Apple Allspice Muffins

I visited the Stanley dragonboat pre-races 2 weeks back and caught up with my old team Island ECC Ark. I paddled with them for the last 3 years, but decided to give it a break this year. I found that I do miss the excitement of the races and the great team spirit. Once an Arker, always an Arker! I'll definitely go support them on the actual race day! Gooooo Ark! =)

Anyway, the purpose of the visit was to see my old teammates, but then I got something in return for visiting them.  They had waaaay too much fruits left over at the end of the day and were about to throw them away... So I offered to take them for my baking experiments! Score! Free ingredients to play around with... =) I got some bananas, kiwis, and apples... The bananas immediately went into a banana cake, the kiwis ended up going directly into my stomach, but I puzzled over what to do with the apples.

I don't actually like eating apples and I was bored of making apple tarts so I ended up scouring the internet for something interesting to bake. Apples are a very "autumn-y" fruit and usually are paired up with allspice which I had also previously been given. So naturally I typed in my search criteria... apple allspice recipes... Out popped a recipe from Food Lust People Love for Apple Allspice Muffins. Perfect!

The original recipe makes 12 muffins, but I cut the recipe in half to try it out (and reduced some of the sugars). I also didn't use any lemon juice for the apple and my apple was not a Granny Smith. The streusel topping turned out great... very crunchy... and the muffin wasn't too sweet which was good! But honestly it was a bit odd eating this type of muffin during the summer. Not that you can't... But it's weird... kinda like if I were to eat watermelon during winter or something... It doesn't quite match the weather!

Ingredients (makes around 6-8 muffins):
Streusel:

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 tsp ground allspice

35g unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces



Muffins:

1 small apple
1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup caster sugar
 (slightly less than 1/4 cup)
1/8 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/2 tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt
57g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 egg

1/4 cup + 2 tbsp whole milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract


Method:

1. Prepare the streusel topping first.  Put the flour, brown sugar and allspice in a small bowl and stir with a fork, mashing out the lumps in the brown sugar.
2. Add in the cold butter, cut into chunks and combine with a pastry blender or your fingers. Refrigerate until ready to use.
3. Preheat oven to 375°F/190°C and grease muffin tin or line with paper liners.
4. For the muffins, peel, core and chop the apple into small pieces.  Set aside.
5. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugars, baking powder, allspice, cinnamon and salt. Mash the brown sugar lumps out with a fork.
6. In another bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, melted butter and vanilla extract.  
7. Pour your wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold them together until just mixed.
8. Fold in the chopped apple. 
9. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. 
10. Generously heap some streusel topping on each muffin and lightly press the topping down into the batter to make sure it stays put when baking.
11. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
12. Cool on a rack for a few minutes and then remove the muffins to cool completely.