Banana Blueberry Apple Sauce Muffins

Today is the Eurovision song contest and a few of my favourite people (and a couple of gorgeous dogs) are coming round for a bit of supper tonight to cheer on their respective nations! 

Unfortunately I have run out of sour cream, so I thought I'd throw in some more apple sauce, in the hope that this will make the muffins really squelchy - by this evening I'll know if that was a crazy idea or not. 

Today's combination was a bit of a 'what's in the cupboard' mix, using an old ripe banana, the remainder of the blueberries and a bit of nutmeg for good measure.

In a large bowl mix together:
375g self-raising flour
220g caster sugar
half tsp nutmeg

In a small bowl mix together:
90g melted butter
half cup milk
2 large eggs

Mix the wet into the dry then stir in:
half cup apple sauce
1 medium mashed banana
quarter cup blueberries

Divide the mixture between 12 muffin cases
Bake Gas 5/6 for 20-25 minutes
Leave in the tin for few minutes before removing onto a wire rack to cool

Let's hope these get 'douze points' from everyone later on.

Carrot and Apple Sauce Muffins

In a change from my usual basic recipe I searched a great book by Esther Brody for a carrot muffin recipe, and this is my adapted version of them.
And very tasty they are too.

In a large bowl mix together:
475g self-raising flour
225g soft brown sugar
half tsp salt
3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

In a small bowl mix together:
200g melted butter
half cup apple sauce
3 large eggs

Mix the wet into the dry ingredients
then stir in:
3 cups grated carrot

Divide between 12 muffin cases
Bake Gas 5/6 for 20-25 minutes
Leave in the tin for a few minutes before removing onto a wire rack to cool

Breakfast Topper Muffins

Here is today's experiment, I found a bag of 'breakfast topping' - it's Apple, Apricot and Sultanas all chopped up really small, it works beautifully in porridge, but today I have chucked a cupful into the muffin batter to see what will happen. Roll on tea-time ...

In a large bowl mix together:
375g self-raising flour
220g caster sugar
rind of 1 lemon

In a small bowl mix together:
90g melted butter
half cup sour cream
quarter cup lemon juice
2 large eggs

Mix the wet into the dry ingredients then stir in:
1 cup 'breakfast topping'

Divide the mixture between 12 muffin cases
Bake on Gas 5/6 for 20-25 minutes
Leave in the tin for a few minutes before removing onto a wire rack to cool

Apple & Banana Cinnamon Muffins

Baking day has begun in earnest today ready for our party this evening. My first offering turned out to be these, I was given some apples, I have no idea if they are cookers or eaters, so I pureed them in sugar water and threw in some cinnamon and a little ginger. Then to make it go a bit further I threw in a banana for good measure and made a great puree.

In a large bowl mix together:
375g self-raising flour
220g caster sugar

In a small bowl mix together:
90g melted salted butter
half cup sour cream
quarter cup milk
2 large eggs

Mix the wet into the dry then stir in:
1 cup apple puree *

Divide the mixture between 12 muffin cases
Bake on Gas 5/6 for 20-25 minutes
Leave in the tin for a few minutes before removing onto a wire rack to cool

Then serve to a dozen friends :)

* to make the puree
peel and core 2 large apples
chop into small chunks
put in a pan with a tablespoon of water and 2 tablespoons of sugar
sprinkle with some ground cinnamon and ground ginger
add a diced banana
cook until pulped - use the potato masher to pulp if required

Apple and Cinnamon Muffins

It's 'Using up all the fruit in the bowl Day' so I have made a couple of batches of muffins today, until the eggs ran out - how I miss my hens, and having fresh eggs every day.
To make these:

First peel 3 or 4 apples and peel and dice them into small chunks. Cook in a saucepan with a little water and a lot of sugar, stir them, until they pulp up like apple sauce. Set aside to cool a little.

In a large bowl mix together:

375g self raising flour

200g demerara sugar

20g castor sugar

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

In a small bowl mix together:

90g melted butter

half a cup of sour cream

quarter cup of milk

2 large eggs

Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ones  
Then add one cup of apple pulp - any extra stick on a pork chop for your lunch tomorrow! 

Divide into 12 muffin cases

Bake Gas 5/6

20-25 mins

leave in the tin for a couple of minutes before removing to

Cool on a wire rack

store in an airtight container  

Apple and Blackberry Muffins

With an abundance of cooking apples at this time of year, we had to think of variations on a theme. Apples go with loads, particularly blackberries - which mostly get given to our hens - they go crazy for them. So I left the house this morning with a passing comment to my son and our house guest, that you can bake some muffins if you feel like it. I came back from Church today to the smell of Apple and Blackberry Muffins, and a fruit Crumble - the contents of which were primarily apple and blackberry, but then I heard mention of banana, pear, and even lemon curd. Either way it tasted delicious with cold custard for lunch, I'll have my main course at tea time! The muffins too, are delicious - they followed the recipe for apple and cinnamon crunch (below), but knowing Jack and Sean (and judging from the crumble) there are some weird ingredients in there too.

Apple Cinnamon Crunch Muffins

The apples need to be turned into apple sauce first - so plan ahead when baking these ones, they take a little longer because of it.

You will need to peel and dice up about 3 cooking apples in order to get a cup full of cooked apples.
Once peeled and chopped into small cubes (the size you'd like the chunks in the finished muffins) put the apples into a small pan with a small amount of water (about 2 tablespoons should do it, enough to stop them sticking to the pan) and lots of sugar. Cook until they get a bit mushy and look like apple sauce!
Make the muffin mix as normal -
mix together 375g self raising flour
with 220g castor sugar
and a teaspoon of cinammon

In a small bowl
melt 90g butter
add three quarters cup sour cream
2 large free range eggs

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix together
Divide into 12 muffin cases and sprinkle demerara sugar on top (for the crunch) and more cinnamon (if you like it that much)

Bake on gas 5/6 for 20-25 mins
leave for a few minutes to set before placing onto a wire rack to cool