My contribution to Novel Foods #37 is Apple Spice Muffins. It’s been quite some time since I’ve participated in Simona’s wonderful event that she hosts on her blog, briciole. Fortunately, Novel Foods #37 came along right when I started blogging again.

The inspiration for apple spice muffins is a cozy mystery series that I just recently stumbled across - the Magical Bakery Mysteries by Bailey Cates. I love cozy mysteries that involve food, especially those set in a bakery. In this particular series, our intrepid heroine, Katie Lightfoot, also happens to be a witch. A good one, of course. She happens to belong to a coven that includes her Aunt Lucy, with whom she also owns the Honeybee Bakery. Katie is just discovering her witchy powers, as her mom and dad (also witches) tried to protect her from the witch world. Of course, Katie is also caught up in a love triangle of sorts with the Druid Steve and the firefighter, non-witch, Declan. Plus, Katie has an adorable familiar in the form of a Cairn Terrier named Mungo. Because, it’s a cozy mystery, of course.

Lucy and Katie infuse all their baked goods with witchy positivity, which takes the form of various spices and herbs. I’m definitely going to be making lavender biscotti and cheddar sage scones that get referenced several times in the first few books at some point this winter. In the meantime, apple spice muffins seem like they are a perfect spell for happiness on a cozy, rainy winter day. I’ll be curling up with a cup of tea, and the third book in the series, Charms and Chocolate Chips, with one of these muffins.