Marlboro Man, the kids, and I are in Colorado this week. We stay in the same place whenever we come here, and one of the challenges is always figuring out what everyone’s going to eat. This is one of my favorite snacks to whip up when we’re away from home, when all I have at my disposal is a single cookie sheet, an oven, a few other basic kitchen items, and whatever grocery staples I pick up at the supermarket the day we arrive.
Hyacinth first enlightened me about this kid-friendly (and mom-friendly, and dad-friendly, and anyone-friendly) snack years and years ago when we first started homeschooling our kids and we used to swap easy recipe ideas; these delicious wonders were all the rage among homeschooling moms (well, all moms!) at the time. They’re a cinch to whip up, and perfectly satisfying for a handful of kids. Think of them as little portable apple-peanut butter pies!
I made a batch yesterday after we finished skiing (Breaking News: I did not fall) and I decided to take a walk on the wild side and take pics of the process for you. It was kind of fun to do a cooking post in a foreign land!
Well, if you can call Colorado foreign. Which you can’t. So never mind.
Start with an apple or two or nineteen, depending on how many Apple Peanut Butter Delights you wish to wind up with.
These are Honeycrisp. I am obsessed.
If you have an apple corer, you can cut out the core. If you don’t, like I didn’t, just cut around the core like this!
Then just slice the apple pieces…
Into really thin slices. The apples will only cook in the oven for a short time, so the thinner you can go, the better.
Next, grab some English muffins! These are whole wheat, but you can use whatever kind you like.
Grab about a tablespoon of peanut butter per English muffin half…
And smear it all over the surface in an even layer.
Then come the apples! Lay a few slices on top, stacking them here and there.
And yes. Sometime before 2016, I hope to remove the last of the glitter polish from my thumbnail. It just hasn’t been much of a squeaky wheel lately.
It’s a good thing God doesn’t care about what fingernails look like.
Now, to make these delights especially delightful, throw some sugar and a little cinnamon into a bowl.
And mix it together.
I bought the very smallest size of sugar the supermarket had, but this was the smallest cinnamon container they had. If I were smart, I would have brought back the cinnamon I bought last year, or if I’d been really smart, the cinnamon I bought the year before that.
But who remembers to pack cinnamon when they’re going on a family vacation?
Not I, that’s who.
Next, sprinkle the mixture over the top of each muffin.
I’m pretty generous with the cinnamon sugar, because eventually it will caramelize under the broiler in the oven and…well, again, that’s where the whole *delightful* thing comes in.
Then just pop the pan into a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes for the first stage.
And here’s what will happen during that 10 minutes: The English muffin will toast slightly. The peanut butter will become warm and gooey. The apples will soften slightly. And the cinnamon-sugar mixture will settle into the whole thing and create a miracle.
But the miracle’s not over yet.
After this stage, turn on the broiler and pop the pan back into the oven on one of the lower racks for 2 to 3 minutes. Watch them the whole time to make sure they don’t burn….and here’s what will happen during that 2 to 3 minutes…
The edges of the English muffins will get slightly crisper, the apples will get nice and hot, and the cinnamon-sugar mixture will bubble and caramelize, and…
Well, it’s just darn delicious.
And here are some variations:
* Use softened butter instead of peanut butter. You’ll wind up with nice little apple pie treats.
* Use brown sugar instead of white sugar. Or do a mix of white and brown!
* Add a sprinkle of nutmeg to the cinnamon-sugar mixture.
* Change up the bread you use: Bagels, cinnamon-raisin bread, sourdough…yum!
Here’s the handy dandy printable. Enjoy!
