I woke at 6.30 this morning. The Captain was awake and had brought me a cup of Earl Grey. Generally on a Sunday I don’t drink Earl Grey at 6.30am, but the thought was kind.
It was a dull spring day, nothing special.
I didn’t drink the tea, but fell back into a deep sleep till after 9am, when the quality of the light in the room had changed dramatically – there was an inch of snow on the ground and it was still falling.
Spring flowers poking through the snow
An hour later, after a breakfast of local bacon in a home-made roll, it had cleared up enough for me to venture outside. The plan today was to sort out the greenhouse – perfect snowy weather activity you’d think. Except that the trouble with clearing a greenhouse is that you need somewhere to clear it to, and that somewhere is down the bottom of the garden. And by this time it was blowing a blizzard again.
So, what’s a girl to do but revert to type, retreat indoors and bake?
We had some spare apples and I have some of the loveliest cinnamon ever, which I suspect won’t be so lovely for evermore. Apple spice muffins were the answer.
Apple spice muffins
Prepare muffin tins and preheat oven to 400F / 375C / GM6.
- 2oz porridge oats
- 7oz plain flour
- 3tsp baking powder
- a pinch of salt
- 1.5 tsp cinnamon
- a shake each of ground cloves and ground ginger
- 3oz caster sugar
- 1 egg
- a large apple, peeled, cored and chopped finely
- 6fl oz milk
- 2fl oz veg oil
And for the topping
- 3TBsp soft brown sugar
- 2oz walnuts, chopped
- Mix the topping ingredients together and put to one side
- Mix together the porridge oats, flour, baking powder, spices and salt
- In another bowl whisk together the egg, milk and oil and then add the chopped apple
- Pour all the wet mixture into the dry and stir it till it’s all just combined
- Spoon into the prepared muffin tin (that probably means muffin cases in a muffin tin).
- Sprinkle a spoonful of topping on each muffin.
- Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until the tops are light brown and the muffins spring back when you gently press them.
- Cool for a wee minute, then EAT.
Dry ingredients in a bowl
Add an egg, without the feather
Remember to sprinkle the scrumbly topping on your muffins
They’re ready when they are golden brown – so about 1 minute before these ones came out slightly burnt!
Related articles
- Apple, Extra-Virgin Olive Oil and Ricotta Muffins (silviascucina.net)
- Lavender Earl Grey Muffins (tgipaleo.com)
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