Perfect Little Apple Cinnamon "not one bad for you thing in them" Paleo Muffins

 

These are so delicious.

I saw this recipe as I was surfing the web last night and I got straight up out of my chair and made them!  I am so glad I did.  I followed her recipe exactly except that I used my sugar free, crockpot apple butter instead of applesauce.  I think that gave it a heap of extra flavor, but I'm sure that using unsweetened applesauce would be fine too.  Just don't use the sugar laden stuff!

Oh, I also made these into mini muffins ... not big ones.

Here's how you make these little beauties.

3 eggs, beaten together
2 cups almond meal
1 cup sugar free, crockpot apple butter (or unsweetened applesauce)
1/4 cup pure maple syrup (don't use imitation maple syrup!)
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F/180C

Mix all ingredients, adding eggs to mixture last.  Spoon into muffin wrappers. (a dozen big ones or a whole bunch of mini ones) 

Bake 15-20 minutes. 

That's it.

Yep. 

So simple.

So delicious.

So healthy.

Apple Butter Granola

 

My Mom's comment on my sugar free, crock pot apple butter recipe the other day was a story from her childhood.  I'll share it with you.

"Apple butter reminds me of my Grandpa Templin. Every day that I can remember when we were visiting he had apple butter for breakfast. My Grandma would make him 2 slices of toast and put them in a shallow soup bowl. At the top of his spoon (because yes, the table was always set for breakfast, complete with a napkin in a ring beside the fork, and the Daily Bread devotional book there too) would be a little dish of apple butter. (At the top of his fork would be a dish with stewed prunes, but I digress!) When we were all at the table, Grandma would come in with a little pan of hot milk and pour it into the bowl onto his toast. His spoon would dip into the apple butter, then cut off a bite of the toast, along with a spoonful of the milk, and it would then pop into his mouth. An eminently fascinating scene for this little girl, every day!! So I double love apple butter..."

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the memory that she has and the way she tells it!  She does that a lot, my Mom, she had a very memorable childhood!

I got to thinking yesterday morning that maybe milk and apple butter would be alright together.  I got out a scoop of homemade granola, topped with with a bit of milk and then a few spoonfuls of apple butter.

Mmmmm.  The spicey-appley-taste added a little something special.  I loved it.

Even better was that each time I dipped my spoon into the milky, apple butter goodness, I thought of my Mom and my Great Grandpa.  And I smiled.

Sugar Free, Crock Pot Apple Butter

A little disclaimer here.  I am not an apple butter expert.  I have probably only eaten it once or twice in my life.  But, I bought 12 kilos (26 pounds!) of apples by accident the other day.  Yeah, it was on line and I thought I was buying 12 apples ... SURPRISE!!!  12 kilos is a LOT of apples!!

So ... I've made crock pot apple sauce.  Apple strudel muffins (recipe coming).  Apple crumble.  And now apple butter.   I'm in love with the apple butter.  You'll have to try it though and tell me if it can be called apple butter or if we should just call it "spiced apple thick sauce."

I peeled the apples for this apple butter but I've since read that you can do it without peeling them.  I'm going to make some more and try that, because not peeling them would make this way less time consuming!  Not that it's super time consuming, but you know .... WAY LESS! 

Here's a little video about a little gadget that helps make things a lot easier too ...

Ok ... so, this was super simple. I filled my crock pot with peeled chopped apples. I used 2 kilos of granny smiths and 1 kilo of royal gala. Next time I will probably do two kilos of the sweeter apple ... On top of the apples I sprinkled 1 tsp of ground cinnamon, 1/4 tsp of the following: ground ginger, ground allspice, ground cloves and ground nutmeg. I then poured about 1/4 cup of water over the top and then gave it a stir. I put the crock pot on low and let it go for about 14 hours.

When I came back, the apples were totally cooked.  I just stirred them with a spoon and they broke down.  I got out the stick blender and blended it right in the pot.  I left it cook on low for another hour or so but I'm not sure that was even necessary.

And that's it. 

I hear you can eat this stuff on toast.  So far, I've just been eating it straight out of the jar with a spoon ...

AFTER NOTE :: I made this again and didn't peel that apples.  Did it make a difference? The only notable difference was that I didn't have to peel the apples!  This easy recipe just got a bit easier!!  There was no change to taste and as I understand it, it's desirable to leave the skin on as it contains a lot of great nutrients.

ALSO :: when I originally posted this I said to use 1/2 tsp of all the spices (other than cinnamon) but then last night when I was putting the spices in the crockpot, I realized that it was actually only 1/4 tsp.  I imagine it's probably a bit to taste and it wouldn't really matter if you put in 1/2 tsp but I've changed it in the post to 1/4 tsp because that's the way I do it ...