Whole Wheat Apple Muffins

I’ve been listening to Rosemary Leach reading “A Murder is Announced”, so bear with me for a little while I feel like everything should be answered with the phrase “Quite so”.

In the spirit of using up what we had in our kitchen – a quart of buttermilk that needs using & two apples that had been hiding in the crisper – I threw together some muffins this morning. Very good muffins.

Of course I got to the bit where it calls for buttermilk, and at the last minute I used a cup of cream-top Brown Cow yogurt instead. So I still have buttermilk to use, and one day left til it goes bad….but yogurt turned out to be such a good idea, I can’t make myself regret the decision.

Did you know that I spend more time making food than jewelry? Something has to be done about this. I am, after all supposed to be a jeweler.

Whole Wheat Apple Muffins:
Adapted from King Arthur Flour, via Smitten Kitchen

Yield: Who Knows? I ran out of standard muffin cup liners, and in a moment of insanity used my jumbo muffin pan, for which I did have liners, and voila! I have 8 muffins.

1/2 c. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. dark brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 c. plain yogurt – I bake with either Nancy’s or Brown Cow…mmmm.

1 c. whole wheat flour

1 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
2 large apples, peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped – We had Fuji, but I might try one batch with Granny Smith, when I make them again. I like my apples to be more tart, while Fuji are fairly sweet, especially baked.

Preheat the oven to 4oo°F. I line my muffin cups with paper liners when using a muffin batter with chunks of fruit – when they’re hot, it can be easier to get the muffins out in one piece when they are lined.

Combine flours, baking powder & baking soda, salt & cinnamon in a moderately large bowl. I cream butters and sugar in my Kitchenaid; it just does the job more properly than I. Anyway, cream the butter and add the granulated sugar and 1/4 cup of the brown sugar. You’ll use the other 1/4 cup sprinkling it over the top of the muffin batter before they go in the oven. I recommend setting that 1/4 cup aside by the stove now, or else you’ll sound batty, spooning batter into cups on the stove and muttering something inaudible about “can’t forget the brown sugar”. Not that that’s what I do, mind you, but I recommend it all the same.

Cream butter, granulated sugar and 1/4 cup brown sugar until fluffy – picture below. Add the egg and beat well. At this point, remove mixer bowl from Kitchenaid and add one cup yogurt and fold in until combined. The wet ingredients will become slightly lumpy, since the cold whole milk yogurt hits the butter/sugars/egg and balls up a little. Fold in the dry ingredients – it’s going to take some elbow grease – and fold in the apple chunks very gently until just combined.

Spoon the batter into prepared muffin cups with two spoons, to scrape each other, and sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar on the tops. Bake for 25 minutes, until a knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. I removed them from the pan immediately and set on a large plate to cool. I fear that one of them didn’t make it longer than a couple minutes before being eaten with coffee. They are really quite good. I think the larger size is perfect – just right for one serving.