Whole wheat Apple & Almond muffins

Oh the dilemma of what to do with an abundance of apples. Liv, my lovely Kiwi lodger, has been spending some time in Suffolk lately and keeps returning with more and more apples, and so the pile keeps on growing, as does the challenge of what to create with them.  So far we’ve had apple tarts, apple & parsnip soup and muesli with shredded apple & yoghurt has become a morning staple. I’ve only had a one mini disaster, the jam, though pictured here looking pretty good is overly sweet (I blame the russets), but nevertheless quite a therapeutic couple of hours spent singing along to the radio slowly stirring – perhaps jam is just not my thing. Anyway, the pièce de résistance so far has to be these muffins – apple & almond is such a delightful combination. I was really happy with how these turned out, and that they are still incredibly moist and tasty 4, 5, 6 days on…

Whole Wheat Apple & Almond Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

150g whole wheat flour
100g ground almonds / almond flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
150g butter (at room temperature)
150g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 medium eggs
2 small – medium apples (have a peeler & grater to hand)
80ml milk
100g Plain yoghurt (optional)
Handful of flaked almonds (for topping)

Preheat your oven to 170C/340F, grease or line your muffin tin as you prefer, in this case I used some of the lovely looking tulip muffin cases. Sift together the whole wheat flour and baking powder, I tend to do this a couple of times as I truly think the sifting makes a difference to the lightness of texture in the final muffin, add in the ground almonds and put to one side.  In a bowl beat together the butter, caster sugar and vanilla essence until creamy.  Whisk together the eggs and milk and then add a bit at a time into the bowl with your butter mix, beating well after each addition. Now fold in the flour & almond mix bit by bit until smooth. Finally peel and grate in the apples (I did this in the moment to avoid the apples browning), add in the yoghurt and stir until evenly mixed through – I say the yoghurt is optional only as I made one batch with and one batch without and they were both equally delicious, I just felt the yoghurt gave them a slightly creamier moistness.  Divide the mix evenly into your cases, or into your pre-greased muffin tin, sprinkle each with a few flaked almonds and bake for around 35 – 40 minutes.  Best served warm, whilst enjoying the wonderful sweet nutty aroma lingering in your kitchen, but they will also keep really well for up to a week in a sealed container – Lorna