This is my go-to muffin recipe posted in quite a few versions on this blog. My basic muffin recipe comes from The Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen. Lots of healthy vegetarian recipes in this book and also in other books in the Moosewood series.
I add whatever takes my fancy to the basic recipe. In this case a finely chopped apple and a handful of chopped pecans. A half teaspoon of ground cinnamon and also of ginger, a slosh of vanilla extract, and finished off by a sprinkling of demerara sugar, make for a delicious muffin. And because the sugar content is reasonable, and oil is used not butter, the muffins are relatively healthy!
Ingredients – Base Mixture
1 and 3/4 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bi-carbonate soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup oil
1 beaten egg
3/4 cup milk
2 tbs honey
Add-Ins
1 apple chopped into small chunks (I used a granny smith – any apple would do)
A handful of chopped pecans
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbs demerara sugar for sprinkling
Method
Preheat oven to 170 degrees C. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with muffin papers. I used a Texas muffin tin and got 6 big muffins from the mix.
Mix the dry ingredients, including cinnamon and ginger, with a spoon in a bowl until well combined. Add the apples and pecans and gently combine into the dry mixture. In another bowl mix the oil, beaten egg, milk, honey and vanilla extract.
Add the wet ingredients to the bowl with the dry ingredients. Combine until barely mixed – don’t worry about lumps!
Spoon each mixture into the muffin papers. Sprinkle the tops with a little demerara sugar for extra crunch. Bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean.
Remove from the oven – eat warm or cold.
The Quirk and the Cool 