera chip in the camera).

Vanilla Bean Yogurt Loaf (adapted from Cupake Muffin)

1 cup vanilla bean yogurt (I used Cabot's but you can use plain yogurt and add in 1 tsp vanilla extract or 1 tsp of group vanilla.)

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 T light rum

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

generous pinch of salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a loaf pan.
2. Whisk together the yogurt, sugar, oil, eggs, and rum in a medium bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the yogurt mixture and fold together with a rubber spatula until just combined. It will be slightly lumpy.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake 50-60 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

Bake well and prosper!