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Pumpkin-Apple Muffins (Plus Book Giveaway)

Posted by Ari on November 2, 2009 in Breakfast, My Recipes, Quick & Easy | 171 Comments
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pumpkin-apple-muffins

I know this doesn’t hold true for everyone, but I really can’t get enough of pumpkin flavored goodies – especially in the Fall. In fact, I’m so enamored with pumpkin that I made the Pumpkin-Apple Muffins shown above not once, not twice, but three times before the recipe was just right. When it comes to pumpkin my determination knows no bounds and I just had to have a morning like this one, where I could munch on a moist, tender, autumn-spiced pumpkin muffin while sipping on a decaf honey-vanilla latte.

I don’t often write about my culinary failures, but I have them. I even have an arch-nemesis named Turkish delight, which I’ve tried to make at least a dozen times. But no matter how carefully I follow a recipe the closest I’ve ever come to success is a gooey glop of disappointment. How sad is that? Turkish delight, one day I shall conquer you! This I vow.

Angel food also gave me a hard time for a while, particularly during the cooling stage when my cakes would fall out of their inverted pans and roll onto the floor. Oreo LOVED this. She’d sit near the kitchen and watch the cooling cake, willing it to drop with her psychic puppy powers. Rarely did I notice the disaster until half the cake was in her belly. Thankfully, I’ve since mastered the art of the angel food cake – though I had a devil of a time getting to that point. :) One of these days I have to post my recipe for Clementine Angel Food Cake with Berries & Maple Whipped Cream.

pumpkin-apple-muffins-small Like the angel food, these Pumpkin-Apple Muffins are another example of failure finally becoming a success. The first time I made them I used yogurt instead of oil, a greater amount of whole wheat flour, less baking soda and only cinnamon and nutmeg for spices. The end result was an overly-chewy muffin that hardly rose in the pan and didn’t have much of a kick. The second time, the muffins came out too dry and were overly spiced. Doh!

But the third time… the third time I felt like Goldilocks because they were just right. The muffins rose beautifully in the pan, had a moist, fluffy texture and just the right balance of pumpkin and apple flavors, which were heightened by cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and all spice. I tried the recipe again, just to be sure, and got the same results. Yes! Success, at last. I dare say baked goodies taste even better when it has taken a few tries to create exactly what you’re after.


nov-bookgiveaway

The recipe is below but first I’d like to let you know about a book giveaway taking place on Baking and Books this month. Thanks to the generous folks over at the Hachette Book Group I’ll be giving away 3 sets of the following two books: How to Roast a Lamb by Michael Psilakis & Barbara Kafka; and Chocolate: A Love Story by Max Brenner & Yonatan Factor.

How to enter: To enter simply comment on the posts published on Baking and Books during the month of November 2009. (Yes, every post counts!) At the end of the month I’ll randomly select three winners from all the comments that were submitted. And yes, you can comment more than once, so long as you’re not submitting duplicate comments and the comments are relevant to the post. :)

Now, the recipe!

Pumpkin-Apple Muffins (My Recipe)
Ingredients: Make 12 regular sized muffins or 6 jumbo muffins.

  • 1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin puree
  • 3/4 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup peeled and diced apples
  • 2/3 cup olive oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons ground cloves
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon all spice
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease your muffin tin with PAM or another baking spray.

In a large bowl combine the pumpkin, sugars, olive oil and eggs, whisking until thoroughly combined. Fold in the diced apples. Set aside.

In a medium bowl combine the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices, mixing well.

Add half the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing to combine. Add the remaining half of the dry ingredients and combine.

Divide the batter evenly among your muffin cups. Bake regular sized muffins for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Bake jumbo muffins for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Allow muffins to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then remove to a cooling rack. Enjoy!

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Baking and Books features recipes & book reviews with culinary history sprinkled throughout. Many recipes are baking related but I give general cookery plenty of attention as well. :)

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