Recipe Apple Crumble Muffins

[The Late Night Gourmet]

I am not someone who bakes very often. It's not because I'm afraid of it: rather, I know that baked goods tend to not be the healthiest, though I know that not everyone agrees with that. . So, baking is not something that I can just throw together and expect good results. In this case, I did a lot of research, and came up with a recipe I liked. I modified it a bit, but the result wouldn't have been as good without this recipe as an inspiration:

Apple Crumble Muffins

Ingredients

Crumble

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
6 Tbsp light butter melted

Muffins

1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 small Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 F and line a muffin tin with paper liners. I was able to get 16 muffins from this recipe.

2. Prepare the crumble by whisking together flour, sugars and cinnamon.

3. Pour the melted butter into the mixture and, using a fork, stir until crumbles form, continuing until all the flour is incorporated. Set aside.

4. Juice the lemon. Add 1/2 teaspoon of it to the milk and allow to curdle for 5 minutes. Reserve the rest of the juice for later.

5. Use a blender on low to combine the oil, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and milk. Blend until fully integrated.

6. Lightly beat eggs separately. With the blender on low, stream into the bowl gradually until combined. While still blending, add the vanilla extract until combined.

7. In separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

8. With the blender on low, blend flour mixture into wet mixture. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides until there are no dry spots, and blend until just combined.

9. Melt the tablespoon of butter in a large pan. Add the apple pieces to the pan and stir to coat. Add remaining lemon juice to the pan and stir to coat. Stir occasionally for about 5 minutes, then set aside to cool.

10. Gently fold the apple pieces into the batter in the bowl.

11. Divide batter into prepared muffin tins, allowing some room at the top of each for the crumble.

12. Top each muffin with the crumble topping, splitting evenly among muffins.

13. Bake for 15 minutes, then rotate the pans - back to front - and cook for another 10 minutes. Check with a toothpick to ensure that they've baked enough: they're done when the toothpick comes out cleanly.

14. Remove muffins from the pan and allow to cool.

 

[Mountain Cat]

I'm not much of a baked goods person, either. But I've done muffins and such for company, or back in my working days, for bake sales. Apple definitely improves muffins! (In my book).