My obsession with this flavour combination began back when I was growing up in the Middle East. I loved apple pies and my absolute favourite, forgive my inexperienced young taste buds, was the one at McDonalds. The absence of this from the Indian McDonald’s menu is one that I may never truly recover from. Perhaps that’s why I keep trying to add apples and cinnamon to most of my desserts (and breakfast- check out my Cinnamon Apple Quinoa).
What’s great about the recipe is that it will take you just under 20 min to get the batter ready, Store them in an airtight container for a day, and refrigerate for up to 2 days. You can pop them in the microwave for about 25 seconds to warm them up. I even love these as a quick on-the-go breakfast on busy mornings. They’re not too sweet, so you don’t really feel guilty eating them, and they also have apples, so thats your apple a day!
I would highly suggest using granny smith apples. The tartness of granny smiths really work well with the sweetness of the batter. It’s a small difference, but not one so important that you should put off making these muffins, so use whatever apples you like! As for peeling it, it’s completely up to you. I usually don’t when I’m just baking for myself but sometimes I’ll put in the extra effort to peel them when I’m trying to impress someone! Again, it’s a slight difference so you can see what works for you.
The other star of this recipe is cinnamon. It’s the one spice I’m always running out of! There are two major types of cinnamon – Ceylon and Cassia. Cassia originated in China and several sub species are now grown across South East Asia. Cassia is the cheaper, more readily available variety. The Ceylon variety, as the name suggests, originated in Sri Lanka and is regarded to be ‘true cinnamon’. Cassia cinnamon is a lot stronger and spicier, due to the higher concentration of cinnamaldehyde in its oil. Ceylon Cinnamon on the other hand has a much lower concentration leading to a more subtle aroma and flavour. Ceylon or Cassia, the cinnamon flavour really shines through!
Since this recipe makes only 6 muffins, you’re only going to need 1/2 an apple. The rest is a reward for the chef! I’ve tried including more of the apple and it just knocks the muffin to fruit ratio out of balance.
Cinnamon Apple Muffins
Equipment
- Oven
- Electric Beater
Ingredients
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour
- 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 no Egg (Beaten)
- 1/4 cup Sugar + 2 tbsp Sugar
- 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
- 1/4 cup Milk
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/2 no Apple (diced)
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla
Instructions
- Pre Heat your Oven to 200C
- Dust diced apples with flour and set aside
- Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together into a bowl.
- Beat the egg, sugar, oil, milk, cinnamon and vanilla with an electric mixer* for 1 minute.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and fold with a wooden spoon until just incorporated.
- Add apples* to the batter and fold gently.
- Fill a lined cupcake/muffin tray till 3/4th full.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Allow the muffins to cool for 10 min before you tuck into them!
