A couple weeks ago, in the beginning stages of November, I had a strong hankering for apple muffins. I was reading a book where one of the main characters kept making them and I just couldn’t resist the temptation anymore. I found this recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction and the rest is really history.
Let’s start with the streusel crumb topping, shall we? It’s what elevates these simple muffins into items of historic greatness. Melt 1/4 cup butter in a bowl, then dump in 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon. Give that a good stirring.
Then add in 2/3 cup all-purpose flour and mix it up with a fork or your hands.
You’re going to get a lovely crumbly mix. Set that aside for a minute.
Now, preheat your oven to 425°F. I know that seems high, but don’t worry, we’ve got a plan. You might want to grease or butter a muffin tin while you’re at it. I also set 2 large eggs in a bowl of warm water to bring them to room temperature. Because I didn’t plan ahead.
In the bowl of your mixer, cream 1/2 cup room temperature butter until all fluffy and amazing. Then add in 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup granulated sugar and beat that up again.
Then add in your 2 large eggs and beat until fully combined. Don’t forget to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Now add in 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, and 1/2 cup yogurt (any flavour). You can use sour cream if you have no yogurt. I had neither sour cream nor yogurt, so I used buttermilk. Well, I had no buttermilk either, so I used milk that I had soured with lemon juice.
Now, peel and chop up 2 medium apples – you want about 1 1/2 cups diced apples for this. Can you peel your apple all in one piece? It’s one of my special skills.
In another large bowl, whisk together 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour with 1 teaspoon baking powder, and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon. The original recipe also calls for a teaspoon of baking soda but I found I could really taste it in the muffin so I would leave it out.
Add your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
Plop in your apples and 1/4 cup milk (any kind) and mix that up again.
Scoop that glorious stuff into your prepared muffin tin, filling the whole cup.
Sprinkle generously with the streusel topping and shove that in the oven. Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F, then reduce the heat to 350°F and bake for a further 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the centre muffin comes out clean.
While the muffins were baking, I glanced out the window and the bright sunny day had suddenly become a blizzard.
And then the sun came out again. Though the snow kept falling.
Set the hot muffins on a wire rack to cool down and start on your glaze.
Whisk together 1 cup icing sugar with 3 tablespoons heavy cream and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.
Drizzle that insanity over your still warm muffins.
Eat these glorious gems within a couple days, as they will tend to get soggy over time.
Ali Does It Herself 