Cranberry and Apple Crumble Muffins

It's time to make a confession. I have been spending more time in my garden than I have in the kitchen. 

Most evenings its been a rush to get any food on the table and I certainly haven't been playing around with ingredients for a few weeks.

My biggest problem is the weather. At this time of year when temperatures can be up into the 40º c, there's not a whole heap of time to be out in the garden because its too damn hot after 9.00am.

Over the last week or so the temperatures have been in the 20's, reasonably warm still but it gave me the opportunity to get out, weed, replenish the vegetable garden and start pruning back a few shrubs.

But now we are expecting a week of high 30's and I'm back inside thinking about food.

I had a real yearning for some muffins and I picked up my weekly supply of Granny Smith apples from the orchard and just needed to put aside a little time to make them.

The muffins are nice and fruity, with a crumbly, crunchy topping and make a nice snack for morning or afternoon tea. Here is the recipe. 

CRANBERRY AND APPLE CRUMBLE MUFFINS

Crumble Topping

½ cup plain flour
60g butter
3 tablespoons caster sugar
3 tablespoons flaked almonds, chopped


Muffin Mixture

½ cup cranberries, chopped - fresh or frozen
1¾ cups SR flour
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and grated
125g butter melted and cooled
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla or ground cinnamon
½  cup almond meal
⅓ cup milk
¾ cup caster sugar


Preheat oven to 200º or 180º fan forced. Place paper cases into a 12 point muffin pan.

To make the topping - In a small bowl add flour and butter and mix with fingertips to resemble breadcrumbs. Add sugar and flaked almonds. Set aside in the fridge.

In a large bowl mix flour, sugar, almond meal and caster sugar. Mix in the cranberries and apple.

In a small bowl add vanilla or cinnamon, melted butter, eggs and milk and mix until combined.

Now add the wet mix to the flour bowl, mixing until just combined.

Fill the paper cases with mixture, piling it up. Then sprinkle some of the topping on the top. Be generous. Now place in the centre of the oven and bake for 15 - 20 minutes.

Cool in the tin for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

These are suitable to freeze or keep in an airtight container for a few days.