Most Favorite Muffins

Happy Friday!

I am going to share with you all a recipe that we love around here. But there is a story behind it. I think of it every time I make them. Which is often.

When the Coach and I were married, my very best friend was our Maid of Honor. She and I had known each other for about five years. We had flown back and forth to visit one another, we had gone on several over seas mission trips together. We were sisters. Kindred Spirits. This was before the days of cell phones and e-mail. But we wrote letters. Hundreds of them. And we ran up long-distance phone bills like crazy.

My being married was hard for her. We had shared everything with each other. And suddenly I belonged to the Coach. She loved him, though. And we worked on our friendship, in spite of the fact that I had a baby right away and was soon expecting another.

The week my 2nd child was born, her mother died. I was sick that I couldn't be there for her. But I had a new baby and it wasn't possible. So I scheduled a trip when our baby would be 8 weeks old.

It was hard to see her. She had lived through watching her mother die from cancer. She was caring for her grieving, lonely, father. And she missed her momma. A lot.

But we had a wonderful visit. I saw the new home that her momma had designed and seen finished before her death. She told me about the last few days, about the funeral, about all that had gone on. It was heartbreaking. But it was good.

I loved her Momma, too. She was a lady. A Southern gentlewoman. She wore skirts and heels all of the time and hats to church on Sunday. She had long hair that she fixed in a twist in the back. And she loved her three girls and their friends. Most of all, she loved Jesus.

During that visit, my friend shared the grief with me, but she also took great care to be the hostess that her mother had always been. She had planned healthy meals, places to go, lunches out, and shopping. Although I didn't realize it at the time, being tired with a newborn and and missing my little family at home, I see now that it must have been very hard for her.

The years have passed and although we kept up for awhile, we don't talk, anymore. She's married, now. Has two children that I know of. I've never met her husband, or her children. And I haven't heard from her in two years.

But every time I make these muffins I think of her. My sweet friend. Who shared all of the fun of girlhood, all of the lessons of those mission trips, the joy of my falling in love. I miss her.

She made this recipe during that week I visited.

Hope you enjoy it!

Spice Muffins

1 Cup Butter
2 Cups Sugar
2 Eggs
2 Cups Applesauce
3 t Cinnamon
2 t Allspice
1/2 t Cloves
1 t Salt
2 t Baking Soda
4 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 C Chopped Pecans

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs. Add applesauce and spices, mix well. Mix in dry ingredients and fold in pecans. Bake at 350 for approx. 20 min. (for regular size muffin tins) in greased muffin pans.
Makes 30 muffins.
Sprinkle warm muffins with powdered sugar.

* These are the best when you use freshly ground flour. Sometimes I don't have time to get out the grinder, or I'm out of wheat, in which case store bought Whole Wheat flour is fine.