Apple Cinnammon Muffins
I sat this morning in a cafe adamant to finish paper work and research that needed to be done. I found myself instead day dreaming about baking just that autumnal kind of cake. One that had cinnamon, apples and everything that is warming and wonderful. I have to say though that my day dream did start with a lemony poppy seed muffin and gradually metamorphosed into a caramel apple muffin. Unfortunately that’s part of a Geminian personality, always changeable. Fortunately it works well sometimes. I went straight to the Contessa herself Ina Garten.
Her sour cream apple muffins looked wonderful. I wanted all the goodness of her recipe minus the butter content. So I added 1/4 cup grape seed oil instead and reckoned that the sour cream will add the moistness and fat content it needed. It worked! I also grated the apples as I did not want to bite into a cooked fruit. Fussy eater anyone? A tiny amount of butter goes a long way, so added that on top mixed with cinnamon, walnuts, flour and sugar to get some glaze and sweetness.
On another completely different point I wanted to share with you A Girdle Buster Pie that I baked for my friend Lara’s gorgeous Thanks Giving dinner. The pie did not set in the freezer and we could not serve or eat it. It was a flop! I think it’s useful to sometimes show what also doesn’t work in the kitchen. The recipe states that you pour caramel over the ice cream once it has cooled off, but not set . I made the mistake of not waiting long enough for the caramel to cool off completely and poured it when it was a little warm. It melted the ice cream and for some strange reason the pie did not freeze even after leaving it for 24 hours!
Note: I will be away from this blog for three weeks to work on a current teaching project to tell you all about later.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon BP
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cup granulated brown sugar (plus 2 teaspoons to sprinkle over grated apples)
- 1 cup full fat sour cream
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup grape seed oil or any vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoon Cinnamon and extra for dusting over those apples
- 1 cup broken walnuts
- 2 large apples grated and squeeze a table spoon of lemon juice on top with the cinnamon and 2 teaspoons of sugar
Topping
Mix 1 table spoon cold butter with 2 table spoons flour. Add 1 table spoon sugar, cinnamon and extra chopped walnuts. Sprinkle a small amount over each muffin before baking.
Method
- Preheat the over at 180C. Grate the apples and add the lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon and leave on the side. In a cake mixer, mix together the oil and sugar for five minutes. Add the eggs gradually, vanilla essence and sour cream. In a separate bowl sift the flour, BP,BS, cinnamon and salt. Once you add the dry ingredients to wet ingredients, mix for a few seconds ONLY and fold in the grated apples and walnuts. Pour the batter into 24 or more muffin cases, sprinkle with the butter sugar topping.Bake in the oven for half an hour. Bon Appetite.
Comments
Leave a Comment tomohd
Krishna
November 27, 2012
Yummm…… Miss you & your food Lara. This recipe sounds good, will give it a shot.
Abbed
November 27, 2012
Lara, you write so well and I now have few things to share about this blog:
• The muffins, super Yummy
• Totally agree with the ever changing Geminian personality….I can confirm that
• When are you going to make me my autumnal kind of cake….a straight forward plain cake that I can have over my coffee in the office
• Finally a confession, I actually dipped my finger in the goo of the unsettled gurdle buster pie and it was divine…could have eaten that with a spoon….almost
Big Love
Da fat husband x
Huffen
November 27, 2012
wow i want one now.
Jan
November 28, 2012
Ouuuuuu Lara ! … Soooooo scrumptiously mouth watering !
But those blue paper cups, had they been apple green ! ?
Miss talking to you. Any plans for a Xmas visit ? Pray thee tell.xoxoxo
Jan
mohd
December 3, 2012
Lara your recipe of muffin is mouth watering and wish i were in Dubai to taste it.i like it esp with cinamom that has the inviting smell and special taste.Not to mention the healthy benefit of cinamom.but be awrae of Abbed your husband who secretly puts his fingure in the food to taste before its finished.he says he wants simple cake for his office with his cofee.he must get used to the more sophisticated kinf of cake
besides i like your passion for what u like to cook snd foof in generl as well as your well choen wors in writing
kitchenbutterfly
December 5, 2012
You said it Lara – sometimes we show the thing that didnt work. We too can learn from our failures.
In the same breath, you show your confidence as a great cook – with intuition, knowing what to change and how, and having the confidence to ‘grate the apples’. Well done.
kitchenbutterfly
December 5, 2012
You said it Lara – sometimes we show the thing that didnt work. We too can learn from our failures.
In the same breath, you show your confidence as a great cook – with intuition, knowing what to change and how, and having the confidence to ‘grate the apples’. Well done.
has2106
December 10, 2012
After three weeks of begging, I finally succumbed to your brothers wishes and made him ‘Lara’s cupcakes.’ I must confess, their quite easy to make (although I would ask for more efficient use of bowls…), and more importantly taste DELICIOUS! Thank you!! Your brother is the happiest man on earth right now :o)