Any avid jam maker can tell you it is all too easy to overstock the larder. I try to keep mine in manageable supply which explains why I am down to my last jar of apple butter. That beloved batch was made with lots of apple cider vinegar. At first, the apple butter tasted too sharp to my liking. But a few months in, the flavour mellowed and I grew to really like it. I wanted to use it for something special.
It is now maple season in eastern Canada and saps are flowing. Maple baked goods are everywhere I look. Last weekend I stopped at Cora’s for brunch. On my way out, I picked up a recipe card that caught my attention. It was a recipe for Apple and Maple Muffins, “the ideal lunchbox recipe”. I generally don’t get distracted by randomly distributed recipes but something about the ingredients spoke to me. Three things were aplenty: diced apples, maple syrup, oats. The recipe actually sounds healthy!
Of course I couldn’t resist adding my personal touch. I drastically reduced the butter so I could boost the apple flavour with my homemade apple butter. With less fat to tenderize, I counter-balanced by using half-and-half instead of milk to reintroduce some butterfat. Using the sweet preserve obviously meant I should reduce sugar elsewhere in the recipe. Why not use some heritage Red Fife whole wheat flour instead of just all-purpose? Lastly, I used Golden Delicious instead of Cortland because I preferred the tartness and how it doesn’t turn mushy when cooked.
With all of these changes, my version of Apple Maple Multigrain Muffin was born. My house smelled like a bakeshop and I was seriously tempted to tear into one as soon as the muffins came out of the oven. However, I wanted to evaluate my recipe more objectively. We all know that even a mediocre muffin would taste pretty awesome when it is still warm.
That’s right. I waited.
To be precise, I waited for two hours and thirty minutes.
Moist? Check.
Tender? Check.
Big flavour? Oh yes with apple and maple and toothsome oats.
Even though I listed this recipe under Breakfast To Start The Day, these Apple Maple Multigrain Muffin fulfills the promise of an ideal lunchbox accompaniment.
Apple Maple Multigrain Muffin
makes 12 regular size muffins
Ingredients
- 100g all purpose flour
- 70g whole wheat flour (I used locally-milled red fife)
- 100g old fashioned rolled oats
- 100g granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 30g melted unsalted butter, about 2 tablespoons
- 80g apple butter, about 1/3 cup
- 65g maple syrup, the darker the better, about 1/4 cup
- 1/2 teaspoon maple extract, optional
- 160g half and half, about 1/2 cup
- 1 large egg
- 2 1/2 cup diced baking apple like Golden Delicious
Method
- Preheat oven to 400F. Line a regular 12 hole muffin pan with paper liners.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together both flours, oats, sugar, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon. Set aside.
- In a different mix bowl, stir together melted butter, maple syrup, maple extract (if using), half and half, and egg.
- Gently stir wet mixture into dry mixture until almost incorporated with a few streaks of flour still visible. Fold in diced apples.
- Divide batter into prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden and toothpick inserted into muffin comes out clean.
- Cool on wire rack and serve the same day.
