Apple Picking & Memorable Muffins

There are some days where there is not a cloud in sight.

A day when the sun is bright and your cares seem to melt away.

Saturday was a perfect day for “pick your own” peaches!

We filled this entire box with the most delicious peaches. They are one of Conor’s favorite fruits.  These peaches were just superb.  Can you see how juicy they are?

How perfect they are, happily nesting in the shade of the tree!  Until we grabbed them.  I wish you could smell how sweet they are; almost as sweet as the sunshine.

We picked a lot of peaches but we picked even more apples.  Apples are John’s favorite.  The orchard was full of fresh and crisp – Cortlands, Baldwins, Macintosh and few other varieties.

As soon as we got home, I started baking and the house smelled of apple and peach heaven.  I made granola (not with apples), apple muffins and apple and peach crumble.  Does this happen to you? Where you just feel the intense need to bake?

I was going to make an apple cake but then I came across this recipe from the Captain Lord Mansion in Maine.  One week a year we’d visit this beautiful B & B as a vacation from our restaurant.

Have I ever told you that I grew up in a restaurant?!?  Yes, quite literally I grew up in a restaurant.  My parents owned a colonial mansion named Baldwin’s (built by the creator of the Baldwin apple).  It was a beautiful restaurant with period details and small dining rooms with flickering candle light and a English style bar.  The days were long and every day was a work day.  No rest for the weary but we had so many wonderful regulars.

Anyway, July 4th week we’d shut the restaurant and go on holiday to escape to the refreshing views of Kennebunkport and the lovely rooms of the Captain Lord Mansion.  While in Maine, we’d awake to the most delicious home-cooked breakfasts: croissants, fresh baked goods, cold pitchers of orange juice and brewed coffee.  All served family style in this historic home.

Well, flipping through my recipe cards, I found this one for apple muffins and these muffins took me right back to days where the cares just rolled off my back.

Where my parents and I talked of the future and what would be….

Where I’d idle the day away reading by the sea….

Or where spent an evening playing chess with my dad.

Baking these muffins with my boys reminded me of those wonderful July 4th weeks, away from the restaurant, in Maine.

Captain Lord Mansion’s Apple Muffins
– Peel & Chop fine, 1 large apple or 2 medium

In a large bowl mix 
– 4TBL melted margarine (I used butter)
– 1 egg
– 1 C. Milk

In separate bowl mix
– 2 C flour
– 3 tsp. baking powder
– 1/2 tsp. salt
– 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
– 1/2 C sugar

Add dry into wet & blend until just moist.

Fold in 2/3 of chopped apple.

Fill greased muffin tins & place remaining apples on top.

Sprinkle over top of each muffin a mixture of:
– 1/4 C sugar
– 1/2 tsp. cinnamon (I just used my antique shaker filled with cinnamon and sugar)

Bake 20-25 minutes at 375F.  Makes 12 muffins.

They are perfect.  Not too big, not too sweet just right.  Perfection; just like a day when there’s not a cloud in sight.  A day where you can breath the fresh air and pick nature’s gifts right off the trees.

Sharing with: