Recipe - Apple Cinnamon muffins

I had been itching and craving to bake. And bake I did - started with these oh-so-cute apple cinnamon muffins :) 


Found the recipe in a magazine borrowed from the library. Reproducing it here - 


For 12 regular-sized muffins:
- 2 medium apples (about 250 gms each) - you can use any apples you have on hand but you'll get the best flavour when you choose a 'tangy' variety such as Granny Smith or Braeburn. [ I used whatever was available at home] 
- 1 cup plain (unsweetened) yoghurt
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 cups self-raising floor
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts [Didn't have these so skipped them, but would be nice for some texture]
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt

I used unbleached self raising flour - unbleached means well: not bleached flour.  Bleaching is done in order to whiten flour and to to give it more gluten forming properties. Organic peroxides are used as beaching agents for flour.
For the sugar I used brown sugar. 
And I used sea salt flakes for the salt part.

1. Turn the oven to 190 C (or 180 C if using fan-bake)
2. Grate the unpeeled apples (discarding the cores). Place the grated apple, yoghurt, oil and egg in a large bowl and mix well. 
3. Measure all the remaining ingredients into another bowl and stir well with a fork. Tip the dry mixture into the wet ingredients, and gently fold together until the flour is just moistened. (Avoid over-mixing as this will toughen the finished muffins. It doesn't matter if the mixture looks a little marbled, this looks quite good in the finished muffins. 

4. Spray 12 regular sized muffin pans with non-stick spray, then divide the mixture evenly between them. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown on top and spring back when pressed lightly in their centres. 

[I used paper muffin cups instead of directly putting the batter into the muffin tray. Easier to peel off and eat the muffins and to clean the tray! :) ]


5. Leave muffins to cool in their pans for 2-3 minutes, then tip out and cool on a rack. Place cool muffins in a plastic bag, freezing any you don't expect to eat within 48 hours. 

I halved the recipe because I wanted to make 12 mini muffins and not the regular sized ones. My cooking theory has become "small is beautiful". 
But I could have, actually, should have added just a bit more flour - more than the halved version. The muffins were a bit more moist than I would have liked them to be.