This fruit thing has really taken off. I polished up this pitcher that Lois bought at my grandparents estate sale. No one seems to know where it came from. It has no significance as far as sentimental value but it really makes a statement of it’s own.
I stayed up pretty late last night doing some editing and finally decided to call it quits. Well, wouldn’t you know, I woke up extra early this morning and decided to get and do something useful. I immediately thought of apple muffins and then remembered that we had only 1 egg in the house. There goes Murphy’s Law again. The rare occasion that I have plenty of time to do some baking and we have 1 solitary egg in the house.
So I pulled out this recipe I got from my friend Sonya (who I believe might occasionally drop in here). It is a delicious Apple Streusel Muffin recipe. I had to cut the recipe in half, due to the lone egg. I got a total of 6 muffins out of it.
Since I had the inspiration last week to buy sausage (take that, Murphy!) so I made some sausage gravy served over hominy. Anyone else eat hominy? Love that stuff. Sometimes we toss it with crumbled fried sausage and the pour tomato gravy over it.
Anyway, does anyone want to come eat some fruit with me? We have plenty and the grapes are getting kind of ripe. I invited 2 of the high school girls over this evening in case they want to practise some still life shots for student convention next spring. Never too early to start. I believe one young lady got hers printed the day they left for convention. 
And yeah, as to where these were taken, we have this 400 year old castle around here (best kept secret ever) and the walls are all cracked and stuff, and it’s got beautiful old furniture in it. And it was such beautiful spot that I had to go back and revisit it with fruit in tow. Kidding, kidding! In all actuality, these were taken somewhere in my house. See if you can figure out what piece of *furniture* the fruit is setting on!!
I have this flash, that is 20-25 years old, for my camera and this is the third camera I’ve used it on and it’s still working fine. I bounced it off the ceiling for nice indirect lighting. Love to bounce the flash. Great fun! (Okay, the geek is leaving now.)
The muffins:
Apple Streusel Muffins
2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 1/4 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c. chopped apples
Mix dry ingredients together. Whisk eggs, butter and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients and fold in apples. Fil muffin tins 3/4 full.
Mix:
1/3 c. brown sugar
1 T. flour
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1 T. cold butter
together for the streusel topping. Sprinkle it on top of the muffin batter. Bake at 375* for 15-20 minutes. Let cool and the drizzle with icing:
3/4 c. powdered sugar
1 T. milk
1/2 tsp. butter
1/8 tsp. vanilla
dash of salt
I love Pampered Chef’s chopper. It took me about 2 minutes to peel, core and chop 1 medium apple, which makes almost exactly 1 cup.
The batter is quite thick. Only stir it until it’s mixed together. This is before the streusel topping.
Fresh out of the oven:
Mix the icing ingredients together in a ziploc bag. Snip of a tiny bit of the corner and use it as a tip to drizzle it over the muffins.
Yup. They’re really good. Eat them warm and you don’t need anything else on them. But butter and homemade jam is really good too.
Oh yeah. And you might want to see my new fruit pictures. I must say I really, really like them. They’re edited out the wazoo but this is art.
11×14 crop:
16×20 crop:
20×40 crop (different shot):
Chocolate version (somehow I think the color versions are much better):
Okay, I goofed something up with the sizing so I’ll have to re-upload them later. Sorry about that!
My guess is the piece of furniture is Lois’ piano. I will definitely want a copy of this fruit picture with the pitcher whenever we get around to building our house. I’m planning on having a fruit decor (very subdued, however) in my kitchen.
Great pictures once again! I think the 11 x 14 is my favorite. And the muffins..they look delicious…just might have to try that receipe sometime.
I do like the color better. I think you’re having way to much fun! Those muffins look delicious, I think I’l make them for tomorrow morning. And I actually have all the ingredients, except for the eggs. I’ll have one of my children run out and get some. The benefit of living very close to the stores.
yummy, yummy, those things look fabulous! And the pictues…I’ve enjoyed seeing your creativity they oh so gorgeous! Awesome work!
You just about ruined my determination to get rid of these extra pounds that have been adding up. Those muffins looked so good! And you really need to live close to that big brother of yours so he can keep you supplied with nice big brown eggs. I had a real dislike for store bought white eggs when we returned from Romania, as we had good brown ones from the farm over there, and don’t you know here comes Phil one day with his cartons of nice brown eggs. So we make a swap but I better not say what we swap, you ask him.
Those muffins look scrumptious!! I was thinking about making cookies today, but those muffins look somewhat healthier anyway… We’ll see what I decide to do!
And my guess that the furniture piece is your lovely chest of drawers in your bedroom… yes? Your fruit pictures are so beautiful. I love how you’ve been added the Bible verses with them too. I’d like to have more Scripture on the walls in our house, but it’s so hard to find them where they still look classy instead of cheezy. I guess I’m picturing the Amish stores in Lancaster County that the tourists love but not the locals. Anway, all that to say – glad you’re here and doing it! 🙂 I love how it looks like a painting, but for the life of me I can’t figure out how you added the cracked-looking wall behind it. Editing, perhaps? Because I KNOW you don’t have cracked walls in your new house, however much of a castle it may be. 🙂
I just made those muffins tonight for supper and they are scrumptious! Everybody here loved them. MMMmmm! Thank you for the recipe. But no thank you for yet another temptation! The fruit pictures look yummy too, in another way. I’ll keep dreaming for now.
I’m just now catching up on reading some of my subscriptions and wow, i love those fruit pictures! The muffins look wonderful(esp since my stomach is begging for food right now
), but those pictures are what really caught my eye. Great work!
hey, i was just showing one of my friends all your really cool pics, so i thought since i left you so many footprints i would leave a comment to go with them
I just linked to your site with a question….
happy day!
Just checking back in to see if you ever identified the piece of furniture the fruit is on.
@Yoderfamilyof5 – Funny that you should ask that… I was just talking about it recently that I forgot to say what it was. You’re right! It is Lois’ piano.