Super Muffins to "Refill Your Hearts"

So for those of you who don't know this, my family is a family of geeks. I have always been in love with math and anything science fiction related, but more importantly, I have been a die hard Doctor Who fan for many many years. My husband is in love with his computer (seriously, the man works on computers all day, you'd think he'd be happy to do something else on his downtime!), and currently, my two crazy little people are crazy about Zelda. CLB, who is eight, has started playing the Wii version of the video game, and when he's not playing it, he and his crazy little sister dress up like the characters and run around the house swinging plastic swords and fighting imaginary Zelda related beasties. It's a sight, let me tell you!

All this running around attacking unseen foes causes my two crazy children to work up an appetite, so we decided to make some muffins for snack. CLB liked them so much he said that they were Super Muffins and when he ate them, it was like all his hearts have been refilled. For those of you unfamiliar with Zelda, it means getting more energy for your avatar so you can continue playing the computer game. In our case, it means the kids can go back to running around the house waving their swords! Whip up a batch for your kids and you can have Link and/or Princess Zelda running around your house, too!


So first, I peeled, cored and cut up the last apple in our fruit bowl (If we didn't make apple muffins, that sucker was heading for the trash...). I sprinkled the cut up apple with lemon juice so it wouldn't brown.

Our apple cut up! Note that, although my crazy little people are expert plastic swordspeople, I  was the one using the real sharp stuff. There's plenty of things for little ones to help out with in this recipe...they don't need to be touching the sharp stuff!

Next, the kids took turns measuring out the ingredients for the strudel. Then they each got a chance to mash it all together.

Mmm, our strudel topping! It doesn't look like much right now, but it's yummy on baked muffins!

We continued sharing measurement duties and sifted all our dry ingredients into a large bowl.

Our fancy "sifter". Just a wire strainer sitting in a bowl. Hey, it works!

After the dry ingredients were mixed together, we made a well in the middle of the mixture.

The crazy little kids looked at me like I had three heads when I said we were going to make a well in the flour. Well...a fancy term for "push the ingredients away from the center of the bowl"

In a small bowl, we combined the wet ingredients (don't forget to give everyone a sniff of the vanilla! That's our favorite part!). I poured the wet ingredients into the well, and CLB mixed until just combined.

Yes, there will be lumps! That's a good thing! Lumpy goodness!

CLG sprinkled with cinnamon while CLB folded in the apples.

Mmmm, I can feel my heart refilling just looking at this!

Then we took turns spooning the batter into the prepared muffin tin (that was interesting!), broke up the strudel topping, and scattered it over the tops.

CLG: It's like putting on Playdoh, Mooom! Hey can we make playdoh next?

Finally, bake in a preheated 400 degree F oven for about 25 minutes (If you can smell them, that's a good sign they're close to being done). They ate them warm and were up and chasing beasties in no time!

You might notice that the size of the muffins varies. Well, that's what happens when you bake with Crazy Little People! What didya expect!?!
ENJOY!!!

RECIPE:

Super Muffins to "Refill Your Hearts"
Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:

Strudel Topping Ingredients:

4 tablespoons butter, softened
a heaping 1/3 cup of brown sugar
1/3 cup oats
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (or more, depending on taste)

Muffin Batter:

1 large apple, peeled, cored and chopped
fresh lemon juice
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup of sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1 lightly beaten egg
1/3 cup oil
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line one muffin tin with muffin liners.

In a small bowl, mix together the Strudel Topping ingredients. Set to one side.

Peel, core and chop the apple. Sprinkle it with lemon juice. Set aside.

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the middle of the dry mixture.

In a small bowl, mix together the milk, egg and oil. Pour it into the well made in the dry ingredients, and then mix just to combine the ingredients (there will be lumps). Add the apples and cinnamon. Fold the apples and cinnamon into the batter (again, just to combine...there should be lumps). Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin.

Break up pieces of strudel and place them on top of the muffin batter. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, and serve warm.

NOTE: The actual muffin is not very sweet. The addition of the strudel, though, added more than enough sweetness for my two crazy little people! If you like a sweeter muffin, increase the sugar in the muffin batter to 1/3 cup.

Recipe adapted from AllRecipes.com