Apple Streusel Muffins

It's been a long time, eh? Sorry about that. Besides being on holiday for a week, I took a little break from baking, mostly because it's almost Christmas and I do an extraordinary amount of baking for Christmas.

But, as it's Halloween, in the UK retail world tomorrow marks the official beginning of the Christmas season. And I really can't let autumn pass by, Halloween especially, without some seasonal baking.

Apples and pumpkin. Short of candy corn and cranberries, they are the staples of autumn baking. (Can you bake with candy corn, actually? Perhaps I'll experiment on that in the next few days...) Had I not used the last of the eggs for today's muffins today would have provided a double feature, these apple muffins and something else with the pumpkin puree that's s

itting in my fridge. Alas, no more eggs. And it's too rainy to go to the shop.

So it's just the muffins today. But they are plenty. Delicious with spice, nutty on top, great with a cup of Chai Spiced tea.

The recipe calls for flaxseed but I don't have any in the cupboard (can you believe Tesco want 5 quid for a box?). I substituted wheat germ instead, which worked fine. If you don't have either, perhaps whole wheat flour will suffice. Try it and see.

1 cup flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp apple pie spice (see notes below)

1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

2 tbsp canola oil

3/4 cup shredded apple with peel

2 tbsp chopped pecans

1 tbsp flaxseed

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350/gas 4.

Sift both flours, baking powder, sugar, salt and spices together. Make a well in the centre, set aside.

Beat eggs. Stir in milk and oil. Add to the flour mix. Stir together until just moistened. Fold in apple. Spoon into 12 muffin cups.

Combine pecans, flaxseed and sugar. Cut in butter until it looks like bread crumbs. Spoon on top of muffins.

Bake 18-20 minutes until skewer inserted comes out clean. They won't look that golden on top so don't overbake (I think I did a little). Check with a toothpick at 18 minutes to be sure then go from there.

For the apple pie spice, as it's not something sold in the UK (this is an American company's recipe), mix together 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/8 allspice and 1/8 tsp ground cardamom. This will produce more than the 1 tsp necessary but just barely. Feel free to make a bigger batch and store in your spice cupboard. I did.

Spiced Courgette Cake Muffins

Happy September! I have to say, this is now my favorite time of year, from now until January 2nd. I hate January and even the New Year's Day hangover is better than the entire month. But from September 1st till then is absolutely fabulous.

Is it my favorite time of year because the potential for baking is doubled compared to the spring? May be, but even before I fell in love with baking I loved the autumn. Smell of sharpened pencils, leaves on the lawns and crisp air is wonderful. I even enjoyed going back to school! Of course, fall semester in America means Homecoming, football games, back to school dances and pep rallies.

Possibly this autumn I'll attempt to capture that new school year-meets end of calendar year feeling. The sense of something beginning whilst at the same time, nature is getting set to hunker down for the year.

In the mean time I still have summer harvest courgettes to use up!

2 tbsp sunflower oil

100g plain flour

100g wholewheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

2 tbsp caster sugar

2 egg whites

5 tbsp skimmed milk

225g (8oz can) pineapple in chunks, drained of juice and mashed

250g grated courgette/zucchini

40g sultanas or raisins

40g chopped walnuts

Grease or line a muffin pan. Preheat oven to 190C/375F/5.

Sift together both flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger into mixing bowl. Add the caster sugar and stir.

Whisk together egg whites in small bowl. Mix in the milk and oil. Add mashed pineapple, courgette, sultanas and nuts. Stir together gently. Add fruit mix to flour mix. Stir until just combined, don't overmix.

Divide batter evenly between 12 muffin cases. Bake 20-25 minutes or until risen and golden.

These are relatively moist but if you want a really good frosting, mix together 8oz any soft cheese (quark, cream cheese, marscapone etc) with 1 1/2 tbsp caster sugar, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Let muffins cool slightly before frosting; you don't want to curdle your cheese. Sprinkle with cinnamon or perhaps finely chopped nuts.

This is quite a healthy recipe, especially if you use low- or reduced-fat cheese to top.

Sorry for lack of pictures, again. These things just get eaten too quickly!

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

As strange as it is, one of my favourite vegetables to grow on my allotment is courgette. No one else really likes it, mainly because generally we end up with more marrow then zucchini, but I love how much you get from one plant and actually how much you can do with one courgette.

I probably also like it because you can bake cakes from it!

I didn't get a chance to try this recipe with last year's crop. As soon as I pulled the first courgette of the summer, I couldn't wait to give it a go.

Zucchini and chocolate seems weird but actually the zucchini makes the muffin moist and helps bulk it out. You don't actually taste zucchini.

I actually got this recipe from a collection of Weight Watcher recipes. The zucchinis take the place of some of the fat and milk. It's a good low-fat and low-calorie tea-time treat and can be baked as either a loaf or muffins.

1 cup flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

2 egg whites

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup applesauce

1/4 cup vegetable or sunflower oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 oz chocolate pieces

2 cups shredded zucchini/courgette

325/gas 4

Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar.

Whisk eggs, applesauce, oil and vanilla. Add dry mix gradually. Fold in zucchini and chocolate pieces.

Pour into prepared load tin or muffin tins. If muffins, bake 20-25 minutes, or until tops of muffins spring back. If a tea loaf, baking 55-60 minutes or until skewer inserted comes out clean.

Let cool entirely.

You can also add 1/2 cup walnuts in with the zucchini if you wish. I omitted them in mine to keep it lower in fat and calories.

Honey Banana Cake

Last week a co-worker, Kerry, gave me a jar of honey from his neighbor's bees (aptly titled Wayne Hooney. hehe.) Oh boy! The baking possibilities were seemingly endless. So I decided to take a go at a few different honey-based recipes. 

The nice thing about honey recipes is because the honey takes the place of sugar and some of the fat, the end result is generally healthier than honeyless baked goods. These muffins are low-fat and don't have a lot of calories compared to other muffins (ahem, Starbucks!) The banana and the honey mixed together mean you need almost no butter/margarine at all. 

The following was originally a cake recipe so feel free to try either.

Honey Banana Muffins

2oz butter or margarine

1 tbsp honey

1tbsp brown sugar

4oz self-raising flour

pinch cinnamon

1 egg

1 med banana, mashed

pinch salt

Beat butter or margarine with honey and sugar. Add egg and banana, beat well until mixed. Add sifted flour, salt and cinnamon. Mix until just moistened. 

Bake gas mark 4 for 18-20 or until browned and the tops spring back when touched. If making a cake, a skewer inserted in the middle should come out clean. 

In case you're wondering about nutrition facts (as I do with all my recipes) per muffin: 91 calories, 4g fat, 1g saturated fat, 11g carbohydrates, 1g protein, 3g sugar

Low-fat Spiced Apple Raisin Muffins

M and I went away this weekend to Bath to celebrate our anniversary. It was an over-indulgent weekend, as holidays go, and we are both feeling incredibly full of food, even today. I didn't think I'd feel up to baking, as the thought of food has my stomach crying for mercy, but I also wanted to bake something to bring into the office tomorrow. A nice middle ground was to take a spiced apple muffin recipe and make it as healthy as I can. Each muffin has only 1 gram of fat and a lot of nutrients, thanks to whole wheat flour and wheat germ. 

The recipe below is how I made mine but watch for notes on substitutions you can make. 

1 2/3 cup/180g whole wheat flour*

1/3 cup/40g wheat germ

1/2 cup/100g sugar

1/4 cup/40 brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup/100g spiced apple butter (I had left over jars from last autumn's supply)**

1 cup buttermilk or soured milk#

1 egg

1 egg white

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup/45g raisins

Preheat 350F/gas 4

Mix together flours, sugars, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. In a small bowl, mix together buttermilk, eggs and vanilla. Stir into dry until just mixed. Stir in apple butter followed by raisins. 

Divide into 12 muffin tins. Bake 15-20 minutes. I sprinkled mine with a bit of wheat germ, demerara sugar and cinnamon before they went into the office. A nice crumble-esque topping or oats would be good as well. 

*The original recipe calls for 2 cups plain flour but basically any 2-cup flour mix can be substituted. I used whole wheat flour and wheat germ but oats, spelt, or a mix of any could be used.

**Apple butter (especially spiced) is not easy to find in England, which is why I made my own last autumn. Apple butter is very smooth and will make a moister muffin without the chunks of apple. If you use apple butter but want to chunks, throw in a feel pieces of diced apple as well. If you don't want to make your own apple butter, use 3/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp allspice, 1/8 tsp nutmeg and 1 large diced apple. Add the spices in with the flour at the beginning and the apple in with the raisins at the end. 

#Buttermilk is something else I haven't been able to find in England yet. If a recipe calls for buttermilk, simply add 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar to 1 cup milk. 

On a side note, entirely unrelated to muffins, I was granted Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK last Friday. Means lots more expat baking! 

Cherry Marmalade Muffins

Internet is finally back! At first I thought, what a nice excuse to take a break from the kitchen! Then I started dreaming about frosting cupcakes and how to properly layer good rocky road bars. 

Maybe a break was needed. 

But it didn't last long. Earlier in the week I whipped up a batch of indulgent muffins, smothered in (what I'm proud to say is my) homemade five-fruit marmalade. Great for anytime you want a muffin. 

I didn't have any self-raising flour so I used half plain flour, half whole wheat pastry flour with baking powder but I can imagine with self-raising AND a bit of baking powder they would be a bit more fluffy.

225g (8oz) self-raising flour

1 tsp mixed spice

85g (3oz) caster sugar

120gr (4oz) glace cherries, quartered or chopped (whatever fits your fancy)

2 tbsp marmalade

150ml milk

55g (2oz) sunflower or canola oil spread

Preheat oven to 400/200/gas 6. Grease muffin tin. Sift together flour and spice. Stir in sugar then cherries. Mix marmalade with milk. Add to flour. Beat in spread. Spoon into muffin tins. Bake 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and firm. 

I'm hoping for cake-less dreams tonight. I don't like waking up craving a cookie. Perhaps the time will come when I'll need an inter-bake-tion. Until then, more baking tonight! Keep a look out for it tomorrow.

Herbed High Protein Muffins

Only one more day till the weekend and boy, will it...drag...on... What's going to get me through this afternoon? A little high protein, low carb snack. 

Baked a batch

 of these muffins last night and they smell so good I'm almost tempted to have more than one today. These are perfect for a healthy grab and go breakfast or an afternoon energy boost and can be adapted to any tastes. I split the batter in half and added sun-

dried tomatoes and basil to one half and sauteed mushrooms and fresh thyme to the second half. 

Other variations could be olives and thyme, roasted

 peppers and hint of coriander, or sauteed garlic potatoes and rosemary. Let me know if you try a different variation of flavours or a different type of flour. I was tempted by a 

toasted wheat germ and rye blend but I kept it a bit more traditional. 

1 cup/200gr low-fat or fat-free cottage cheese

3/4 cup/60gr grated fresh parmesan cheese

1/4 cup/50gr whole wheat flour

1 cup/80gr ground almonds

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup/20gr chopped sun-dried tomatoes (or variation)

2 tbsp chopped fresh herb or 1 1/2 tsp dried herb

1/4 cup/50ml water

4 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat to 400F/gas mark 6

Mix together all ingredients except 1/4 cup parmesan cheese. 

Stir until just moistened, don't over mix

Spoon into 12 greased or lined muffin pans. Sprinkle remaining parmesan cheese over. Bake 30-35 minutes.