Apple crumble muffins

[Becky]

I made some Apple Crumble Muffins today! I have three small eating apples which were past their best, so I decided that some form of apple cake was the best way to make use of them. Here's what I came up with...

Apple Crumble Muffins - Makes 12

Ingredients for the crumble mix:
50g light brown soft sugar
50g plain flour
25g porridge oats
1 tsp ground cinnamon
50g butter, cubed

Ingredients for the muffins:
3 small apples
3 tbsp custard powder
140g butter
140g golden caster sugar
3 eggs
1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste
140g self-raising flour

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan).
2. Combine all the ingredients for the crumble mix in a bowl, and rub in the butter until you have a breadcrumb-like consistency. Set aside while you make the muffins.
3. Peel and core the apples, and cut them into little chunks. Sprinkle the custard powder over the apple chunks, and stir to get them fully coated.
4. Cream together the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy, then add the eggs one by one until fully combined. Add the vanilla bean paste (or alternatively use 1 tsp vanilla extract) and mix well.
5. Add the flour, and stir gently until mixed in (don't overmix it, as it will build the gluten and the cake will be tough). Stir in the apples so that they are well distributed.
6. Spoon into muffin cases, and add a generous amount of the crumble mix to the top of each one.
7. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Here's how mine looked!

They were really tasty!

Recipe inspired by these recipes:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/apple-crumble-custard-cupcakes
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1263686/rhubarb-crumble-muffins

 

[Diane Lane]

Those look moist and delicious. I wonder what the porridge oats translate to in American? I have some bran oats cereal my mom sent me that I haven't tried yet, I wonder if those would work. I've never seen custard powder in the stores here, either. I recall seeing it used in another recipe recently, and will have to look around for it.

 

[Trellum]

I liked the recipe, but I had never heard about custard powered? They mean that boxed custard mix you buy from the store, so you can make some custard? Also confused about the porridge oats. It looks so amazing, by the way I knew I had to ask.

 

[Becky]

Porridge oats = rolled oats. Anything similar would probably work fine though to be honest!

Custard powder might be a trickier one. It's basically sugar, thickeners and vanilla flavouring, so if you can't find any I would have thought that tossing the apple chunks in a mix of powdered sugar and cornstarch would be a good substitute. Perhaps add a little extra vanilla to the cake batter, but to be honest it probably wouldn't make any difference in terms of flavour.