Autumn's Offering Muffins

Imagine it's November, and you're surrounded by apples. Apples at the market, apples on the teacher's desk, apples getting hucked at you when you make bad jokes. What are you going to do with all the apples? Well, if you know me you'll guess pretty quickly; it's about damn time for some muffins. Since I love bourbon even more than I love muffins, I figured it was time to combine the two. Here are some tasty little treats to get you through those gray days.

Ingredients

3 cups unbleached flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp ground flax seed
2 - 3 tbsp water
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 cup cane sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 oz honey
1 oz bourbon
2 oz maple syrup
2 skinned, diced apples

1. In a medium saucepan combine sugars, honey, bourbon, syrup, and ½ tbsp of cinnamon.

2.Soak apples in mixture for 15 minutes. Then, while stirring, heat mixture to a rapid boil. After 30 seconds, remove from heat, let sit to cool down.

3. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg in a large mixing bowl.

4. In a small bowl, mix flax seed with 2 tbsp water, stirring vigorously (mix in blender or food processor if available). Consistency should be thick and creamy. Add more water if necessary.

5. Add flax seed combination as well as apple reduction to the dry ingredients. Mix well, but do not over mix.

6. Pour batter into muffin pans, bake @ 425 for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. 

This should make about 2 dozen small muffins, 16 normal sized muffins, or 12 huge muffins if you're lucky enough to have oversized muffin pans... I hope you're that lucky.  Also, if you're a big bourbon fan - it won't ruin the recipe to add another ounce or two (which is one or two "shots") to give you that good ol' Kentucky taste.