Baking #47: Apple Crumble Muffins

You must be wondering why am I re-posting this Apple Crumble Muffins recipe when I had already attempted it few weeks ago? Well, that was because I baked these with streusel this time round rather than the previous batch of plain Apple Crumble Muffins. I found quite a few online recipes which come with streusel as the toppings on their muffins but I always find the process of streusel making to be tedious. Hence, I omitted streusel most of the time and always bake a plain batch instead.

But I was feeling a little bit hardworking last Monday hence decided to make these Apple Crumble Muffins with streusel. I baked these muffins for Jia as I had promised her that I will bake her some Apple Crumble Muffins when she had returned to Bandar from her one month confinement. I had initially intended to bake her Gula Melaka Banana Cupcakes with Walnuts but I did not manage to go out and buy bananas. So, I made do with the apples which I had left at home and baked Apple Crumble Muffins instead.

Apple Crumble Muffins (adapted from DessertzHouse)

Without further ado, let me proceed with the ingredients to make these delicious Apple Crumble Muffins and the directions on making them.

Ingredients:

Streusel (apple crumble)

• 30g walnuts, toasted and chopped
• 30g unsalted butter, cold and cubed
• 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
• 40g cake flour
• 40g brown sugar

Muffins

• 2 small apples
• 340g cake flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 140g unsalted butter, softened
• 180g brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 260g natural plain yogurt

Directions:

Streusel (apple crumble)

1. Using your fingertips, rub the cold butter and cake flour together until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
2. Stir in ground cinnamon, brown sugar and chopped walnuts. Set aside.

Muffins

1. Peel, core and dice the apples. Put the diced apples into a bowl of salt water to prevent them from browning.
2. Mix cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon powder together. Sift and set aside.
3. Cream butter with brown sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add in eggs one at a time and beat until well combined.
5. Add in butter mixture with natural plain yogurt into the flour mixture and fold well.
6. Gently fold in the diced apples.
7. Scoop mixture evenly between the paper cases and top each muffin with the streusel/apple crumble mixture.
8. Bake in a preheated oven of 190 degree Celsius for 20 to 25 minutes or until an inserted cake tester comes out clean in the centre of the muffins.

After attempting these muffins for the second time, I had realized that ground cinnamon and cinnamon powder did make a difference on the muffins. The first time when I attempted these muffins, I do not have ground cinnamon so I made do with the cinnamon powder which I bought earlier. And it turned out that the taste of cinnamon was extremely strong to the extent that it tastes rather weird when the muffins are not warm.

So, I went to buy a bottle of ground cinnamon the other day and I find the taste of cinnamon still bearable and minimal even though the muffins were not warm anymore. I gave a batch of 6 pieces to Jia and her family and another 4 pieces to Jennifer and her family. It turned out that they all liked the muffins apart from my own parents. LOL! Dad finds the muffins tasting like Bak Kut Teh. *sweat*

So, this was how the leftover Apple Crumble Muffins for home consumption after the rest had been given to both Jia, Jennifer and their families. The leftover ones do not have any apple chunk inside the muffins anymore. But still, the muffins still tasted nice even without the apple chunks. The taste of cinnamon is a lot subtle this time compared to the time when I was using cinnamon powder instead of ground cinnamon.

Comments from Jia and Jennifer of the muffins …

So, if you like muffins or apple crumble, give this a recipe from DessertzHouse a try! I am sure you will love them.