“The very notion of waste sends shivers down my spine,” Nigella Lawson said of her rationale for making these fruity muffins.
The brilliant chef transformed wilted apples into “fruity, cinnamon-spiced, almond-topped muffins”.
For her bake, Nigella likes to use spelt flour for its nutty flavour, but she insisted that the ingredient can be substitute for plain flour.
Nigella admitted: “The muffins won’t have the same wholesome heft, but there’s nothing wrong with a lighter-crumb either.”
Here’s how to make a batch of Nigella’s apple and cinnamon muffins (12, to be exact).
Nigella Lawson’s apple and cinnamon muffins recipe
Makes: 12 muffins
Ingredients:
- Two apples
- 250g spelt flour (or plain flour)
- Two tsp of baking powder
- Two tsp of ground cinnamon
- 125g light brown sugar, plus four tsp for sprinkling
- 125ml honey
- 60ml natural yogurt
- 125ml flavourless vegetable oil
- Two large eggs
- 75g almonds (unblanched)
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan/gas mark six/400°F) and line a 12-bun muffin tin with papers. Peel and core the apples, then chop into small pieces and put them to one side.
Measure the flour, baking powder, and one teaspoon of the ground cinnamon into a bowl. Whisk together the 125g of brown sugar, honey, yogurt, vegetable oil and eggs in another bowl.
Chop the almonds and add half of them to the flour mixture, and put the other half into a small bowl with the second teaspoon of ground cinnamon and the four extra teaspoons brown sugar (this is the topping mixture).
Now fold the wet ingredients into the dry. Add the chopped apple, and stir to combine. Spoon this bumpy batter into the muffin papers, then sprinkle the topping mixture over them.
Pop the tin into the preheated oven, and bake for 20 minutes. Once risen and golden, take the tin out the oven and leave to cool for five minutes. Take out the muffins and placing them on a wire cooling rack.
