I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas!

It was a gray and rainy day, so I retreated to the dry warmth of my kitchen to make use of the many, many apples my fiance and I picked last weekend to celebrate the beginning of Fall! In an effort to take advantage of my fresh, crisp, juicy bounty I neglected to eat my bananas before they were too mushy to be good for anything other than banana bread. So, inspired by the childhood song, I made apple-banana muffins. But I didn't want them to turn out a heavy, cliche of fall, so I added caraway to the spice profile of my muffins. It brings out the tartness of the apples among the sweetness of the bananas, the warmth of the  little bit of cinnamon and nuttiness of the whole wheat flour. I tested these muffins out on my classmates with great success, so I think it's an experimental recipe worthy of le blog!

Apple-Banana Muffins

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1-1/4 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1-1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 -1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp caraway seeds

1 apple, peeled cored and diced into 1/2 inch chunks

2 very ripe bananas, smash/sliced with a fork

First a little prep work: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees (f). Grease or line your muffin tins (this makes 12 muffins). Peel, core and dice your apple. Finally, combine the milk and vinegar, let it sit and curdle. <--sounds gross, but think of it as homemade buttermilk! 

While the milk is doing its thing, cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl for 2 minutes on medium speed. Add the eggs and mix on medium speed until the mixture is fluffy. Switch to a wooden spoon and add the "sour milk". In a smaller bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and caraway. Add the dry mix to the wet and stir to combine. Finally stir in the apples and bananas. 

Portion out batter among the 12 muffin tins, and bake until the muffins are golden and spring back when you poke them (about 25-30 minutes). 

If you used liners, you can carefully remove the muffins from the tin onto the cooling rack. If you did it old school, like me, wait about 5 minutes before GENTLY coaxing the muffins out of the pan. I usually turn the pan upside down with one hand and wiggle the edges of the top of the muffins with the other until they finally drop out.

Happy fall!

P.S. Don't have any cider vinegar? Use 1/2 cup buttermilk, sour cream or plain yogurt instead! 

Um...not much to say about this song except, "YES.YES. YES."