Apple Muffins

This is the most unusual muffin I have ever made.

When I first made them, I thought I had done something wrong and re-read the recipe 3 times to make sure I was clear on everything.

The batter is super thick so the muffin comes out packed with apples, raisins and walnuts.

I tore out this recipe from Gourmet, September 1987.  They were reviewing Marion Cunningham’s ‘The Breakfast Book’,  and included several of her recipes.  This was one of them.

Gourmet.com  no longer has the recipe on their website and the book review from that year is not there either, otherwise I would have linked you right to the recipe.  I am copying it here, with some slight changes in directions.

So enjoy: it is now one of my husband’s favorite muffin!

Apple Muffins (adapted from The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham, Raw Apple Muffins)

4 cups of peeled, cored and 1/4 inch diced Granny Smith Apples (about 1-1/2 pounds)

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup raisins (you could substitute dates)

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (you could substitute pecans or almonds)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Canola oil spray 21 muffin tins.

In a large bowl, toss the apples and sugar together.

In a small glass bowl or glass 2-cup measuring cup, combine the eggs, oil and vanilla and stir together with a whisk.

In another large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and stir together with a whisk.

Add the raisins and walnuts to the flour mixture and stir thoroughly, breaking up walnuts and separating the raisins with your fingers.

Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined.

Then add the apple/sugar mixture and fold and stir together until just combined.  The batter will be extremely thick.  This is the way it’s supposed to be.

Using an ice cream scoop, that measures a scant 1/4 cup, scoop batter into prepared muffin tins.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 18 minutes until golden brown.

Let cool in pans for about a 1/2 hour and then remove on to wire racks to cool completely.

They can easily be frozen, if this is too many to eat all at once.  Though they stay fresh pretty nicely for a couple of days on your kitchen counter.

Your apple pieces need to be a small dice.   Here’s how to do it.

peel, core, and quarter apples, slicing each quarter horizontally into 3’s:

then slice into 1/4 inch matchsticks:

dice into 1/4 inch pieces:

mise en place:

the very thick batter:

ice cream scoop measurer:

ready to go into oven:

golden brown: