Apple Crumble Muffins

These are my favourite muffins ever. Bold statement, attention grabbing.

Pre-baking

Baked to perfection

I suppose we are in Autumn then! I think that is probably my favorite season for flavours. I love the delicate spices and sweet fruits that define the season for me.

And I think this muffin defines the season's best flavours, from the slightly tart apple and scented cinnamon, coupled with the crunchy, sweet crumble which is just perfection. The cake portion of these is also perfect for a muffin: springy, light, but still dense.

In short, these are muffin heaven. You need these in your life.

Don’t worry if you don’t have a food processor for the crumble, in that case just rub the flour and butter together until you get coarse breadcrumbs, and stir through the sugar and some chopped nuts (or you can easily leave the nuts out).

Makes about 14

Ingredients for the muffins

• 2 small apples, peeled and diced
• 1 tbsp vanilla sugar
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 75ml oil
• 200 ml buttermilk
• Zest 1 lemon
• 2 eggs
• 150g caster sugar
• 250g plain flour
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1.5 tbsp cinnamon

Ingredients for the crumble

• 50g sugar
• 50g plain flour
• 50g butter
• Handful of nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts) – optional

Method

Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius.

Prepare the apples, by peeling and dicing them finely, then stir through the vanilla sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon.

Mix the oil, buttermilk and lemon zest in a bowl, and set aside.

Blitz the crumble ingredients in a food processor and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy, then add in the oil mixture and whisk.

Gently fold in the flour, baking powder and cinnamon, then fold in ¾ of the diced apple. Be careful not to overmix.

Spoon the batter into cases. Top these with the apple, followed by the crumble.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, until golden on top.

Enjoy! You could serve warm with custard. THAT WOULD BE AMAZING!