Let there be light…in the morning at least

Happy end of Daylight Savings Time, y’all! I hope technological advancements (aka your iPhone) made this time change a little easier on you than in years past. And congratulations to those of you whose car clock is finally accurate again after 6 months of ‘just looking at the minutes.’ Tricky little things, aren’t they?

Ok. So raise your hand if you’re more excited for the early morning daylight that comes when Daylight Savings Time ends than the extra hour of partying.

(Slowly raises hand)

Guilty.

You’re not too old yet points for those of you who still remember which college bar stayed open an extra hour for you back when you were more excited about the extra hour of party time.

Station 211. Excellent. (p.s. for all you U of I alums out there, Station is now the Red Lion)

Don’t get me wrong I still cry every day a little from November until April when it’s pitch black by the time I leave work. As a person who does a lot of activities in the evening, I often find myself thinking:

WTF, DST?

I’ve got a dog to walk, errands to run and a workout to get in before dinner. Why are you making it feel like midnight all the time?

But the older I get the more I realize how much I’m turning into my mom. Most days actually, but especially this time of year.

You see, my mom is an early riser. Always has been. At least for my lifespan. Come to think of it, her early rising likely started because of my sister and I but that’s beside the point. On the average morning, you can bet you can scare find her in the kitchen, coffee brewing and usually paging through a cookbook deciding what to bake. If you by chance beat her downstairs, she’ll assume 1) you just got home, 2) something is incredibly wrong or 3) something is incredibly wrong.

The truth is, the older I get, the earlier I seem to rise as well. If I had to break it down I think it’s about 70% adulthood, 20% puppy-caused and 10% exercise-driven.

Speaking of puppy-caused, Finn got a little bored with the extra hour Sunday and decided to take up woodworking. He beavered the other side of this leg a few months ago. Guess he wants to keep things even. Can you tell how accustomed he’s become to the dog-shaming photos I make him sit for?

Anywho, whenever I’m home for a visit, I like to scare my mom and wake up early right along with her. I’m sure I’ll be the same way when I have kids. Constantly questioning why they aren’t still in bed and offering them an assortment of juice and milk before they finally convince me that their near-30 year-old self would actually like to drink the cup of coffee he or she just poured.

So in keeping with the early-rising/baking/mom theme, the end of Daylight Savings Time seemed like the perfect time to make a batch of my mom’s pumpkin apple muffins. That and I was up super early, drinking a cup of coffee and paging through cookbooks.

Pumpkin Apple Muffins with Streusel Topping

• 2 1/2 C flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 TBL pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, allspice, ginger and nutmeg)
• 2 C sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 C pumpkin
• 1/2 C oil
• 2 C peeled and chopped apples (I used honeycrisp)
• 1/2 C golden raisins
• Streusel topping (1 TBL flour, 1 TBL sugar, 3 TBL butter, cinnamon)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, whisk flour, salt, baking soda and spices together.

In another bowl (or stand mixer) combine eggs, pumpkin, oil and sugar.

Add dry ingredients into wet until just combined. Avoid over-mixing. Add apples and raisins to batter.

Prepare muffin tins with non-stick spray or liners. Fill each 3/4 full. Top each with 1 tsp streusel.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool on wire rack.

These make a great breakfast or dessert. The apples melt into the muffin and the streusel topping adds a nice crunch. This batch makes 22-24 muffins but they are hearty enough to freeze for later.

I’m happy with the outcome but as most things, nothing tastes as good as when your mom makes it. And I know it’s just me because my mom is too nice to conveniently leave out recipe ingredients like I’ve heard some do.

If I’m out-of-pocket this week it’s because I’m traveling to San Francisco. I hope to catch up next week and share some photos of the city by the Bay.

Have a great week!