Muffin Monday-- Recipe for Apple-Peanut Butter Muffins

My craving for satisfying apple muffins was left unrequited with last week's muffin, so I decided to have another go this week.  I've got a new recipe for you, with a bit of a twist-- peanut butter! Apples and peanut butter being one of my go-to snacks throughout the fall and winter.  My appreciation for the combo has been enhanced by my finally buying-- and devouring in record time-- natural peanut butter. It actually tastes like peanuts! Who knew?

We introduced peanut butter to Mae several weeks ago, and she appears to take it just fine-- no allergies here, thank goodness.  So this muffin is a good way for her to enjoy this flavor combo, too (since I'm still pretty nervous about chunks of raw apple).

The recipe is based on these muffins, with a few changes to make up for the fact that I omitted most (but not all) of the sugar.  I added the apples, spices, and the peanut butter. The result is light, fluffy, and moist, which is exactly what I was going for. Win! This time I also remembered to add salt to the second half of the batter for some adult-friendly muffins. The salt-free ones were not bad, but they still benefitted some from the inclusion of salt. Just take care not to overstir the batter when you add the it, or the muffins will end up with the texture of little rubber lumps.

Apple-Peanut Butter Muffins

1 c. AP flour
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1/4 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 c. canola oil
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. sour cream
1 egg 1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cardamom
1 c. cinnamon stewed apples, peeled and lightly mashed
natural peanut butter (no sugar or salt added)

Preheat your oven to 350, and prep your mini-muffin tins.
In a large bowl, mix together the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and spices. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the oil, milk, sour cream, egg, and vanilla. Gently stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, then fold in the mashed apples.

Fill your muffin tins, then with a fingertip dipped in flour to prevent sticking, make little indentations in the center of each proto-muffin.  Add a 1/2 tsp or so dollop of the peanut butter.  (If that's too fussy, just spread peanut butter on 'em when it's time to eat 'em. That'll work, too.)

Bake for 12-15 minutes each. Makes 3 dozen mini-muffins.

Chamomile Apple Compote Recipe

Mae has just in the past couple of weeks gotten the hang of her pincer grip, and is beginning to be able to handle smaller things. This opens up a brave new world of handy foodstuffs. Like dried fruit. She did fine with plain dried cranberries, but I just thought she might enjoy it more if they were softened a bit.  But how? Most dried fruit already has a bit of sugar added, so I didn't want to make a sugar syrup the way most compotes call for. Plain water was too boring. I tried stewing the dried fruit in some orange juice, and while this was delicious, it was still pretty sweet. An infusion of chamomile flowers proved to be a happy medium, resulting in a light, fresh-tasting syrup once the dried fruit and apples are stewed together with the chamomile 'tea'.  It goes very well with some toast, or stirred into yogurt in the morning.

Chamomile Apple Compote

1 Tbs chamomile flowers (or 2 teabags)
1/2 c. water
1 apple, peeled, cored, sliced
1/3 c. golden raisins
5 dried apricots, chopped

BRing the water to a boil and pour over the chamomile petals. Let steep 5-10 minutes, then strain into a small saucepan. Add the apple, raisins, and apricots. Simmer until apples are soft and liquid is mostly absorbed.

(Hah, no, she isn't eating that well out of a bowl, nor is she eating that much all at once. I took the bowl away for its own safety after I got the picture.)

Crispy watermelon and apple salad infant fingerfood recipe

I haven't had good luck giving Mae raw apples or watermelon-- they're kind of hard, and when a chunk breaks off, it gives her trouble (usually ending with me freaking out and initiating rescue procedures).  Yesterday morning I had more success with the watermelon by cutting it into very thin, small slices. Then we went for a 2 hour long walk in the heat, and I started thinking about cool, crisp fruit for some reason. In particular, it dawned on me that raw apple could be treated in the same way, perhaps...and I started fantasizing about a crispy, cool salad of apples and watermelon until it officially became an obsession. This is the result. 

1 apple
1 slice watermelon (a 1 inch slice off a 8th of a watermelon)
1 tsp. minced fresh spearmint
1 lemon half

Squeeze the juice of your half lemon into 2 cups water in a small bowl.  Peel, core, and slice your apple into long thin matchstick-size pieces, about 1/8 inch thick. Put the apples at each stage of slicing into your bowl of lemon-juicy water to prevent browning. Slice off thin pieces of watermelon, and slice them into matchstick-size pieces as well.  Drain the apple slices well, and toss them together with the watermelon and minced mint. Discard the leftover lemon juice water, or save it and make it into lemonade. :)

This was so good, it was all we could do not to eat it all before even giving any to Mae. The recipe makes enough for one baby and one adult, and I think that if you doubled it, it would still make only enough for one baby and one adult.

As for Mae, she enjoyed it, although I have to admit that she might enjoy it more in a month or so when her pincer grip is more fully online. She was able to pick up the pieces, but they'd often break and she'd end up with a little piece in the palm of her hand that she couldn't get into her mouth. But if I held a piece for her, she'd lean forward and eat it out of my hand enthusiastically. So I'm going to call this a recipe for 8 month olds rather than 7, but she didn't have any trouble getting the fruit down once it made it into her mouth.

Messiness rating: 1 (one or 2 wipes'll do it)

Stewed cinnamon apples recipe for baby led weaning

Fruit was one of the first things Mae went for when she started eating solids. Peaches and nectarines are her true loves (the first time she had a peach, she cried when it was all gone), and she's fairly enthusiastic about plums, bananas, and mango as well. Apples are a little bit more of a challenge for someone with no teeth-- left raw, they're a choking hazard. Stew 'em up in a pan with a little cinnamon, though, and you've got a winner-- nice and soft, easily grasped by little hands, and portable as well. I make up a batch and keep the slices in the fridge in a little container, ready to grab when we're going out to dinner or for a quick snack or breakfast.  She started eating these at 6 months old.

Stewed cinnamon apples

1 apple

sprinkle of cinnamon

 Cut the apple into 12 wedges. Remove core. You can peel it before cooking or if you're lazy like me, cook with the peel on and just pull the peel off before you give it to the baby.  (I find that if I leave the peel on, she can't chew it up and gags on it, so I do recommend removing it at some point). Put the apple wedges in a 12 inch pan (I like cast iron) with about 1/2 cup of water. Sprinkle each slice with cinnamon. (Ginger or cardamom would also be good!) Cook apples over medium-low heat, turning once or twice, until the water has evaporated and they're soft and cooked completely through.  If you wander off and forget about them, they'll get nice and caramelized. Even yummier!