Good afternoon all, but I might as well say, good evening, since it is going to take me longer than an hour to write, add pictures, read and post this blog post, so:
Good evening everyone!
I hope you've all had a beezer weekend, filled with baked goods, laughs and sleep!? I'm just back from a short break from Amsterdam. I was there with the mother, but I looked at it more as a research trip. A way in which to taste and test out what baked goods they had on offer there. This was naturally, very pleasing to me as it meant I was getting to eat a lot of lovely food!
I will have that blog post up soon, but for now, you'll have to make do with these apple and cinnamon muffins! Whenever I am away somewhere and come back home, I like to do two things.
1) Clean and 2) Bake. Both of which marry well. As I like to clean to get everything ready and gleaming. Plus I feel that when you are away, the house can become cold and a little sad, as there has been no heating or baking to fill the house with the satisfying aroma of butter, caramelised sugar and toasty flour.
Therefore, like clockwork, I got up this morning and cleaned. I really got into it, probably cleaning away the stresses of my subconscious? Everything was taken off the counters and cleaned individually. I checked the dates on the food we had and disposed where necessary. I then sprayed the counters with a little sanitiser and then scrubbed them with hot water and soap. Beaut! Everything looks organised, fresh and wonderful! I then plopped everything back in its place, or near enough and started baking!
Well that wasn't entirely true, I then went down to the shops, as we'd just been away and therefore had zilch in the house. I bought everything that I needed and a few impulse buys, like these cool dish cloths I saw. I don't like the ones we have at the minute- too papery. These are cloth like and blue- aw yesss! I also picked up some snazzy toothbrushes and yeast. So, all in all, pretty good impulse buys I thought!
I then turned on the oven, got out the scales and tuned into some U2- again on my laptop. Yes, baking to 'One, With or without you and Vertigo' is quite the enjoyable way to spend my baking adventures. Mind you, i'm quite enjoying 'Move on Up' at the minute. Oh yeah, now for some 'Lovely Day'.
So, I prepared all of my ingredients first as they kinda take a little while, peeling the apples and what not. I melted some butter, around 10g and brushed it onto and into a deep, 12 hole muffin tray. I then set this aside to allow the butter to set slightly.
Moving on, I measured out my butter, caster sugar, flour, eggs, cinnamon and apples. You'll need:
(The cake mixture is a Delia Smith recipe, that I've doubled, but the apple, cinnamon, honey and milk are my own additions.)
- 220g Self Raising Flour
- 220g Caster Sugar
- 4 Medium, free range Eggs
- 220g Softened butter
- 3 Apples, peeled, chopped and cubed
- 20g Cinnamon or to your taste
- Dribble of honey on each muffin
- Little dribble of milk
You'll also need like 10g butter for the greasing
Alright, lets get to it!
Preheat the oven to 170 C and allow this to heat up all toasty and warm. Actually this worked out brilliantly, as the house was cold, so the oven warmed the kitchen up rightly. Aw man, this music is great, 'Just the two of us' is playing now. I'm envisioning the two of us, is myself and my muffins. Innuendo? I should hope not, or should I? Ooph, lets stop that train ride now.
Add the butter into the mixer and give it a whisk until it goes all pale, pliable and light.
Add in the sugar and whisk on a high speed until completely combined and fluffy looking.
Add in the eggs all at once and whisk until it looks gross and bitty. These grim little bits of butter, floating in this eggy slush. But, don't let that get you down, all will be well when the flour and apples and cinnamon are added.
Once the flour, sugar, eggs, butter, cinnamon and 3/4 of the apples are in there and looking wonderful, add a little milk to loosen things up and then it is done!
Bake these at 170 C for 25 minutes or until risen, golden brown and delicious looking and smelling!
5 minutes before they come out, take them out and squeeze a little honey on top of each muffin and bake for the rest of the time.
Take them out when baked all the way through and the honey has had a chance to melt and become a little syrupy. Leave to chill in their tins for around 10 minutes (giving you just enough time to do the dishes (: ) and then flip the muffin tray upside down and tap gently to release the muffins.
Leave to cool completely and then, add a little icing sugar, enough for each muffin, so around 280g (20g per muffin), but again, who knows, this could vary. Add a little water, enough to make a thick, but slightly runny icing. This will be for dipping the muffins in and dribbling over. Then dust with a little cinnamon and they are done!
Personally, I prefer the dribble method as it looks neater. But you do what you want! It's all about personal flair and preference.
Thanks again for reading and I'll be back soon with another bake and blog post!
Ciara
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