19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Monday, August 24 – Thursday, August 27, 1914: For lack of something to write.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
This is the third of four days that Grandma combined into one entry. Since Grandma didn’t give me much to go on today, I’m going to share an old recipe for Crab Apple Muffins.
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A hundred years ago farm family meals in August were generally based on foods which were in season. I wonder whether Grandma’s family had a crab apple tree.
Crab apples are ripe here. A crab apple recipe that I especially enjoy is Crab Apple Muffins. The chopped crab apples give the muffins a wonderful, flavorful, tart zest.
Crab Apple Muffins
2 eggs
2/3 cup butter, melted
2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/4 cups flour
2 cups chopped crab apples *
Preheat oven to 350° F. Combine eggs, melted butter, vanilla, white sugar, and brown sugar in a bowl. Stir in baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda. Add flour, and stir until combined. Add the chopped crab apples. Grease muffin tins, and then fill each muffin cup approximately 2/3 full with batter. Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until lightly browned.
Makes approximately 24 muffins.
*Core crab apples before chopping, but do not peel.
A Hundred Years Ago 
I love the sound of this recipe! And we’ll have crab apples soon . . .
I think that you’d like it. My husband and I finished the crab apple muffins that I made when I took this photo tonight–and he said that I should make some more soon.
This will be a good recipe to have when our crab apples ripen. Making jelly with them all the time gets a bit boring.
I’ve enjoyed trying various crab apple recipes over the past few years. It you like crab apples you may also want to try the Spiced Crab Apple and Crab Apple Chutney recipes that I posted in previous years.
Yes, I had a look at those. They look delicious. I am keen to try them too. We won’t see any crab apples till about April or May 2015. We had your cobbler again this week. It is a firm favourite!
I’m a little jealous that spring is just arriving in New Zealand. The days are getting decidedly shorter here–and it’s starting to feel a bit like autumn. It’s nice to hear that the cobbler has become a favorite recipe.
Sounds like your grandmother is in a post vacation funk!
I agree!. . . though I’m hoping that she’ just distracted.
I’ve never made anything with crabapples, but there are plenty around right now so this just might be the time to try the recipe.
You should try cooking with them. They have a nice tart taste.
I don’t remember anyone in the family ever making anything with crabapples. We kids just threw them at one another.
Hmm. . . well, I guess that’s another use for them. 🙂
We never hurt each other, but we sure had fun!
It sounds sort of like a snow ball fight–but in the summer. 🙂
I love tarty, fruity desserts!
Diana xo
So do I.
Delicious!
We had a crab apple tree when I was growing up. I remember it being messy and if you weren’t careful you would go sliding on the crab apples that fell to the ground. But I never had crab apple muffins!
I have the best of all worlds. The crab apple tree (and thus the mess) is in a friend’s yard. She gives me some crab apples each year, but I don’t have to deal with the mess.
That does sound great!
I just tried these because our crabapple tree is loaded this year. So far we have taken off over 100 lbs of crabapples and we are only about 1/5 done 😦 These were really good – I just wish they used more crabapples 🙂 I will definitely make them again – I especially like the use of brown sugar in the recipe. Yummy!
Wow, your tree sure must be loaded with crab apples. It’s wonderful to hear that you enjoyed this recipe.
These are great! I like the contrast of the sweet batter with the tart apples. I made them gluten-free, using 3 or 4 different flours, and they still tasted good!
I’m glad you liked it. Thanks for taking a moment to tell me about how you adapted the recipe. It’s wonderful to know that this recipe works well with a variety of flours.
Suggestion for this wonderful old fashion crab apple muffins. First time I made them I followed it to a tee and made about a dozen and a half. I like them plump and moist so second time I only made a baker’s dozen…fill the cups almost full…also my secret for nice moist muffins is at the end after blending in the apples, drizzle 1/4 cup oil and blend in. If you can manage to leave a few in the fridge for a couple of days, they will totally improve in texture and very nice and tart and moist! Thank you for this great memory.
Gloria
Thanks for sharing how you refined the recipe. Your suggestions sound wonderful.
I would like to try this recipe.. 😉
Is there another liquid missing from this recipe? As my mix is crumble not a batter. Usually buttermilk is added, that is in one of my other muffin recipes. I am going to add some buttermilk to thin into a batter and see how I get.
I too have a very full crabapple tree, and never before made anything with them. I have made the spiced crab apple recipe and it is beautiful, Will definately be making that again.
The batter is very thick – even almost a dough, but it bakes up fine. There may also be variation across brands of flour with some requiring more liquid than others.
Thank you for your suggestion. I did add buttermilk and they turned out fine, so will just play around with the recipe.
I used my frozen crab apples, thawed them in the microwave and left in the liquid that came out of them in the batter. Batter was still quite thick, almost like a cookie dough but not crumbly.