Apple and Ginger Muffins with a Crunchy Crumble Top

I’ve basically been crying a little bit inside at the lack of time/money I’ve had to bake. Being a destitute third year slaving away on a dissertation without any cake is just dire let me tell you. The good news is it’s all coming to an end soon (cry) and I will be forced to face the adult world, which means I will basically denial bake quite a bit.

It is Mother’s Day today, but being the shit child that I am I can’t afford to go home so sorry mum. The likelihood is she won’t be able to get rid of me this time next year anyway. I’m apparently such a crap child that I’ve never even done a Mother’s Day blog post either which is a bit shocking. If you are at all interested in what I might have baked you can check out my Mother’s Day article for my uni newspaper The Galleon here featuring a recipe for Cappuccino Cake.

Back to the muffins. You will see from the photos that mine are more like cupcakes. That’s only because I don’t have muffin tins, so yours will be much bigger I promise. They are a sort of crossover muffin/pudding situation which is why I’ve made them for pudding tonight. Because there’s so bloody many of them we can spend the rest of the week munching on them, whilst crying into our keyboards.

Ingredients

400g self-raising flour

250g Demerara sugar

150g butter

2tsps baking powder

1tsp ground ginger

3 apples, peeled and chopped

Pinch salt

200ml milk

2 eggs, beaten

Bit of extra flour, butter and sugar for topping

Preheat the oven to 180⁰C. This recipe will make 18 muffins of 24 cupcakes (plus a loaf cake), so prepare your tins accordingly.

Melt a tbsp of butter and a tbsp of sugar into a small saucepan. Add the apples and gently cook for 2-3 minutes until they are golden brown and soft. Leave to one side to cool.

In a large mixing bowl, measure out the flour, baking powder, ginger, sugar and salt and mix everything together.

Add the butter and rub the mixture into crumbs using your fingers.

Add the milk and eggs, and combine to form a batter.

Finally tip in the apples and stir to combine, but don’t over mix.

Plop large spoonfuls of the mixture into your paper cases.

In a separate small bowl mix a big spoonful of sugar and flour with a dollop of butter. Rub it together using your fingers to create the crumble topping. Generously sprinkle this over the top of your muffins.

Bake them in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Cupcakes will veer on the side of 20, whereas muffins could be as much as 30 depending on how deep they are. Cool on a wire rack.

I personally think these are delicious whilst still a little warm. Serve with hot custard or some cold cream if you want to jazz them up a little as a desert.