Sourdough Discard Apple Crisp Muffins

     One of the most overlooked fall flavors is apple! Well, overlooked in my house at least, we have a bit of a pumpkin obsession here so sometimes we miss out on the apple hype every fall. Well, today while I was feeding my starter I decided to use the discard to make pumpkin muffins. To my dismay, I opened my cabinet to find out that I was fresh out of pumpkin!! I had already set my heart on a muffin featuring fall flavors so I couldn't just make some with frozen berries or chocolate chips, I needed fall! That was when I spotted the big bag of apples I just bought. Of course! Apple! 

    I quick grabbed a couple apples, diced them up, and threw them into my cast iron skillet with some butter, cinnamon, and a splash of water. My muffin recipe only bakes for 10-15 minutes and I knew that was far from enough time for the apples to soften inside the muffin so I wanted to cook them a bit before putting them in the batter to avoid an unpleasantly crunchy muffin. I only cut up two apples to put in my muffins but in hindsight I should have cut up a third so that you were guaranteed to get one in every bite. 

    While my apples were cooking, I put my butter and sugar into my stand mixer and let 'er rip (on medium) until they were smooth and lighter in color. Once those were well combined, I lowered my mixer to the low speed setting and added in my eggs one at a time, yogurt, sourdough discard, and milk. I continued to mix everything until it was smooth once again. Then, I turned off my stand mixer and added in my flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. I let my mixer go again on medium/low until the dry streaks just started to go away. By then, my apples were nice and soft but not mushy so I added them into the batter and let my mixer finish mixing everything in. With muffins, I am always very careful not to over mix the batter or else they might not fluff up the way you want them to. 

    Before I scooped my batter into my muffin tin, I lined it with cupcake wrappers. I filled each one almost to the top with batter so I would end up with nice domed tops that. Before I stuck my muffins in the oven I made a quick crumble for the tops out of melted butter, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon and sprinkled on top of each muffin. They then baked for 15 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit. 

    Once my muffins were done I pulled them out of the oven to cool for a few minutes before they were promptly devoured by my family. They were so tasty and a perfect taste of fall without the pumpkin. Although I am a die hard pumpkin fan, I will definitely be making these again! These also include sourdough discard for a little extra gut support without being able to tell the difference in flavor. My husband didn't even notice that they were a little different!

    What did you think of this recipe? Questions? Comments? Concerns? Use the comment section below! Thanks for reading!