Caramel Apple Muffins

This is a recipe I found at Taste of Home. I have never made one of their recipes that didn't turn out great, so I always feel confident when I use them. It's nice to know that several people tested out a recipe before you. The only thing that I need to do is read ... the ... recipe and follow... the ...instructions. When I don't do that, well, what can I say. It's never pretty and I usually make an extra mess somewhere that needs cleaning up. 

Like today, for instance. I decided to make these muffins. Instead of using dried applies like the recipe called for, I peeled and sliced and chopped up the fresh apples. I laid them out on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and put them in the oven to bake at 250 degrees for about 25 minutes.

Peeled and cut apple chunks

My goal was to semi-dry them out, just until they had sealed over and I couldn't see any moisture on them. I was very happy with the end product, so far. Now I will wait to see if it helps keep the muffins from turn really wet after a day or two. That is what often happens with baked goods that have pieces of fresh fruit in them.

Semi-baked apples

I continued on, and mixed up the recipe for the muffins, adding my semi-baked apples. The batter looked good and I filled my muffin tins and added the crumble topping. I put them in the oven to bake them for 20-25 minutes. 

Before baking

This is where the problem started. I thought I smelled something odd and it looked like the kitchen might be a bit hazy. When my eyes started feeling irritated and the dogs were sitting at the kitchen door wanting to get out quick, I knew there was a problem. I opened the oven and yes, there was smoke. Lots of it billowing out with the smell of really burnt sugar/butter/oatmeal/cinnamon. The topping was dripping down to the bottom of the oven. I turned on the fans, opened doors and tore off a large sheet of foil and placed it under the muffins to catch any more drips that might fall while they finished baking. 

After baking for 25 minutes, the toothpick came out clean so I took them out of the oven. As you can see, they don't look very pretty.

What a mess!

I was disappointed that a good portion of the topping was off the muffin and either on the pan or on the bottom of the oven! I re-read the recipe to see why it all went so wrong. And yes, I found it. Down at the bottom of the page it says, Quantity: 14 muffins. Hmmm..... have you ever seen a recipe for 14 muffins? Have you ever seen a muffin tin that makes 14 muffins? Really, I'm not surprised that I missed that little piece of information. I believe that this is the first muffin recipe that I have ever seen that makes 14 muffins!

They cleaned up fairly well

Well, after cleaning the oven and cleaning up my mess, I sat down to make sure that if you decide to make this recipe, you know that it makes 14 muffins, not a regular batch of 12 muffins, but 14 muffins! Now I feel like I have done all I can do to prevent you from repeating my mistake.

The good news is that they got rave reviews, which makes the extra work seem less like work! 

Caramel Apple Muffin

When the family said, "It looks like you have been really busy today", all I could do was nod my head and smile!

Here is the recipe for 14 muffins:

Enjoy!