Empire Cups

These were going to be white chocolate-cranberry muffins. Then I saw the oats, and the almond slivers, and remembered we just had a fresh delivery of Empire apples from the Empire State (thank you!).

I knew they would be the star ingredient, but they ended up taking over the whole thing! Luckily apples + cinnamon + doughy goodness is always delicious.

I had three of these to use, which didn't seem like a lot since they were tiny. But really, it was a lot.

I could have even just eaten the flour-oat-cinnamon-nutmeg mix. It smelled divine. Apple cinnamon is my most favorite flavor or scent of all time I think.

At the last minute I realized the only pan-greaser I had was non-stick olive oil spray and that sure didn't sound tasty. So I used the paper cups...big fail.

They stuck something awful because I didn't put much oil like in cupcakes. No matter, just eat it like spoon bread. In retrospect, this would have been most excellent in a square pan as more like coffee cake, but the extra apple-y flavor and texture was still a big yum. I loved how there was more apple than bread, too.

Why yes those ARE iPhone photos. Thanks for noticing. 

Empire Cups
1 c whole wheat flour
1/4-1/3 c brown sugar
1 c old fashioned oats
1 t nutmeg
1-2 T cinnamon
1/3-1/2 c slivered almonds

1/4 c oil
2 eggs (or equivalent)
1/4 c soy milk
1 t vanilla

1/2 c dried cranberries
2-3 c small-diced Empire apples

Combine first 6 ingredients and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine next 4 ingredients. Gradually add liquid to flour mix. Stir until just combined and fold in cranberries and apple. Spoon into 12 (greased) muffin cups and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, or until center is springy.