Roasted Apple and Black Raspberry Corn Muffins
Hello, everyone!I hope you had a great holiday, i.e., a lot of good food and merry company.
I can pretty much guess what you guys had for dinner last night but how about breakfast?Is it usually as festive and elaborate and sets the tone for the rest of the day? Or does your family prefer it to be on the light side in anticipation of a richer meal later? And is there such a thing as lunch on Thanksgiving Day?
I must admit I am divided on this one. We do like to save room to try everything that’s on the menu, a variety of pies included, yet a good breakfast is essential to jump-starting your metabolism and fueling you through cooking all those delicacies.I’d say we nibble on things all day long, especially me as I cook. Kevin doesn’t have it as easy—you can’t touch the bird until the great moment of carving, can you?
This year, instead of the traditional cornbread or biscuits to accompany the big meal, I made a bunch of cornbread muffins for a late breakfast on Thanksgiving morning.Flavorful and substantial, they were heavenly with a cup of coffee and tied us over nicely until turkey time, although not without a couple snatched up in between.Well, perhaps more than a couple.And our dinner was at a decent hour of 3 p.m.But you get the idea.I used frozen raspberries from Jacobs Family Berry Farm and, although not a fan of too many things frozen, loved working with them. I think on the farm, they take care to freeze each berry individually before packaging, and so you don’t end up with a frozen solid berry block.But you are welcome to use fresh berries instead.I hope you are not going to wait till next Thanksgiving to give this delicious recipe a try though.I also hope to hear your thoughts on how you plan your meals on holidays. 
Recipe for Olga’s Original Roasted Apple and Black Raspberry Corn Muffins (GF) *Ingredients:1. 2 large Jonagold apples, peeled, cored, and sliced into 8 wedges each2. 1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise, seeds scraped3. 2 ½ tablespoons natural cane sugar4. 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice5. ¾ cup (95g) brown rice flour6. ¼ cup (30g) arrowroot starch7. 1 cup (170g) stone-ground yellow cornmeal8. 2 teaspoons double acting baking powder9. ½ teaspoon baking soda10. ½ teaspoon kosher sea salt11. 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon12. 2 duck eggs, at room temperature and lightly beaten13. 1 cup low-fat kefir or buttermilk, at room temperature14. ¼ cup honey15. 35 g coconut butter, melted16. 1 1/3 cups fresh or frozen raspberriesDirections:1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.2. In a small bowl, combine apple wedges, vanilla bean and seeds, and sugar; let macerate 5-10 minutes.3. Transfer apple mixture to a roasting pan and roast until apples are very soft and caramelized around edges, about 15-18 minutes. Let cool completely.4. Once cool, discard vanilla bean and puree apples in a food processor or blender and set aside. You need ½ cup roasted apple puree.5. Decrease oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 18 regular size muffin cups with paper liners; set aside.6. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.7. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, kefir, honey, apple puree, and coconut butter.8. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened.9. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.10. Sprinkle raspberries on top and press gently.11. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown and a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.12. Cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from muffin cups; serve warm.Makes 1 ½ dozen muffinsNotes:* developed at an altitude of 4500 feet above sea level